Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Now here is a topic close to my heart...I am working through some "issues" with the front forks on my ZRX1200 and "may" want to upgrade the rear shocks if i get the forks where i want them, now Ohlins would be my first choice but i will strugggle with the $$$ so have looked into the Gazi and i thought of something that might interest us all....HOW about a shock comparison between the Ohlins and the Gazi???? For instance, Phil Tainton has a shock dyno AND recently did a graph on the Ohlins off a MCTrader journo bike so is anyone interested in "loaning" a Gazi to him for a comparison graph and his opinion???? Dont know about you guys but i hve had Ohlins on a lot of bikes, they are good but not twice as good as a lot of other brrands, what do you reckon????

A.E.

p.s. I would even be prepared to pay Phil for his dyno time if someone with the appropriate Gazi's is willing to get one to him for the time needed?????

Less than $1400 to your door for Ohlins from US distributor. (Winston Braddish-Biddle on ebay) Be aware though that there are two models for ZRX- one has more adjustment than the other but the one with less adjustment has hydraulic preload knob which is very handy. I have the hydraulic ones. There are actually 4 models if you include different spring colours. Even though I have a motorcycle related business and have a ABN, the local distributor wasn't interested and suggested I go to a dealer and pay retail! I chose not to and saved $700, and there was $200 in postage so the americans afre paying aroun $1100-1200 for these shocks. I think we are getting taken for a ride in motorcycle parts prices in this country!

bonester wrote:. I think we are getting taken for a ride in motorcycle parts prices in this country!

Ain't that the truth. And, with the Aussie dollar at higher than parity, why wouldn't you buy O/S if you can make significant savings like this?

Angry, just go buy whatever you can afford. If I could afford it, as in would not miss the amount it costs for a set of Ohlins, I would have bought Ohlins. But I couldn't, so I bought what I could afford.....Gazi's.

Would the Ohlins be better, most likely. Are they worth double the price of the Gazi's....in short, not in my opinion. The Gazi's run rings around the stock ones and have perfect control for road use.

I just went for a ride with my mate dangerous Dave on his 178hp (on the Dynobike dyno.) FZ1, which has Trevor Manly fettled forks the same as my race bike and a full Ohlins rear. He was pretty impressed as to how well the Gazi's tracked through corners which had stutter bumps on the inside or big bumps. They never put a foot wrong.

As for giving PTR one, I cou ldn't be fucked pulling mine off. Why not ask the importers? I bet they would jump at a chance to have a totally unbiased comparison conducted by the competition.

At double the price, I think the Ohlins would be good, but twice as good? I think not..

Same here the Gazi's are the ducks nuts for the money

I know the GAZI boys pretty well and when I bought a set of shocks for my (now defunct) ZRX i sent them my OEM units to perform a dyno comparison... I have the results in graph format but I'm buggered if i am able to attach the file on this forum. If I dont work it out soon and you want to see it, let me know and I will email it to you. Or you could ask Paul from GAZI and I am sure he will be happy to send it to you.

Now this doesnt clear anything up with regards to performance against Ohlins but I can tell you that when fitted the difference against the OEM units was like night and day and at a really affordable price... Real value for money.

IanH

All good advice Gents. I will keep playing with the forks over next few months, if i get them to a point i LIKE i will most likely try the Gazi's, they sound more than good enough and i know i will struggle with the $$$.

Cheers,
A.E.

Just bear in mind that once you put the rear shocks on it's really going to highlight the deficiencies in the forks. More money

Glen wrote:Just bear in mind that once you put the rear shocks on it's really going to highlight the deficiencies in the forks. More money

Especially on downhill wet corners hey

That's the one

Emmit, you must not loose sight that you have a ZRX, & all the suspension in the world wont overcome the frame flexing, & twisting. So by throwing money at top shelf suspension isnt gonna fix the built in frame definishy issues. You could do some bracing here & there which will help up to a point, [like they did in the naked bike series] It comes to the point were the "means wont meet the end".. You will never make a ZX10 out of a ZRX no matter how hard you try, & how much money you spend. So little step mate thats the anwser.. IMO

s man, that's just what we call character! that's why only those who can, ride them hard!!! But, to be honest, you have to be doing racetrack corner speeds in order to get the frame to flex. That's all things being equal, as in no luggage, pillion or any other road paraphenalia, the frame doesn't flex often on the road. You have to be going through a very fast corner carrying as many gazelles as the corner will allow before that happens and I don't know about you, but I never ride that fast on the road.

Back to the shocks, Angry Emmet, just go buy the Gazi's mate, they are a cracking set of shocks. I am riding closer and closer to my normal road pace and I have failed to find a deficiency yet. Matter of fact, I can't wait to test them out on the track . But, before I do a track day on it, I want to do the forks and take off the pannier racks! Not sure the scrutineers would be all that happy with 5kgs of metal framework hanging off the back of the bike!

Strika wrote:before I do a track day on it, I want to do the forks and take off the pannier racks! Not sure the scrutineers would be all that happy with 5kgs of metal framework hanging off the back of the bike!

Well, there would be less than 5kg's by the time you finish

Strika I find the frame flex at far less than race track speeds! I might go over all the engine mount bolt again? I even fitted stainless steel front engine mount bolts for strenth! To try to tighten up the frame a bit.
The frame is by far the week point of the ZRX. & Fork brace would most likely help a lot, & as I said some extra bracing welded into the frame would help for sure. But a spirited run down to the PITS can have my ZRX twisting like a peice of half boiled spagetti. It mostly does it on fast change of direction, or high speed woops in the road. I suppose it is what we all perceve as fast.. But as for "character" the ZRX has that by the truck load!!