Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126003
... g' 11II -= ~ t l.!') r--- O"l ...... O"l ...... .... til _ The Red Wing rebuild kit has all the bits and pieces necessary to fix a blown shock, and they 're already mounted o n the shaft. The special wrench used to remove the caps is p ictured in the foreground. For less than $15, y o u get almost a whole sh ock . ~ b.O ~ < E.C. Birt 's Test Ben ch b rings Cycle News readers th e hot scoop on w hat it t akes to make their machinery m ore co m petitive in t he rough world of r acing. Here's how it works: A man ufac turer of a go-fas t goodie sen ds a sample to E.C. (E.C.'s Test Bench ; 22 04 N.W. 15th Way, Boynton, Beach, Florida 33435) fo r test ing. The p roduct is give n a complete going over both on t he d yno and o n t he track. If it p erfo rm s, E.C. tells t he world . If it do esn ' t , E.C. gives th e manufact urer an op p ortunity to see w hy n ot and to correct any prob lems, t h en repo rts o n th e results. Yo u always get faster with E.C. Bir t. Across my desk travels a good number of products -for testing. Some of these products are good, some are fair, and others are a waste of time. Som e of these p roducts yo u co uld write a boo k on te lling what they do or, on the o ther hand , 30 wh at th ey won't d o. So me of them get a b ook wr itten on them that you never see (not ye t an y wa y) abo ut wh at needs to b e changed . Now 1 h ave a d ifferen t probl em . Here's a product that , as yet, I can 't fi nd an ything wrong with. It has everything. If it doesn't work, it h as the parts to make it work. 1 guess I'd b etter start fro m the t op and wo rk my way d own. I co uld just ab o ut s to p here and say n oth ing mo re b e c a u se if something is b uilt w ell enough to d o the job that it 's su pposed to , yo u d on ' t need to say anything. But thats no t fair to yo u , the reader. It all st arted b ack about twelve weeks ago when I go t a call from the Marubeni America Co rp o rat ion . On the o ther end of the line was a gentleman by th e name of Ken McFall. He's o ne of th e ch ief bottle washers for Marubeni o ut of New York. Marub en i is a very larg e co rp o ra t ion fro m the La nd of the Rising Sun , and one of their product lines is suspension co m p onen ts fo r mo t o rcy cles that they mar ket under the name of Re d Wing . Mr. Mc Fall informe d me that .they we re ready t o release a new he avy duty rea r sh ock that was t o t ally rebuild able and wo uld handle the need s of any motorcycle. He also said that t hey had wh at th ey ca ll a Ride Guide t hat Dick Mann h ad helped th em p ut toge ther, and t hat this Ride Gu ide was written so th at any on e co uld take it and figure out what t o order to fit his nee ds : wei gh t o f ride r , we igh t of b ik e , t ype o f rid ing. . .t he wh ole ball ga me. T hey also o ffe r co mp le te re build ki ts fo r the shoc ks an d t he special to ols th at it takes to rebuild them ..He en ded with, " I' m sure that yo u wi ll find th em one of th e b etter sh o cks that yo u have ever see n and would like to have y o u tes t a pair of them o ut fo r us." As he was talki ng I said to m y sel f, "I'll let him fin ish h is spee ch , then I'll t hro w a curve at him . When he fin ishe d I said I wo uld give them a test an d t his was what I wanted fo r te sting: With a h ee -hee o n t he b ack of m y t ongue, I said set me up with a set of sho cks fo r a Maico with th e sh ock s mo ved up . 500 farther th en the stoc k GP Maic o , be cause th at's th e way o ur frames are . Also, I co ntin ued you'd better send me a co uple o f rebuild ki ts an d the special t ools t hat it takes to rebuild them . No problem. Mr. McFall said he would see to it th at the shocks and spares were sen t o ut th at d ay . As he hung up the ph o ne I wo ndered l t o my self just how lo ng th ey would las t before th ey blew their b rain s o ut. He re in Florida re ar sh ock failure o n lon g t ravel rear sus pension is j ust so methi ng th at y o u get used t o . Well, at leas t t hey're sending the parts t o o verhaul them wi th . I won 't just h ave t o t ak e t hem off and p itch them in file 13 . Two we eks later a tru ck arrived at the shop and th ey unloaded a sm all b ox with the words Red Win g o n it. Can yo u believe tw o weeks fro m New York ? Th at was long eno ugh t hat I h ad fo rgo t t hat th ey wer e co mi ng . A cl ose insp ect io n of th e sh o ck b ody showe d tha t it wa s made by a cas ting pro cess, and that it wa s a lot stronge r t hen yo u would think at fir st glance. T he h am mer h ead designed b od y w o uld h old eno ugh oi l so th at th ey sho uld st ay co ol all the w ay throu gh a mo t o with o ut heat fad e. But spri ng design wa s what caugh t m y attentio n more th an any thing else . Ins tead o f using one spring th ey used t wo. It 's a bette r syst em th an a conventional progressive wound sp ring because this way the two springs do tt their job without figh t in g each o the r. In s ho r t, spring rat e stays where it ' s suppo sed t o . Where t he two springs fit t ogeth er th er e ' s a nylon guide that held the to spring s fro m se tting o n t op of each ot h er