Race Tech shock being developed for my 650R - Wohoo!

[cfernandez]

Been lurking on this and a few other forums and learning as much as I can about our bike. Bought a salvage bike and put it back together. Learning how to ride for the last month (1st motorcycle) and having a blast. Went on some 200+ mile rides up the California coast already and am not satisfied with the stock fork and shock, as some have found. I am also going to my first track seminar next weekend (sans bike) and hopefully will get on a track a couple of times this year.

Race Tech is in Corona, CA about 50 miles from where I live and I popped them a visit. I talked to the owner Paul Thebe and his R&D guy Todd Davis about developing a custom shock for our bikes. They were thrilled because they had a guy that was going to bring his 650R for developing a shock, but never did. Therefore I am dropping off my bike to have a custom GS-3 shock made for my bike. I am going to have gold emulators and springs done as well. Have not decided if I am going to have them install the fork stuff or do it myself. One to save more money and the other because I like to tinker with my bike myself.

Bike will be gone for 3 weeks. What sucks is that I live in southern CA and our weather has been great. Guess it is back to my sub-18 pound bikes for a while!

My question to you guys, do you have any questions of Race Tech or want any info about their shocks or emulators? Right now I am deciding what customizations I am going to have for this shock such as:

1) Piggyback Reservoir
2) Remote Reservoir
3) Non-Reservoir
4) External Low & High Compression Adjustment
5) External Rebound Adjustment
6) Ride Height Adjustment
7) Sport or Race Springs
8) Single, Dual or Triple Rate Springs

and I really know nothing about these things except I want the adjustability to change the suspension for when I ride loaded up on multi-day trips to other states or when I go to a track. I don't plan on being a track junkie especially with only one bike, but I like racing as I have done it for many years on a much lighter style bike I will probably do the track a couple times to improve my riding skills.

For those that are interested, I am 5'6" & 180 lbs and probably ride like a noob for now, but I will probably end up a "sport rider" . Here are some pics I took at their headquarters:

[Cope]

I was that guy... and it was for a good reason IMO. I had a less than favorable experience while trying to lend them my ride... If someone is bringing you their F'ing ride to " borrow " for some free fitting and sizing, you ought to treat em a little nicer. However, I will say that some of the people I spoke with over there seemed real " nice and appreciative " , when I showed up these people must not have been there cuz the guy I spoke with in person was about to be wearing my boot for a mouthpiece. I said F that and rode my shit home. At least got a nice ride out of it.

I honestly hope you have a great experience there, and get a good shock out of it. My business will be going elsewhere.

heres the old story last time this came up

[Honinjsuz]

Wish you luck. Maybe if the chief is involved you (and all of us) will get a better shock. As to what some of us would want in a shock: I want 2 shocks. A basic model with just preload adj. (with performance like RaceTech's fork improvement kits- plush, yet not loose, firm but not harsh, soak up small bumps, but never bottom out) In other words, way better than the stock, but at the stocker price. Then a more expensive model with all that adjustability- damping, rebound, preload, etc. You get the idea. I have had the emulators on other bikes, they said they built them to my weight and usual riding mode (sport touring). I installed them and did the hole drilling. They had some adjustability, but I never used it. The things were great! The rear shock was good on that bike, so no matching shock was needed. The 650 badly needs a better shock- but affordable. Oh yeah, and American made has appeal for me.

[cfernandez]

COPE

Sorry to hear about what happened to you. Hopefully, neither of the two guys in the picture were the people that you met (Paul the owner and Todd in R&D). I initially spoke to Louie Martinez, Sales Technician, and he was very professional with his explanations of what Race Tech had to offer and what options were available to me for the shock. Because of my newness to motorcycling, I asked him to explain in very simple terms "piggy back/remote reservoir", "preload", "sag", etc. I told him that I want to tour with this bike and therefore this bike will sometimes have my weight on it and sometimes the added weight of the hard cases (fully loaded) I plan on getting. I am also interested in doing a few track days to get better riding skills and a bit of fun. So I guess I want it all.

Anyways, Louie was patient with all my questions, he showed me around the shop and intoduced me to Todd (R&D) who showed me some of their different G3-S shocks and how they may fit to our 650R. He seemed pretty serious about his work. Lastly, I met Paul Thebe, the owner . . . though I did not know he was the owner at first.

