Is the consensus on chinese piggy back shocks still the same?

[quote="DoctoRot" post=829145........................
I don't understand why people buy the cheapest possible thing and then complain about the quality. Its down right idiotic.[/quote]

I agree completely!!!

However, there also are companies with good reputations that move manufacturing to China because it offers low prices. Unfortunately, China very often also provides low quality. For example - I have been using K&N oil filters in my bike for decades. The last batch of 6 that I bought contained 3 filters from China and 3 filters from Thailand. The 3 from Thailand were all exactly the same dimension in height and diameter, each one had 61 pleats, and the ends of the filter material was secured by a metal clip. The 3 filters from China were 3 different heights varying by more than 1/8", each had 57 pleats, and instead of metal clips securing the ends of the filter material they were glued. I do not know if the filter material in the Chinese made filters was of poorer quality than that of the Thailand made filters, but it very likely may have been.

Up until then I had great respect for K&N products, but after receiving those filters it became obvious to me that K&N had simply awarded their oil filter contract to low bid and performed zero quality control on those filters. I really did not care that the earlier filters were made in Thailand since outsourcing to foreign companies is nothing new, but I was very disappointed that the quality of the K&N oil filters had gone downhill so much when they switched to having their filters made in China.

The Chinese filters did not cost less than the Thailand filters, so it was not a case where I bought cheap products but expected high quality products. It was simply a case where K&N obviously increased their profit margin at the expense of quality. I would expect a fairly large company like K&N to perform some level of quality control on products that they sell, but it appears that they simply don't care enough about quality vs price to do so.

Ed

So basically what your saying is you get what you pay for... lol. I think Hagon or Ikon shocks are a nice middle ground option.

The reason I went for chinese shocks is that my cousin got some Hagon's on his honda - around $250 I think. He's been happy with the perfomance, but they're corroding like it's nobody's business. The chrome springs and eyelets starting getting spots of rust a few months in, and after a year they looked just as old as my almost 40yo stock kz shocks.

There are plenty of reviews of chinese shocks, so you can tell what you're getting yourself into if you spend the time - sometimes good, sometimes bad. If you're just eyeballing cheap shocks that look good you'll likely have a bad time, but there are some makes that are decent. RFY are one of those decent makes. They're not perfect - they really need a bleed valve and some decent oil before they're a 'good' shock, but you can spend hundreds more for far worse.

The problem your cousin had with the Hagons seems very strange to me. I put Hagon shocks on my KZ650-C1 13 years (more than 16,000 miles) ago and they still look and work like new - absolutely zero rust or other problems. The eyelets, shock bodies, and shrouds are stainless steel. The adjusters and keepers are some sort of non-ferrous alloy that contains no iron (so they cannot rust), and the springs are very heavily chrome plated. The rods are hard-chrome plated and do not rust. I don't understand how his shocks could rust if they really are Hagons. Maybe your cousin bought knockoff shocks that aren't really Hagons? If they really are Hagons they carry an unlimited mileage, 2 year guarantee, so he probably should send them back for replacements or refund. Ed

He bought them from a reputable supplier (Wemoto AU), so quite confident they're authentic. The corrosion is probably accelerated by the fact that it's his main form of transport and that he rides rain, hail, or shine.

But yes, I've only heard good things about Hagon shocks, so I was very surprised myself.

YamaKawa wrote: Thanks all. I didnt want to deal with paying to fill the nitrogen reservoir up, so I bought the H1 shocks from Dime City. These are standard replacements shocks (none progressive), with the proper unequal eyelets (10mm bottom, 14mm top) that is required to fit my bike (glad I checked!!). They are a quarter inch longer than stock, but I was looking for ways to add some height! Now to add maybe 1 inch or so more...

Nitrogen is not a requirement. Its used because its inert and dry. I use a $20 mtb suspension pump for my mx shocks (154psi).

Off topic but I agree that nitrogen isn’t needed. The supply doesn’t need to be that precise... we used nitrogen in the tires of the circle track asphalt car I raced, because is contained no water... reason, the water would get hot as the tire does and turn to steam and effectively increase tire pressure which would increase the diameter of the tire changing stagger...

Hey Mikaw, did you fall asleep when you typed this? I was getting ready for the punch line, but it wasn't there. Or was that the end? If it is the end what do you mean by "stagger"?

Rick H.

Stagger is the difference in the OD of the tires... lay a solo cup on its side on the counter and push... it will go in a circle... that’s the theory of stagger...