Touratech Shocks

Anybody here fitted a new Touratech shock on the old 800gs or even seen test results? Wonder how it compares to the Ohlins and the Wilbers

Do you mean the new extreme shock?

I think the Ohlins shouldn't be compared to any of the fully adjustables on the market.

Just because it has the gold fancy word on it, doesn't mean it's good.

Which models are you speaking of? Explore, explore hp, expedition, or extreme. I have tested every model on the F800's.

Can you tell us a little about the extreme ? Is it awesome ?

Did you adjust it's length at all ?

Could you give a quick review on the LVL 2 please? That's the one I'm considering and the only thing I read about is on the Touratech page so nothing real life, impartial etc.

Cheers,

Tom

+1 on the extreme. Also, if you have any info on the HPe.

Any feedback ?

RMH
The extreme shock is top shelf! If you are the type of rider who rides aggressively, or fully loaded off-road this is the shock for you. The ability to have bottoming control with this unit is in line with the bottoming circuit found on the KTM Adventures and smaller bikes. It is a bit different by design but essentially works in the same manner. I did have some time to play with the adjustable ride height future which is nice to have as you can truly customize the shock per the rider without and significant modifications! I was truly impressed with my testing session with the extreme unit.

Tom,
The level 2 shock or expedition unit is another quality rear shock. It obviously lacks the PDS bottoming circuit which can be added at a later date if you desired. Having the adjustable high and low speed compression adjustments really allows the rider to fine tune the unit. This really helps when riding fully loaded vs. not or carrying a pillion or not. These unit's (extreme and expedition) share everything the same minus the PDS.
Is there anything I can answer specifically?

Ah great thanks, so several things:

How exactly is the RDS added to the shock?
My main concern is that the lvl2 won't erase the wobbling rodeo of mixted pavement on the street and could bottom out when loaded offroad.
Since I've never owned a bike with high and low speed compression adjustments on shocks I'm afraid that I won't be able to appreciate the real quality of the shock and that I won't be able to adjust it how it's supposed to be. That's why I am considering the lvl2 shock that is basicly as easy to adjust as stock.
Now that I have some hyperpro progressive springs I feel that the back isn't stiff enough to cope with harder cornering and when adjusting the back every wobble on the street goes right back in my spine.

So please tell me Shock Guru what is the solution for me

The PDS unit is added internally, something that can be done while you are having the unit serviced. The wobbling you have is probobaly caused due to a overloaded bike (rider weight or pillion, luggage). How much do you weigh, carry, etc.?

That's what I thought at first but I'm a light wait: 69kg + 10 with my gear and an extra 30 for luggage so that's about 120kg top max I'd say 265 lbs. A lot of inmates weight that without any luggage... but I think that it's too soft anyway

I have been riding Extreme almost year now (summer and winter). I think I haven't got the best out of it yet because the change was so big that I have to learn to ride again and find the adjustment "maps" for different riding styles and payloads. I'm not fully skilled enduro rider, but I ride quite hard this bike, bad roads, trails, minor jumps and so on and this shock just works - even when adjusted wrong :eek1 (and believe me, I have done that many times).

I was in a close debate with the manufacturer while back and they explained they testing process. It is pretty heavy for the shock. So I think durability should be very, very good. This seems to be not the case with other brands.

The one thing that I have noticed is the instructions manual and its default settings. This shock is made for about 90...100 kg rider but the default preload values (clicks) don't match for that. I have to take once more a closer look on this to be sure, but at least mine doesn't give proper sag with those. I'm about to report this back to Touratech and Tractive ones I'm sure.

And, by the way, the hydraulic preload adjuster doesn't have any external hoses and adjusters so no breakable parts there. And the preload adjuster has about 5 mm more travel than others have .

Wow that's a great report. Thanks. It seems like this shock really is the best shock available for the f800gs.

Did you play around with the ride height adjustment?

IN the name of the Sky Moose.....where do you get off with common sense and accurate assessments?

I whole heartedly agree. The cafe latte crowd say I'm raving mad and don't know what I'm on about.

Load the BuMW up and take it "off road" (a novel concept for some) and the Ohlins is pure shit. No anti bottom out, completely linear compression, no compression adjustment....what the hell were they thinking?

I did 3 resprings and 2 revalves and it's now "nice" in a 2 up take things relatively easy kind of way. Sure, I can push the boundaries of sensible on occasion...but get nasty with it and it's a soggy bag of shit.

I don't like riding "nice". I want to get "nasty" with it. It screams out for me to get funky when solo on a fire trail, and the bolt of lightning up my spine when I hit the first real "bump" is totally annoying.

I have the front end sorted to my satisfaction, and now I'm thinking of something better for the rear. Maybe this Touratech shock of which they speak? Maybe I'll build a hybrid from the various MX shocks in the garage.

But the Ohlins is on borrowed time either way. I consider it an utter waste of the total $2300 it's cost so far.

Snowy probably like you I was brought up to be in awe of ohlins. Your posts on how much a pos it is is a clear signal to me as to buying the extreme rear shock. Your experience with the ohlins is nothing short of shocking .

The extreme seems priced the same as the ohlins you bought here.

I called TT to see if there are any extremes here in Aus so I might get a price here otherwise ill buy one in the us and ship sideways

It's a well made entry level shock. Don't get me wrong. An over priced entry level shock - probably more to do with the Ohlins Australia dealership being car oriented.

It would suit a bike that is ridden one up, no real loads, and no "real" off road.

Then it would, in fact, be "ok".

Apparently my idea of "off road" and everyone elses differs. I am not trying to be "hard core". I just take wifey out and ride through the National Parks and State Forests of the high country. 4x4 tracks and fire trails.

For the Ohlins this is too much of an ask, no matter how many times you rebuild it.

Going way out west where you can ride on wash board dirt all day for days on end.....oh good god no....it's ok for short periods, then it overheats and turns to shit.

All shocks can overheat I guess. There's not too many places in the world these days that you can do 500km of massive corrugations.

Having said that most 4wdrivers carry spare shocks.

The extreme looks perfect

I cannot agree more with what snowy said. I have replaced countless lower clevis, broken shock shafts, seal heads, and even one broken piston. I've seen a trend with their units, which is why I only sell a few of the units (on road applications). I am the only tuner in the US that has the tooling and know how to take these apart and service them. I was truly impressed with the quality, design, and valving stacks that came STOCK.
Touratech even required a few really nice features for the long distance adventure rider. All units have a threaded body cap, whereas 95% of other aftermarket units have the standard clip holding the seal head in place. The reasoning for this feature is if you we're to have a shock failure there is not a chance of the seal head retaining clip coming out if you lost a nitro charge. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had customers come in with a few aftermarket units that had the seal head loose, or just about to come off. The machining required to add that feature is expensive, but its little features along these lines that make these units great.
I delivered a expedition shock to a customer today with my fork conversion on a 2011 F800GS.