shock revalve

[siredward20]

i know 1 or 2 of you guys have done this. i am considering doing this myself now that i have finally gotten my emulators dialed in. i was hoping someone could give me a detailed review of the results.

did they respring it?

if so, what kind of spring and what color is it?

how much did it cost?

how long was the turn around?

did they add a reservoir?

is it adjustable?

how does it work and where did it improve over stock??

is it worth the mod or would a cr80 shock off ebay be better still?

and for those who have the cr80 shock in their bike, can we see pics??

thanks

[toneconsultant]

Well since you helped me (you posted a rejetting site with pics) a long time ago, I figure I owe it to you.

I had my stocker revalved (see my weblink for phone numbers). Before I did that, I had a BBR spring. Keep in mind that I'm about 150lbs. Anyway, I noticed a few things with the BBR spring.

1. If I didn't land a jump perfectly straight, the landing would swap a bit. On my previous bike, RM125, I wouldn't even notice it. I had to really pay attention on landings.

2. There was a strong rebound. I was already tightening up on jump landings so that wasn't an issue. The issues was trying to do my "Mike LaRocco" imitation thru the whoops. Couldn't do it. Couldn't skim the top. I had to times each whoop and double and triple them. Mind you, I'm not talking SX whoops. I'm talking about a bunch of bumps that were close to each other. It really slowed me down.

If I tried to power through the whoops, the back end wouldn't just go up an down, but it would go side to side. Coming off my RM125, this was a bit concerning.

I asked John Hlebo at Hlebo's suspension to revalve. I think it was $180. Not cheap, but I knew he was fiddling with the CRF150 and I actually rode a bike that had a Hlebo's revalved shock and Hlebo's stock fork springs cut with his spacer ($40). Wow. That bike rode really plush.

He also lengthened the shaft for $40. We also ran the stock spring because I was pretty light. I think you might be able to get him to put on a reseivoir, but I didn't think I wanted to dump that much more into it. I figured if I wanted to put more into it, I'd just get a Work's shock, which was about $500 from the dealer. That wasn't going to happen

It wasn't adjustable, but I figured I'd get it dialed in for my specs and since I'm not some pro racer, it would be fine for what I was going to be doing which was jerk around.

Oh yeah, I thought about doing the CR80 route, but the shock is too long to fit correctly. I think it's 15 3/4". You'd have to drill lower holes in the bottom shock bracket to make it fit. Then you'd have to revalved and respring to make it work properly. I did the math in my head and that was too much for me. I might have missed something, but I didn't want to mess with it.

The CR80 shock is doable, but I opted to revalve the stocker

Results: I have CR80 forks on my bike. I really like those, but the new shock was key. I can't even explain in words how much better my bike rides. It tracks better. It's so much more comfortable and the best part is I can now do my imitation of LaRocco through whoops. Let's put it this way. It rides (suspension wise) like my RM125. It's a totally different bike. It changed the feeling of the whole bike.

The forks are cool, but the rear is way better. I haven't done much to the engine of my bike. One reason is because I can run down a lot of big bikes because of the suspension. They then ask, "You have a bore kit?" I can honestly say, "no. It's stock." They don't believe me, but I laugh because I just ran down a CRF450 on a 9hp bike. I'm sure there are a few non believers out there, but you can't go fast if you can't control your bike. Hope that helps.

[ToaDsiX]

very interseting tone....

thanks for the info! ?

[siredward20]

well i weigh the same as you and we both seem to be MX'ers on our little play bikes. the whoops is where i'm having trouble aslo. since i got my emulators working good for me, the front end stuck pretty good last week in the whoops but the rear wasnt cutting it. so now i'm looking into a better rear. im still debating on the cr80 shock though. if its longer, how is it any different than what you have now? (since you lengthened yours) my concern is the reservoir, is there enough room for it? so....if the revalve is as good as you say it is, it will probly come down to price and turn around time. if i can get a cr80 shock off ebay for dirt cheap, i have nothing to lose by trying that, as i can re-sell it if i dont like it. then try the revalve. all while not missing any races. i'm 2nd in points in the 125 class at my local track but its getting close between the top 5 riders so i cant afford to miss races. how long did it take for the revalve??

[Toast]

Great post Tone! It's nice to see an honest & critical review of a product. ?

[nw56]

Talked to John today about doing my 230 shock, 3-5 days turn around not counting shipping time.

[siredward20]

anyone got pics of the cr80 rear shock installed?

[toneconsultant]

I'm glad that info helps. If anyone hasn't figured it out yet, why I would dump the RM125 race bike to take a slow trails bike and dump $$$ and huge time into it, it's because . . . (pause) . . . well, I don't know ?

It's just fun to do. I don't even have to ride to have fun with it. Just seeing what fits and what tweaks work is a blast. I'm not Jerry rigging anything that could hurt the bike or me. The last think I want to do is put myself on the ground.

Anyway, someone else said it, but Hlebo's turnaround time is really fast. I'm in Northern Calif. and so is he, but it's over an hours drive away. I shipped my shock and got it back in about a week. I'm sure it could be even faster if you ask.

As for just trying the CR80 shock, I thought the same thing, but it wouldn't bolt up. If I recall correctly, the CR80 shock is about 1/4 too long. It's so close, but it won't fit without banging against the linkage. I was so bummed because I wanted to do the same thing you were talking about. I even had the rear shock of everyone's hero (Mike Alessi) ? Totally Race Tech'd out. I thought about drilling the hole in the bottom of the shock bracket (I think it's called a clevis), but then figured I might have issues selling it.

Anyway, if you do try the CR80 shock, let us know how that goes. I'm told it will fit with the res. on the other side (I think it was the left side and not the right), but like I said, since I couldn't bolt it up, I was so mad I just didn't care.

P.S. Siredward, if you do get it revalved, you really have to report back to everyone about your first experience in the whoops. There's different factors like your weight and riding ability, but if it's anything like what I had, I can't wait to hear what you say. Remember I'm light at about 150lbs so you really have to take that into consideration. Hlebo's could probably answer all your questions.