Racingbros rear shock

[pepperona]

Has anyone heard of this brand? Came across them when browsing on ebay. Price sounds good for a rebound/compression adjustable shock with reservoir.

 

Im sure you get you pay for and its safer to stick with known brands, but im curious if anyone has used them before.

 

Links below

Ebay

Manufacturer

[Subito]

“SHICANE is form the "CHICANE" on racing circuits, you could see riders are making them a prime location for overtaking. SHICANE is high performance suspension from your daily commute to race track. A reliable, durable weapon on every chicane.”

If they can’t spend $30 to have some high school kid proofread their web copy, I kinda doubt they sweated the details when it came to designing and manufacturing their shock absorber. Hard pass.

[klx678]

The wording sounds like a number of Chinese products on ebay and Amazon, the errors aren't surprising.   The price isn't exactly cheap.   

I will say the country of origin doesn't dictate quality, the company management does.   I'm not endorsing the company, just saying what is fact.  Quality is definitely dictated by the company.  KTM, Harley, Triumph, and many other manufacturers are having quality product produced for them in China and India.   

WPS. Western Power Sports, is a distributor and they're no "fly by night" company, they are a wholesaling company supplying motorcycle shops around the country.  WPS web site    Contacting them would provide information if you really wanted it.  A friend and former MX pro I know, Brock Sellards, was and may still be a rep for them in the Ohio area.  I think WPS was a sponsor for him at one time.   

If ya got some money and want to experiment it could be interesting.

 

[nozeitgeist1800]

for the money, why not go with a known, tested brand? k-tech razor r is in the same price range and the k-tech razor r-lite is almost $200 cheaper. even ohlins is similarly priced or cheaper

[klx678]

Why go with any of them?

Point being the shock might just be really good.  It's just going to take some riders to try them.  After all, isn't that how all of them started out?  Someone with the money to take the risk takes the risk and learn if the part is good or not.    In this case maybe they sponsor a name rider or three and some people who can afford to play try their product.

That is something I've run into with checking out radial master cylinders, finding out others' experience.  Seems all that anyone says is Brembo, but there are a few others out there that might be just as good and a bit lower in cost, like Shindy (Nissin) and Braking, but it seems few have gone with them (except maybe the Nissin since they're OEM on some bikes). 

Why would I go that way?  If I can get a complete kit for $236 versus having to start with a $290 master cylinder and have to add another $100 to get the reservoir, brake light switch, and mirror mount clamp that works as well, why wouldn't I.   I'm still trying to verify the correct size Braking cylinder, because of that.  There are sponsored racers in MX and road racing running the Braking product, like Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin per the Braking site, so I'm pretty sure it's a quality part.   And I'm ready to pull the trigger... hit the enter key I guess.

And you won't get a fully adjustable remote reservoir Ohlins for $675.

[nozeitgeist1800]

17 hours ago, klx678 said:

Why go with any of them?

Point being the shock might just be really good.  It's just going to take some riders to try them.  After all, isn't that how all of them started out?  Someone with the money to take the risk takes the risk and learn if the part is good or not.    In this case maybe they sponsor a name rider or three and some people who can afford to play try their product.

That is something I've run into with checking out radial master cylinders, finding out others' experience.  Seems all that anyone says is Brembo, but there are a few others out there that might be just as good and a bit lower in cost, like Shindy (Nissin) and Braking, but it seems few have gone with them (except maybe the Nissin since they're OEM on some bikes). 

Why would I go that way?  If I can get a complete kit for $236 versus having to start with a $290 master cylinder and have to add another $100 to get the reservoir, brake light switch, and mirror mount clamp that works as well, why wouldn't I.   I'm still trying to verify the correct size Braking cylinder, because of that.  There are sponsored racers in MX and road racing running the Braking product, like Jake Gagne and Josh Herrin per the Braking site, so I'm pretty sure it's a quality part.   And I'm ready to pull the trigger... hit the enter key I guess.

And you won't get a fully adjustable remote reservoir Ohlins for $675.

my concern with being the one to take the risk is that with control oriented hardware, it isnt just a financial risk. if the walmart brand shock works the way we expect walmart brand stuff to work, when it fails it could be a safety problem, not just a money problem - not worth saving $50, imho. granted, if there are testimonials out there that can be trusted, who knows, but im of the opinion that it is better to be safe than sorry when on the road. if it was a cosmetic item, or something that wont affect handling when it fails, by all means, skimp.

out of curiosity, what all adjustments do the remote reservoir offer that a regular adjustable shock wont? ive seen people here saying that there is little to no noticeable improvement vs non-reservoir shock. i went from stock to the razor-r lite, so ive never had any experience with a reservoir

ohlins doesnt make a rear shock for our bikes that has a reservoir (if their product site can be trusted), but their most expensive shock for our bike is $699 on their site and $599 on biohazardclycles, so no huge need to stretch ones wallet to get tested / trusted equipment.

[klx678]

I mentioned the cost of the risk monitarily.  I doubt that the Racingbros shock is worse that the OEM shock.  On their web site the compression/rebound/spring rates can be tailored to the rider's preference too.   When it comes to failure about all that can occur even with a really cheap shock is the damping goes away and that doesn't happen instantly.  I can think of no seriously catastrophic failure of suspension short of breakage of a fork leg. 

