Suspension upgrade?

[Wildfire]

So I picked up project Monster yesterday, all seems good. Surprisingly it came with some Leo Vince SBK cans. Having ridden it I find the suspension a little soft, specifically the rear.

What are the upgrade options?

I was looking at a Hagon rear shock, but aside from new Ohlins, what are the front options?

Can I fit adjustable forks from a later Monster? If so what is a good year to go for?

Thanks

[BigOz]

Hi,

I've seen a few people with Nitron shocks and they look well made.

[Thirdway]

Just have the forks internals replaced by a good specialist. I recommend Reactive Suspension in York. There are few others who are also good.

The Hagon should be fine for the rear, Nitron is a little blingier, but for road riding you don't really need a ton of adjustability, just a spring matched to your weight and good damping control.

Swapping forks is usually a waste, unless your are seriously damaged, or badly worn. Most OEM stuff is budget anyway. Daft really, the cost of higher spec internals is marginal.

If you send Reactive an email with details he will send back costings. Give him a few days as he gets busy.

[Zimbo]

As above really, the front forks are Marzocchi and are pretty budget, they can't easily be upgraded other than fitting new springs matched to your weight, although you can tune the damping with oil weights. One fork does compression damping, the other does rebound. A pair of Showas from a 900 are an easy swap and are better and far easier to upgrade with custom shim stacks to get the damping perfect.
For the rear, Hagon are a good budget shock but Nitron aren't much more expensive and are a much better shock, supplied with spring matched to your weight.

[Phatty]

Reactive did my front forks. But mine are Showa's, only needed a revalve and springs. He recommended and fitted a Traxxion Dynamics kit. I coupled that with an Ohlins rear shock.

It felt far too stiff at first but once I set the preload and backed off the settings a few clicks it felt amazing.

[Wasta]

I had the R1 set up by him. Best money I spent on the bike.