and also keeps the sp rin gs f ro m rubbing o n the body of th e shock . Trick st uff. . The sho ck sh aft it self is .500 t hick ; 1/2 " in plain talk. Bending a shock is go ing t o be som et hing t hat would really tak e so m e d oing. Ab out th e o nly way yo u co uld bend o ne w o uld be to t ak e a direct h it in the sid e fro m ano the r mo torcycle , and if h e hi ts yo u hard eno ugh to be nd the shock, you're not going t o care, anyway. Not t ha t day at leas t. T he re b uil d k i t had eve ry t h ing remou nte d o n the shaft already ; even wit h a new top ey e . Upper and lower shock b ush ings . This reb uil d kit gives yo u almost a co m plete new sho ck. The only thing th at y ou would u se fro m the original shocks wo uld be t he shock' body and the springs and spring clips. You get all this for $ 14.55 for a se t, no t each . Lat ely , I've seen $14.00 buy a lot less. If you want to b uy o ne of t he reb uild tools, a special wre nc h rem o ves the caps , it cost s so mewhere around $7 .00 . Well , as the o ld saying go es, they loo k good, but do th ey w ork ? I put th e shocks t oge t her and chuc ke d th e spare set o f da m pers (reb uild kit) and th e wren ch back in th e bo x . Then we mo un ted them o n o ne o f our Mai cos, Sun day at t he race s, t he Maico th at h ad t he Red Wing shocks o n it went o ut in practice and got a case of the slows. It was a pract ice b ik e and in need of a fresh t op end, b ut it would serve a p urpos e t od ay as being spares. Tak e a co m plete motorcycle with yo u and y o u h a v e a c o m p le te r o ll i n g p art s departmen t , As the day o f racing got u nd er way , Frankie J o h o nso n, the flying Flea , was mo un t ed o n his b rand new Mo ntesa VR -75 , and in the fir st moto caught him sel f a Ya maha , righ t in t he side o f th e bike wiping o ut a sh o ck . Ba ck into the p it s he came , and th e o nly t hing that we had for shocks w as th e Red Wings. So, off t he Ma ico ca m e t he sh o ck s and all at o n ce we had a problem . The h amm er he ad part o f th e shoc k hit the swing arm. So me sh o cks work alrigh t up side d own and o thers d on't. At t hat m omen t no one knew if they w ould work up side d own or not; but th ere was no ch oi ce. It was eithe r up sid e down o r n othing. So , on they went ups ide down. After th e moto was ove r I aske d Frankie how the sh o cks felt . Great , was his answe r . After th e t hird race I was st ill getting th e sam e a nswer t hat they wer e wor king fin e and had no fade prob lem s, plus th ey h adn't sho wn any signs of leaking . We figured th ey must b e alrigh t up sid e down and I quit worry in g ab ou t th em. A co uple o f week s late r Mr. McFall ca lled t o see what I h ad t o repo rt on t he shock s. All I co uld tell him was that th e shocks had b ee n t ak en off of t he Maico and pu t o n a Montesa , b ut t ha t th ey had five ra ces on t hem so far and t hey w er e working fin e and th at I had had n o prob lems wi th the m, yet. T he n I re mem bered my little no t e and I said . " Mr . McFall, I've been running th ese sh oc ks upside d own because t hat's the on ly way t hey will fit th e bi ke . Very quickly he informed m e. th at th at was a NO! NO! NO! Becau se of th e way th at th ey were design ed , t hey by n o m ean s sh ould be run upside d own. It wasn 't so m uch th at it affect ed the damping as it was t he fact that it would cause air b uil d up in the b od y of the sho ck and th ey w ould st art fad ing b efore t he m o t o wa s over. So, b y all mean s, rem ember you ar e no t supposed to run these sho cks upsid e d own. If yo u do you m ay get y o urself hurt . Also it m igh t vo id yo ur 90 day warranty . N ow we're on o ur eigh th o r n int h race, I think. I've lost co un t. The shocks are still on upside do wn and as ye t th ey are wo rkin g fi ne . 1 guess I' ll have to sum it up this way. I've d on e what I should n't h ave , and it was unfair to th e shock test in away. But 1 ki nd of h ave to lo o k at it the other way. I've mad e th e sh o ck s do so mething t hey we re n't suppose to do and they have b een unde r more of a st rain this way . St ill , th ey have no t faile d . The cost of t hese shocks is just unde r a S 100 fo r a set. You co uld spend more fo r some of th e o t her sh oc ks . Wou ld yo u get m ore for yo ur m o ney w ith one of the o ther brands of shocks? Good q u est ion. Do you want something th at wo rks, o r so mething t hat has a trick nam e t h at cos t more and may not d o th e job any better? 1 k now what yo ur t h in king. Oil shocks are behi nd t he times and it has to b e gas to b e any good . Poppy -co ck. I've go t a 1969 Fo rd Va n that has 162 ,00 0 mil es on it and it still r u n s st ro ng . Red Wing have a gas sho ck ? Yes , th ey d o, but as yet they are ra re as h en's tee th . On ly p lac e I kn o w is on o ur fact o ry Roko ns, So far th ey h ave been like th e ham mer head shock in that th ey haven 't given an y p roblems ei ther. E. C. Birt The "hammerhead " design hold s enough oi l to stay cool th roughout the mota. Two sets of springs are used w ith a ny lon guide t o keep them from rubbing on the shock body .