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SteelRain

Great Suspension Experience

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Every once in a while we stumble upon a great deal or when we are really blessed a great deal stumbles upon us. Recently the latter occurred on this forum and I was one of several who took advantage. Here are my thoughts, please feel free to add your own; he deserves the feedback.

George (member name Suspenders) began offering a service so that he could practice working on a wider range of suspension components and setups. Being cheap, I prefer to do my own suspension work; this also allows me to know exactly what has been completed but I could not pass up a great opportunity like this one. I am gad I did not.

Over the two weeks it took me to find time to get the bike to George he and I had several discussions about what setup I wanted/needed and how that would work for the types of riding I do and intended use for the bike. I truly believe he thought I was nuts, I was asking for a very wide range of capabilities on a bike that is already a confirmed 304 pounds wet. On top of the OEM confirmed weight I had added a 7 gallon tank and though a great deal of weight had been shaved in other places the numbers were adding up quickly. The goal for the XRR was to make it handle much better at speed, be "jumpable" over real desert obstacles as well those on motocross tracks, handle deep sand without wallowing, and sharpen the the steering at low speed.

That was a tall order; George went to work finding solutions.

Shortly before I took the bike to him, George called me and we discussed his findings and how they compared to what I thought we should do. He had run several simulations and pinged his contacts to get their thoughts; the decision was made to make some minor tweaks to the original plan to soften the bike ever so slightly (this turned out to be a good call).

Only one minor setback prevented the bike from being back in my garage before the week was out; Honda had a part delay for a non-suspension related item I had broken and George wanted to fix. This was no concern for me anyway since I was going out of town for a week. The day I got back though, the bike was ready and I was antsy to test her out. A short trip to Ocotillo Wells after the rain was the perfect testing day.

The bike took up off Blow Sand like a bat out of hell, with not so much as a wobble from a complete standstill. The XRR took the tails and roads like a much lighter bike. Then I added the real test; over an hour of jumping on and climbing to the top of Shell Reef and even a few pivot turns to track my riding partner rear wheel on my way down. I was sold, the XRR had become a nimble and powerful tool with some expert tuning.

So George is smart about setting up suspension, and he did and excellent job. But that is not enough in a riding community as tight knit as the Southern California DS community is. George is more than willing to talk bikes any chance he gets, every time I met him he was wrenching on his son's MX bikes or another customer bike with a smile on his face. You tell that riding is in his blood and he honestly wants everyone else to enjoy riding also. I, for one, am very happy to have met the guy; I can see this venture of his doing well for years to come. He is now one of the few people/places I trust with my bikes.

How would I rate my experience with George and his services? On a scale of 1 to 10; I would crank it to 11 and keep on turning. Knowledge, capability, and personality it does not get any better than that.

Thanks George!

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thanks for the feedback- he has the forks for my WR right now, and has assured me he is going to make the bike feel like a 250F...or we got confused on the texts... either way, he assured me the forks will be so good, I need the shock done too...

he seems to know a lot, but quickly assured me he was going to do some more research on THIS EXACT bike... he decided to adjust the seal springs, based on my obesity and finesse on a bike, he thought he could avoid one of the challenges with this bike... the seals leak on the 48s... but he has a solution

as steelrain said- his son races MX (just won his class at Barona "My trophy is SIX FEET TALL" he told me... cute kid; he's 8 and rides better than I do.... just wonderful

His bikes and garage are cleaner than my kitchen floor, even though he is re-doing the floor in his house.

I hope I have enough talent to justify the work on the WR, although I doubt it...

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Steel - What was done to the suspension. Revalve, new springs, new fluids? I thought when i read suspenders original post that he was offering preventive maintenance service only. It sounds as though he tuned your suspension with different internals, is this correct?

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speaking for myself... i lured him in with a seal and fluid change, then broke down in tears and begged for his help

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I would like to echo the testament Steel Rain gave. I stand behind George on both his professional service and work abilities. George (Suspenders on SDAR) is opening Suspension 101. He currently does full race prep on a few championship bikes. He was quick to answer his phone, quick to answer my questions and quick to get the work done.