I was getting ready to leave when this guy comes walking into the shop and is kind of looking around and then goes to my bike and looks at it for a minute and asks what it is. I told him "Kawasaki Ninja 650R, but not the 600 sport bike, but the parrallel twin" and he asks if I knew anything about the Versys and I told him I seriously considered it but because of my height (5'6") the 650R was a better fit. He laughed out loud because he was only 5'8". I asked him if he wanted to ride my bike to see how it felt because the Versys uses the same engine, just mapped a little different. He politely declined. I then introduced myself and he introduced himself to me as the owner of Race Tech, Paul Thebe. I then felt a little dumb, asking him to try my bike when he has probably ridden bikes I could never dream of owning. He was just a normal guy who liked bikes, all kinds.

Anyways, I thought I should let you guys know how it went. I was a little worried about leaving my bike with people I don't know, but talking to these three people set my heart at ease. If these are the kind of people that are going to be working on my bike I am totally OK with it.

Cope, I hope your experience was a one time affair and that Race Tech took care of that guy.

Tomorrow I will be dropping off my bike and will be sans bike for 3 weeks. During that time I hope to help them give me a shock that I want. Let me know what you guys are looking for and I will ask them. I will keep everyone posted.

[Honinjsuz]

Go for it! If I were living down there, I would definitely give up my 650 for 3, 4, 5 weeks. I admit that is easy for me to say, I have another bike, and winter goes another 4-5 weeks, lol!

[cfernandez]

And so it begins . . . I dropped off the 650R at Race Tech early this morning. I will keep you guys posted on the progress and what options I eventually choose for the shock.

This is going to be a long 3 weeks

[djrussell]

hey cfernandez, just curious what kind of deal they're giving you. cope's offer was 40% off.

[cfernandez]

Yup, same deal as COPE. I figure that I am going to have this bike for a long time. It has an excellent engine with the kind of power I like, down low. Ergonomics are great for the style riding that I do and it is FUN.

Spending a little bit more money for a better performing shock made for my bike as well as uprated fork. Only a few more things on my list to customize this bike for what I want: better brakes, better sounding exhaust (lighter to boot) and hard cases for luggage!

[lamy_chop]

i'm sorry, but if they were using my bike, they'd be giving me the shock free of charge. it's good business, i'm giving you my motorcycle so you can produce parts to make money off of, the least you can do is give me the parts for free. AT THE VERY LEAST, IT'S A FREAKIN TAX WRITE OFF!!!!!!! they don't end up paying for that anyway.
everyone else on this site, or the last one i won't mention the name of for that matter, who has given up their bike for this kind of thing has gotten a WAY better deal than you are, in most cases the parts were free.
disagree all you want, but i think you're gettin screwed.

[cfernandez]

Thanks for looking out for me lamy_chop

but I don't think I am getting a bad deal or screwed. No hard feelings.

Maybe in the motorcycle world I am getting screwed (but I think not), but that is not where I am coming from. Maybe because I am coming from a road biking background (25 yrs cycling seriously and racing for the last 10 years). We have custom made frames made from steel, AL, carbon, scandium, Ti and even bamboo! The builder will measure me, ask me what kind of riding I do, what I want the bike to feel like (aggressive geometry for criteriums or slack geometry for touring), do I want certain options put on the frame such as lugs for the steelies, or horizontal vs vertical dropouts for track bikes vs. road going bikes, pump pegs, chromed chain stays, etc. I make up my want list or goody list and wait and wait and wait. For some of the more quick turn arounds it can be as short as a couple of weeks, but for some of the more well known builders that are known to make functional but also art on wheels, a buyer is on a waiting list for a couple of years!

Back to the shock. The guys at Race Tech are like that bicycle frame builder to me. The first meeting with them was professional, they introduced me to their R&D guy Todd, who was going to be working on the shock for my bike, he showed me the different options that I could have and showed me shocks of that type so I could "see" what he envisioned, he asked me important questions, such as my weight, type of riding that I do now and what I want to do in the future, he basically sized me up for this particular shock. We talked about the stock 650R fork characteristics and how it should be balanced with the rear. I already knew that I was going to have springs put in, but I also decided that I will get gold emulators as well. They told me that it would take approximately 3 weeks to finish. I felt confident after that meeting that they knew what they were doing. The shop was neat, organized and looked like a well maintained shop.

