Suspension question

I've heard that having the standard forks on the Mille setup correctly can be as good, if not better, that a set of Ohlins. But what I was wondering is what're better for road riding, a properly setup pair of Ohlins or a properly setup pair of Showas (or whatever the standard forks are)?

This is likely to be a matter of opinion but remember that the oem Ohlins stuf is not really the same quality of internals as you would get in aftermarket Ohlins.

When i had my Ohlins shock rebuilt by MH Racing (Ohlins service agent) i had this conversation and he was a fan of the aprilia shock but less so the forks. I now have Showa's on my Ducati and coming straight off the Rsv Factory i could make a direct comparision. My own opinion was that i don't feel the Showa's are better nor worse just a bit different. The Showa's are plusher but don't take a big hit quite so well, the ohlins were the opposite. That could just be a trait of my setup though.

There is a lot of critics of the Showa rear on Ducati's compared to Ohlins but i have never had an issue with mine. I guess it all depends on you setup, physical attributes and the main use of the bike. For 95% of the time for 95% of the people either is good enough for the job imo.

The Ohlins do look cooler though

i had my showa and sach setup properly and they are far more capable than i am so i would say get a setup before swapping to ohlins

if you wanted the gold bling factor send your forks to Griff and have him work his magic with a showlins makeover:thumbup

reanodizing gold and rebuilding the forks with new sels and oil etc...not sure if uprated springs are recomended unless you are throwing it round a track all day,heavier oil may be whats needed for day to day use

something i keep meaning to get done to the forks i got from Kiwirsv

And roughly how much does a blingy showlings referb cost?

There are some pics of the showlins somewhere. Can't remember the price but it was quite reasonable considering they need a complete strip to do it.

I remember seeing the pics and liked them.

Better option than ohlins mad prices when showa are more than up to the job for me.

a15cro said:

And roughly how much does a blingy showlings referb cost?

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Get in touch with Griff at Aprilia Performance :thumbup

my trackbike has showas and a sachs and it works well - I've never run ohlins forks (that'll change next time on track as I've now got a factory to try out) but I did have my R1 setup with a track biaised ohlins shock and had my standard forks revalved and I would say that the showas handle as well as they did.

Deacs :thumbup

Griff can be reached on 01827 285500 or click here -> apriliapeformance

Ohlins is better. I bought a standard 1098 & then changed the shock to the ohlins off the S model. Made a world of difference on my 1098. Also bought a Ohlins shock for my 2000 R1 also a significant upgrade, the shock was more compliant with tons more feed back than the stock shock. Both the 1098 & R1 were use on the street & the track, the Ohlins components were worth every penny. Ohlins is just a more finely tuned component. You can retune stock suspension but then you really need a master at shim stacks which is an art form in its self. I just bought an RSV-R on the brink of death, Bent forks, both rims, triple clamps & both axles all bent. All those components are straight now but I still have to take the time to have the frame & swing-arm checked. I got the Stock RSV-R Ohlins forks back from straightening & a rebuild, & even off the bike just pushing down on the fork by hand you can feel the finely tuned shim stacks smoothness. Just my 1.5 cents.

Also I read on this forum that a local dealership in Glendale California U.S. called Pro Talia was no longer servicing or sell parts for Aprilia. This is completely untrue, I called them today & verified they will service any Aprilia, as well as get parts for the bikes.