New Triumph Street Triple suspension conundrum

**Devil** · 9th November 2007, 07:33

Originally Posted by Big Dave

My bit is in the KR out today.

I shall seek it out, just incase you've inadvertantly hurt my feelings.

Besides, how the hell did you get your XL carcass on a Street Triple?

**Robert Taylor** · 9th November 2007, 12:47

Originally Posted by Devil

I've spoken with Ohlins Sweden. They will be providing suspension for the Street Triple from 2008 (they could not be more specific with dates/models).

From riding the thing, you dont need to ditch the exhausts (low priority for me) because it sounds damn sexy as is.

Now, to screw a deal on a trade...

Its important to note several things here

1) All enquiries from private customers are channeled back through the recognised distributor, correct etiquette. In this case I was forwarded the e-mail enquiry whilst in transit overseas and was able to respond with the answer that Ohlins gave me

2) There will indeed be a listing but this depends on availability of a bike for Ohlins to measure, develop on dyno and on road, ensure that there are at minimum hundreds of sales etc etc. Ohlins are very pedantic about the shock working properly to their high standards, as opposed to manufacturers of budget shocks that do little better than fit the bike. ''Reasonable price'' shocks dont always deliver reasonable performance. Accessing donor bikes is not always that easy because the bike manufacturers dont like to admit that oem suspension is often woeful

3) WP in all fairness make some good shocks but their supply is to be polite not that good. This is likely to get worse as they appear to be retrenching towards oem supply only to their owners KTM. Even given that the new up-spec KTM racing ATV has Ohlins standard, as do their 125 and 250cc road race teams.

4) I have just returned from an Ohlins distributor conference in Italy. Present was the CEO of Ohlins Germany ( a subsidiary of Ohlins AB Sweden ) one Mr Wim Peters, the man who started WP suspension and subsequently sold out to KTM. This is an absolute coup.

5)Sorry, I just dont rate Elka, they have failed to gain traction in the road market as there is not enough depth of historical knowlege / experience. And what is the backup?

5) While all and sundry will speculate about quick fixes for this model sometimes it is just better to wait for properly developed and tested product. It is not that a company like Ohlins drags its heels, there has to be enough worldwide demand, production capacity etc in amongst a plethora of models. Everything is not as simple as it seems to many casual observers.

**Devil** · 9th November 2007, 13:05

I, for one, will be happy to wait for the ohlins goodies. Best to let someone else do all the research work instead of trial and error myself!

Oh and Robert, I sent that query straight to ohlins because I knew you'd have to ask them anyway! Saving you a step!

**Robert Taylor** · 9th November 2007, 17:50

Originally Posted by Devil

I, for one, will be happy to wait for the ohlins goodies. Best to let someone else do all the research work instead of trial and error myself!

Oh and Robert, I sent that query straight to ohlins because I knew you'd have to ask them anyway! Saving you a step!

No problem, I was away and as it worked out I received the message more quickly in this instance than if you had sent to my standard e-mail address

**El Dopa** · 9th November 2007, 18:30

Originally Posted by TDC

Ummm, Aside from the mechanical fitting assumptions (diameters lengths spacings etc) if you are prepared to have the front end revalved and resprung to suit the new requirements, why not

I am assuming (cos I haven't read otherwise) that the fork diameter (and spacing in the triples), the front wheel and front tyre size are exactly the same. The frame is as far as I know exactly the same.

For precision, my question should really have been: Assuming all the mechanical variables (sizes, etc) are identical, is there anything that you as a suspension guru can point up to a know-nothing munter such as myself that I would not otherwise have thought of? Much the same as you flagged up for the rear shock.

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

cost a bunch of money wunnit?

Yep. And we are curently in El Dopa's private fantasy land. Where the ohlins rear shock I order with my imaginary money (same account as I used to pay for the bike) is delivered personally by the Swedish volleyball team. All of whose dads own breweries.

**TDC** · 9th November 2007, 20:18

Originally Posted by El Dopa

For precision, my question should really have been: Assuming all the mechanical variables (sizes, etc) are identical, is there anything that you as a suspension guru can point up to a know-nothing munter such as myself that I would not otherwise have thought of? Much the same as you flagged up for the rear shock.

Its really just a matter of balance. That is balance of the front and rear ends set in keeping with the dynamics of the bike.

So what we would do in this case (assuming you were happy with the average budget priced fork internals) is revalve them to provide the correct response given the weight of the bike and rider, and weight distribution of the same. Pretty much the some job as is required in the rear, just different parts and processes