But what I really like is that I am able to drop buy, work on my bike as long as they are not working on it and ask lots of questions of them. I installed a new mirror last week because I had broken it before I dropped it off. Tomorrow I will install my Euro spec grab handles for my up coming SW-Motech racks. I already have the side luggage bags in my garage. While I am there I will test ride my bike because they have already finished the fork work and I will see how that feels and if any changes are neccessary.

They don't mind that I am working in one of their bays next to their technicians who may be working on a bike 2 or 3 times more expensive than mine. The let me borrow a tool or two that I do not have. I learn that these technicians are racers or involved in some way with the sport themselves. One, I believe from New Zealand (Anthony or Tony??) was a factory Kawi Racer, another worked as a Kawi team mechanic and he rides a Versys.

Last and this drove home their service to their products, a random guy drives in on a newer looking red Ducati sport bike. He said he just bought it from a guy but he is having issues with the Race Tech shock and his (stock?) Ohlins fork. Tony goes over to look at it uses a ruler and straight edge to measure some things, pumps the bike up and down a few times, then has the owner sit on the bike to measure sag and adjusts the sag for him. Tony does say that the bike may have the wrong springs for his weight as the previous owner was probably bigger than him. The owner said he was. Tony said that there was a lot of stiction in the front fork, he would compress the fork but it would not go all the way up. I am not sure what he did, but he fixed that as well as he could too. All in all, the guy was in and out in about 20 minutes. He was happy and will probably come back to buy the weight matched spring.

I am going to believe that I will get the same service if that happens to me as well. I may not be getting the shock or fork work for free, but I feel like I am getting a good deal as I am not only buying their suspension system, but their future service and knowledge and it looks like they have that in spades

Nobody gets anything for free (unless you get REAL lucky). .

[barbos]

I think there's a little difference in the scenario between the two.

My understanding is the first time, they were actively looking for a 650r to develop a shock for the purposes of expanding their product line. Being that they were seeking a volunteer to expand their business at no cost (not charging to loan the bike to them), it seems only fair they should be offered a greatly reduced (or free) shock. Given the length of time they wanted it, I wouldn't do it for anything less.


In your situation, it seems you actively sought them out looking for a shock for your bike. Essentially making this a custom order. So kudos that you're getting a discount instead of being overcharged even more.


In the end, the only thing that matters is that the customer is happy.

[Cope]

The original ref. was from the last time a company was doing what RaceTech is doing. That rider got a free shock from that company for being the guinea pig, that was a fair deal.

I felt the same way as CF on this one when I originally went down there, I was in the market anyhow... and RaceTech makes a good product, so I was willing to do it for a 40% discount. Knowing full well that the average mark-up (for profit), for the average store is around 40 to 60%, these guys were just having me cover the cost if it were broken down to a single part. I WAS alright with that... at the time.

Either way, I hope you get a really fun ride in the end and are happy with the "deal" you got.

[2007 650R]

I got it. He has stock in the company.

[djrussell]

in the end, if you're happy with renting your bike to them for a 40% discount, that's great and totally up to personal opinion. aftermarket shocks are usually like $500-$800? so 40% of that is $200-$320. that's a nice bonus that they let you visit and hang out. you might make some good connections. maybe they'll even cut you a deal on future purchases.

[Gangplank]

What will the retail price of this be?

[Cope]

Thats the kicker... I think the tag is gonna be $800-ish, I believe that was after the discount. Don't quote me on that one though... knocked my head on the ground pretty good recently

[lamy_chop]

I think there's a little difference in the scenario between the two.

My understanding is the first time, they were actively looking for a 650r to develop a shock for the purposes of expanding their product line. Being that they were seeking a volunteer to expand their business at no cost (not charging to loan the bike to them), it seems only fair they should be offered a greatly reduced (or free) shock. Given the length of time they wanted it, I wouldn't do it for anything less.


In your situation, it seems you actively sought them out looking for a shock for your bike. Essentially making this a custom order. So kudos that you're getting a discount instead of being overcharged even more.


In the end, the only thing that matters is that the customer is happy.

you pretty much hit the nail on the head for what i was trying to say.

[Gangplank]

any update?