My 2000 DRZ400E probably never had the suspension serviced. I contacted him for a refresh and possible revalve. I had one huge caveat, I didn't want to spend a ton of money. George did extensive research, talked with other professionals as far as Canada and we came up with a game plan. Front and rear service, replace any worn parts and do a full revalve. I told him I wanted the DRZ to blast through the whoops as hard as I could take it. The problem with the DRZ forks are a poor midvalve which limits oil flow. He found a relatively untested shim stack and asked around to verify its expected characteristics. RaceTech Gold Valves are $180 or something; this stack required modifying the existing shims and would be free. He was open with me to test this new stack and we went for it.

After more conversations with his fellow pros about the rear shock and stack, people kept recommending stiffer fork springs to take advantage of the revalve. I'm only 150lbs so I was hesitant that I needed springs but he contacted 3 separate people who noted that I should use them. My fork had already been assembled and on the bike, he took it down, apart and installed the new RaceTech springs at no extra charge. My rear shim stack came from a collaborated effort between George and a seasoned pro from the Great White North who has years of experience prepping pro woods racers.

He uses the best of the best oils and parts. When I went to pick up the bike, it was assembled and ready for me to sit on it for the sag setting. He had even fixed a few random things on the bike like lubing my clutch cable and bleeding my front brakes! We ended up setting my sag and getting it just right. He researched everything and listened to my concerns about seat height.

Saturday I went to Superstition to hit as many whoops as possible. While riding a whooped out pole line, I blew by a quad riding the flats next to the whoops. Sunday I went to Ocotillo Wells for more abuse. Hit some easy trail jumps, did some messing around at Shell Reef and blasted the whoop line along the 78 from Pole Line Rd to the Ranger Station. I feel far more confident in the whoops, the bike doesn't tire out or get overwhelmed like it did before. Its still heavier than my CR125 (every bike is) but I'm carrying (lifting) the front end through whoops, maintaining rhythm and skimming across the top. Jumping obstacles isn't an issue anymore and whacking hazards doesn't kill me like before. The bike seems more stable when getting battered.

George is an honest guy. He rides, can race on a track yet will take a dirt trip to Utah. He will work with you to set up the settings per your needs. His turn around was very quick, he updated me on every order or change he did. While on a Mojave ride a few months back, I came to the conclusion to stop eying others' bikes, get my suspension done on the DRZ and spend my money burning tires and rubber. I was going to take my suspension to Precision Concepts and I am quite happy I went with George. I don't know too many DRZ and XRR riders who want to hit the MX track. This alone should be testament to his work. I'm in the process of putting together a video for him to see the suspension in action.

Thanks George!

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Wow,

I just found this post as I have been to busy on bikesluts forks to leave the garage!

Just kidding, they have been done and are ready to pick up anytime. Indeed I am eager to have you try these forks and I look at them each day longing for your review.

I am told you will put them to the test.

Thank you all for the kind words, it really is win win as you guys are helping me out and I do appreciate it!!!

I have been staying pretty busy and as soon as I start getting bored then I will start charging $. Get it while it is hot folks I only have 5 sets of suspension in the garage right now.

I now have some wholesale accounts so I can make a few bucks on parts. Keeps my lights on.

Warm Regards,

George

619 997-5193

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I also would like to thank George (Suspenders) for the work he did on my bikes. He replaced the fluids, seals and bushings on the forks and serviced the shock for my son's bike. On my bike he added a spacer to the rear shock to lower it. Very pleased with the whole experience. George would send updates as needed, good honest guy. Also gave me a chance to reminisce about the early days.

Once again, Thank you George.

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Just another satisfied forker here. My trusty old beat-up Yamaha hadn't had the suspension serviced for a long time. Fork seals had been changed out a few times but I don't think the rear shock had ever been touched.

Anyway, I contacted George and brought the WR400's boingy parts to him. I didn't have a lot of input like the rest of you did, I just asked if he could bring them back to life. He quickly got to work on the stuff and found that a lot of my front fork components were in bad shape. I picked up another set of forks off Ebay and he made a good set out of the best parts from the two fork sets. He even got it done in time for my New Years desert riding weekend, although there are a couple small things he wants me to bring it back to him to finish after that.

I got it all bolted up and back together last night and am looking forward to testing it out. I really need to learn more about setting up suspension, I don't even know how to properly set up sag.

Bravo George, bravo!

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