With a bit more digging it seems Racingbros has been around since 2006 doing mtn bike, scooter, motorcycle, and automotive suspension in China,  Politics aside, considering some of the strides in the motorcycle market, both complete machines and components, the quality, which is dictated by the manufacturer, not the country, may be top shelf.   Here is a breakdown of one of their shocks:

Here's their description of the product for the MT-07:

PRODUCT DETAILS

Features
• 6061-T6 Cold Forged One-Piece Damper Body, increases strength and fatigue resistance by 15%
• Japanese High Strength Cr-Si spring steel with linear rate design. Ensures a smooth ride for the life time of the shock 
• Fully tunable and serviceable SAV (Speed Adaptive Valve) damping system
• Co-axial Hi/Lo Speed Compression Damping Adjustment: 
HSD (High Speed Damping): 24 clicks
LSD (Low Speed Damping): 24 clicks
• Wide-range Low Speed Rebound adjustment (24 clicks)
• 36mm CNC 7075-T6 damping piston
• 14mm super-finished hard chrome shaft, super smooth, hard and faster action
• Stainless Steel braided with PTFE liner high flow and high pressure connecting hose, plus all stainless steel hardwares!
• IFP Design (Internal Float Piston) - oil/gas separator inside; shock could be mounted either direction! Ensures the most stable damping quality!

Interesting they point out the use of Japanese springs.  I recommend visiting the site just to see what they are about, has a great introductory video.  click here

As for price, I'd have to refer you to S&W shocks in the 70s-80s with the twin shock design bikes.  They were like $20 a set when others like Koni and Marzocchi shocks were double to triple that price.   How good were they?   Seems a lot of pro road race and flat track bikes ran them, including bikes like Ken Roberts' TZ750 mile bike.   Just because the S&Ws were relatively low buck didn't make them no good.   They were a go to on MX bikes of the time too.

That Racingbros shock has both compression and rebound with the remote reservoir.  Duplication of that would be around $990 in Ohlins and Ohlins will make a remote reservoir shock for the FZ/MT/XSR bikes if one wants one.   It just isn't listed as a stock item.  That and if the Racingbros shock cost is so close to the cost of the more well known product, what are the odds that it may just be close or as good a performing product?   I'd say pretty good.    If we were discussing one of the $100 specials that would be a different story, but we are not.   We are very likely discussing an established company in the suspension field with an unestablished product in the US for sure, possibly Europe as well.

As I pointed out even Ohlins started out as an unknown at one time.  It takes someone using the product to start the ball rolling.   If it didn't we wouldn't be talking about any other suspension products than OEM or Ohlins.     What I also pointed out was that it would take someone willing to take the financial risk.  I really doubt there is any more safety risk than running the OEM shock.  Only the future will tell.  

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by klx678

[M. Hausknecht]

This is an interesting discussion, so I'll offer my two cents. I think there are three potential issues with shocks: (1) one or more components are made from material that is too soft or weak, so the shock damping goes away quickly (like many OEM shocks); (2) the shock just doesn't create enough damping; or (3) the damping curves are all messed up and cannot be adjusted to work right. The first, premature wear, wouldn't be immediately apparent upon installation. The second and third issues might or might not be apparent to many riders, especially on strictly street-ridden motorcycles. The shock could be better than a used OEM shock, so it seems good, but could still be far off on the damping characteristics for someone who really knows.

The company was created by a group of guys with a total of 30 years experience doing something with suspension. That could be 6 guys with 5 years' experience (not much), or two guys with 15 years' experience. It could be experience with major suspension manufacturers or guys tinkering with suspension in their work shops at home. Their market seems to be predominately small, cheap bikes. They don't appear to have any racing involvement, so they don't seem to want that kind of attention or experience.

They might make good stuff or junk. We'll see.

 

[FruityLoops21]

I'm also curious about the brand, though I haven't found much about their products other than smaller displacement stuff. The ones I've found on Youtube were old videos they have of track footage of smaller displacement bikes and ones for Groms and other small displacement bikes. I am really tempted to purchase the shocks though, the price to performance (based on paper) seems to be really good. 
Just here to follow this post or if I decide the pull the trigger (80%) on the shocks I will let you know about my review. Been looking for a good replacement for the OEM ones, been riding the bike daily and OEM has done the job. Recently started more spirited riding on the weekends and planning to do track. So now I'm looking for Rear Shocks with a reservoir (suspension shop told me to go for one with a reservoir over the typical emulsion types since I do plan on getting in a track soon).

Edited June 15, 2023 by FruityLoops21
typo

[klx678]

@M. Hausknechtsee only if someone is willing to take the risk.   

I do understand why the small bike stuff, that's what a majority of the market is for them.   The one thing I saw in their pages was that they make the shock to the rider's preference in a matter of days.  I'd tend to think a cheap shock would be like the Spectrum ad where the company knows their solution is the correct solution for the customer, because they only do the one solution for all their customers.   Specialization in build would mean a lot, being time consuming and added expense over a simple mass production cheap part.

Could really be interesting.