F800gs - Almost perfect except for poor suspension.

[Gangplank]

What about machining the stock top cap to fit the showa adjusters? I have my old fork internals & top caps around here somewhere of ya need an extra set.

[Bayner]

I finally blew the valving in one of the Bitubo inserts.
I decided to throw the original cartridges back in to finish out the season (using the stronger springs from Bitubo). As I was pumping the rod to bleed the air out on assembly it occurred to me that it feels like there is no compression dampening at all in the stock cartridges. There is however noticeable drag on rebound. I was thinking I was going to at least find the opposite when I did the other fork leg, but nope, same thing. So I'm just wondering if anyone else noticed this.
Seems to me that having no extra compression resistance from valving and a soft original spring it's no surprise so many are having success with just about anything they throw into the front forks....

[johngil]

Originally Posted by Bayner

I finally blew the valving in one of the Bitubo inserts.
I decided to throw the original cartridges back in to finish out the season (using the stronger springs from Bitubo). As I was pumping the rod to bleed the air out on assembly it occurred to me that it feels like there is no compression dampening at all in the stock cartridges. There is however noticeable drag on rebound. I was thinking I was going to at least find the opposite when I did the other fork leg, but nope, same thing. So I'm just wondering if anyone else noticed this.
Seems to me that having no extra compression resistance from valving and a soft original spring it's no surprise so many are having success with just about anything they throw into the front forks....

May not be worth the $$$ for you, but I have a shop in CA that can get the Bitubos rebuilt and even re-valved if that's what you want.

[bxr140]

Originally Posted by Bayner

... it feels like there is no compression dampening at all in the stock cartridges. There is however noticeable drag on rebound.

While your damper may or may not be representative of the as-designed characteristics, it's typical that rebound takes significantly more force than compression, in part because compression is helped by the spring and rebound is working against the spring.

I recall pretty minimal pumping force on compression when I had my dampers out, though not enough to think it way out of the ordinary.

[Bayner]

Originally Posted by johngil

May not be worth the $$$ for you, but I have a shop in CA that can get the Bitubos rebuilt and even re-valved if that's what you want.

Thanks johngil. May as well post that up so it's in the thread in case anyone else decides to do the same. I'm going to swap in some alternate shiver internals and try that route. I'll tear down the Bitubos just to see what failed at some point... I'm betting a snapped valve disc and maybe a broken top-out spring by the way it sounded.

[johngil]

Originally Posted by Bayner

Thanks johngil. May as well post that up so it's in the thread in case anyone else decides to do the same. I'm going to swap in some alternate shiver internals and try that route. I'll tear down the Bitubos just to see what failed at some point... I'm betting a snapped valve disc and maybe a broken top-out spring by the way it sounded.

I thought I had really broke my Bitubos beyond repair. It wasn't pretty.



The guys at Catalyst Reaction didn't blink an eye and even made their own tooling to re-charge the cartridges.

http://www.catalystsuspension.com/

Ask for Tige or James.

[MTrider16]

Well Kids, It looks like I need to write a retraction. After pounding around the CDT following some moto's and then trying to find jeep tracks in the Custer National Forest and in the Bighorn Mountians with the Mobius gang, I have about 2500 miles on the Ohlins Nix kits with rear shock. They have done very well at keeping the pig in line over some rough trails, as well as pounding out some pavement connecting sections. I'll give them a thumbs up even with the $2100 price tag for the fronts and rear.

David