Race Tech Rear Shock Rebuild

[Mike]

After my last ride up the Million Dollar Highway I decided it was time to get the ST's rear shock rebuilt.

I went with Race Tech. They were able to rebuild it with their Gold Valve and place a heavier spring with a spacer.

I put the ST together this afternoon and took it for a ride. Very nice compared to the stock set up.

The rear shock now works nicely with the Traxxion Dynamics cartridges and springs I have in the front end.

I wanted to buy a new shock but $800-$1,000 for a seven year old bike just seemed excessive.

Overall I am happy with the outcome for less than $400.00. Race Tech was good to deal with, tech knew his buisness and my calls were always returned promptly. Two Thumbs Up for Race Tech.

 

[M&M Take2]

Mike, Can I ask what made you decide it was time to rebuild the shock? Miles on the ST? and turnaround time on the rebuild? I sat through a presentation from Matt at WeStoc and was very impressed with their products. Thanx Marty

 

[roginoz]

Good to hear that it worked well. I'm planning on having them rebuild my rear shock this winter (or the spare one I bought a while back.) I guess I should have the forks done at the same time.

 

[adamk]

I just had my stock shock replaced with a new one for free. The $250 I spent for the extended warranty finally paid off! As soon as this one wears out I'll send it into Racetech for an rebuild/upgrade.

 

[Mike]

Mike, Can I ask what made you decide it was time to rebuild the shock? Miles on the ST? and turnaround time on the rebuild? I sat through a presentation from Matt at WeStoc and was very impressed with their products. Thanx Marty

Well the ole girl has 7 years on the stock shock, me....well I haven't aged so well either and put on a few pounds, we won't include my wife.......whilst the garage is nice it is not where I want to spend the night. Needless to say combined weight and gear pushed the limits of the stock shock, hell we excedded the limits!


So our last ride convinced me to get the shock replaced or rebuilt. We bottomed out a few times with full preload, wallowed through a few outrageous twisties and basically just felt the shock was no longer performing well.

I contacted Matt and he was pretty prompt in answering my emails, the turn around time could have been a week sooner but I was in Newport RI and Josh had some questions for me about the set up, so they did not get answered until I got back to NM.

So overall I still give them two thumbs up for being prompt and approachable.

 

[RCS]

Racetech is a great outfit. They provided shock and fork rebuilds for my Supercross and MX racing bikes. Excellent results and I will turn to them first should I need to upgrade my ST1300 suspension.

 

[M&M Take2]

Thanx Mike. I guess I was just looking for "indications of wear" info. Sounds like my '04 is also a candidate for a shock rebuild too. Cheers Marty

 

[wjbertrand]

Even a new shock could benefit from a RaceTech rebuild. As set up from Honda the spring rate is too low and the high speed compression damping is set too firm to compensate for the weak spring in an attempt to prevent bottoming. The end result is a harsher than necessary ride. Having said that, I am waiting for my new spring from RaceTech to arrive and will then send the shock in for a gold valve upgrade.

 

[mitch96]

I had mine rebuilt by racetech last year. New spring and gold valve. They put a drain hole in it so now the oil can be changed...........Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!

mitch

 

[dduelin]

At near 150 lbs the rear spring rate is to my liking but I did let Race Tech rebuild the shock body after about 60K and install their Gold Valve. I like the setup but the customer experience I had with RT was not very good.

The price quoted was significantly less than it turned out to be ( oops, we forgot to add the cost of the parts required ) and the rebuilt shock came back with a deflated preload adjuster. Since east coast to west coast is a week in transit I lost another two weeks for that even though part of the "we'll make it right" was 2nd day air return to me which they did not do - it came back ground and shipped two days later than they said it would for another 9 days without the shock. Finally, when I opened the box the preload adjuster hose orientation was 180 degrees wrong. Rather than lose another two weeks I fixed it myself.

 

[DeanR]

Would a RaceTech rebuild be good for an 1100 shock as well?

 

[wjbertrand]

Would a RaceTech rebuild be good for an 1100 shock as well?

According to Matt Wiley at Race Tech, the 1100's shock cannot be rebuilt. They do sell a very nice looking, though expensive, replacement shock for the ST1100 though.

 

[adamk]

Even a new shock could benefit from a RaceTech rebuild. As set up from Honda the spring rate is too low and the high speed compression damping is set too firm to compensate for the weak spring in an attempt to prevent bottoming. The end result is a harsher than necessary ride. Having said that, I am waiting for my new spring from RaceTech to arrive and will then send the shock in for a gold valve upgrade.

Why didn't you just send the shock in and let them put the spring on while it's being rebuilt?

Maybe I should get a new spring and use that until I need mine rebuilt??

 

[MeanST]

I took advantage of the Westoc 2009 RaceTech deal and rebuilt my VFR rear. Did the gold valves and new rear spring. And:bow1: good enough for an old guy.

 

[Mike]

Thanx Mike. I guess I was just looking for "indications of wear" info. Sounds like my '04 is also a candidate for a shock rebuild too. Cheers Marty

I don't think the shock was worn out, more like I outgrew it. Truth is I always wanted to replace it as it was never really a good shock. BMI finally convinced me to have it rebuilt.