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Daughtery Motorsports Rear Shock Revalve

9K views 33 replies 15 participants last post by  mgray87 
#1 ·
Does anyone have any experience with Daughter Motorsports DL650 revalves, good or bad?
 
#2 ·
Yes,
I had my Wee shock done by Daugherty Motorsports over the winter, I am very happy with it. Jamie answered the phone every time I called and answered all my questions, very easy to deal with.
I don't think you can beat the price for his service, I had the shock rebuilt with a new seal, new spring installed with his spacers and had him send me a set of fork seals at the same time and it was under $300 for all of it including the return shipping.
I am happy with the rear suspension now, I can run very little preload solo but crank it up when two-up, the bike is much more stable in the corners now than with the under sprung stock setup.
Now with the rear sorted I am chasing the front suspension setup trying to get the emulators tuned and working the way I want it to.
 
#3 ·
Did Daugherty upgrade the damping, as well as the new seal and spring? (Can they upgrade the damping?)
 
#4 ·
Yes, he upgrades the dampening. And he installs a needle style nitrogen port. This is my only concern with the rebuild as I have heard that these type of ports can leak over time. But that being said it will be easy to do a fluid change/nitrogen top up in the future as the shock is now rebuildable.

I think I have found a good used shock to send to him and get the valving/spring upgrade. I will post how it turns out.

Daugherty Motorsports - Motorcycle Suspension Performance and Modification
 
#5 ·
Greywolf, how about a sticky with a listing of the shops that can rebuild and upgrade stock shocks?
 
#6 ·
I don't know what he specifically does to upgrade the damping but it seams to work well.
My first ride with the shock had me scared when it tried to kick me over the bars going over a set of railroad tracks until I realized that I hadn't checked the rebound adjustment....it was backed out all the way!! I am running it about 1 turn out now and it works well.
 
#8 ·
Rebuilding the stock shock certainly isn't in the same league as a 3 or 4 way adjustable Elka but it is also only 1/4 of the price. I didn't want to loose the remote preload adjuster because I do use it and when you add that to even the least expensive replacement shock the price really starts to climb out of my range.
I don't have a lot of miles on mine yet but so far I am happy with the rebuild and new spring from Daugherty Motor Sports.
 
#12 ·
I've been considering doing this...How much was shipping for those big ol' parts? :confused:

I've got a new set of front springs I haven't put in yet only because I was debating having him do both the front and rear suspension....I had contacted him and asked some general questions and he was a really great and easy guy to talk to, I'm just thinking that shipping is going to cost me an arm and a leg...
 
#14 ·
It cost me about $23.00 to ship my shock out Priority Mail, the return shipping was included in Jamie's price of the rebuild, I don't know what the forks would cost to ship.
 
#17 ·
So I finally got my suspension back from Daughtery's. Let me air the dirty laundry first off.

The delayed shipping of the suspension ended up delaying my cross Canada trip. Jamie contacted myself and said that the springs were delayed and he would not have the shock finished until May 30th. No problem. He contacted me on the 30th and said the shock is complete and ready to ship. Perfect. The shipping notice was then not completed until June 7th. The post office did not recieve the package until June 11th. I did not receive the suspension until June 21st. This caused 2 issues. As mentioned this has delayed my trip. And, secondly, forced me to undertake a 10,000 kms+ journey with new suspension and no proper shake down run. If the suspension would have been sent out on the 30th or the next day it would have been a none issue.

The next issue is that Jamie only answered 1 of 4 calls placed to his business and only returned one message. But he was very polite to deal with during that one call. He also answered everyone of my emails, but only on Saturday's....

To be continued...
 
#23 · (Edited)
Same experience, don't wait until late spring!



I could have written almost the same review. I did just the shock and return was real slow, very similar to bkoz. The shock works well, much better than before, so I am happy with the result. So my advise, don't wait until the season has started, then the response will likely be slower.
 
#18 · (Edited)
The suspension as it received:


The contents:

New fork springs, new OEM Honda seals, Daughtery's emulators, rebuilt shock with new spring, the old shock spring and the old shock shims and seal head.

The shock with the nitrogen port installed. It is a needle style, possibly Race Tech:


Daughtery's Emulator


The new fork springs, looks like 0.90's:


Hyperco shock spring, note the shock cleanliness:


I am guessing the fork oil is original with 36k. Yup, it was due:


I modified the damper rods as per Jamie. Modded on the left vs the stock on the right:


Initial review upcoming....
 
#19 ·
I now have 3000 kms on the suspension, all two up, all loaded to the 9's. The improvement is substanial. IMHO the stock suspension is under suspended to the point of being unsafe when 2 up. Railroad tracks are soaked up. Frost heaves barely noticed. And the annoying bang on the back of the helmet after hitting a big pothole at highway speed has totally disappeared. The suspension got a great workout on the poor Saskatchewan and Manitoba side highways. All in all much better. And oddly enough the bike feels substantially lighter during low speed manoeuvering. I am guessing because it doesn't wallow into the meat of the suspension travel. And brake dive is hugely improved. We have done no offroad but some gravel roads and the bike is so much better there.

I do have a little tuning to do on the front end when we get back. I wouldn't mind the initial travel to be a little more supple. As per Daughtery the forks have 15w oil @ 170mm oil height and 16mm of preload. I think I may try backing off the spring tension of the emulator first. Then maybe mixing 10w and 15w for a little lighter fork oil.

Was it worth it? Yes. Even with the shipping debacle. I have both ends of the suspension done for the price of just the low end Progressive shock and still have the hydraulic preload adjustment.

I plan to post up again at the end of our trip.
 
#20 ·
bkoz or others - any experience now using the Daughtery's revalve off pavement/off road?

I am considering options currently, hoping specifically to improve when off pavement (want plush to keep the wife happy), riding primarily 2 up with luggage (yes...I do that off pavement a fair bit).
 
#21 ·
Working over the front is easy. One can do that themselves or have a local shop do the work with Daughtery or other parts. I wouldn't ship the forks.

The shock requires a specialist.
 
#22 ·
Yeah, I have done fork revalves on off road bikes (KTM's) multiple times - but those were not cartridge type forks but I am sure I can do the front. Rear, I dont really want to mess with. My bigger question is how is Daugherty's work, specifically for setting up for improved "plushness" in rocks etc. while retaining good on road performance. Similar to off road, it usually boils down to reducing high speed compression dampening, while retaining or increasing low speed. Challenge is to do it such it stays up in the stroke and not become to soft overall.
 
#24 ·
I had the same problem as others with him being slow to get the work done. When i realized I would not have the shock in time for my last big trip of the season i told him to stop work on it until after Christmas as it would be easier for me to pay the cost of repair at that point (3 boys, bought a new house and renovated old house). I have to call him on Monday to process the payment.

I have an extra rear shock once I get this new one installed, if anyone is interested in it send me a PM. There was a thread on here about it at one point lol. The idea is that this community can use the extra shock as one to have rebuiilt so that you don't have to take the one off your bike until you get the new one, then pass the deal on to someone else.
 
#25 ·
So payment was made today via credit card. I'll let you guys know updates as I get them.
 
#27 ·
Exhaust wrap on rear pipe

I bought a Daugherty rebuilt DL1000 shock for my DL650A from someone on this forum last fall. I haven't installed it yet since my bike is up for a winter repair but I am glad to hear others are happy with his work. I have a question regarding the installation. Would it make sense to do an exhaust wrap around the pipe coming out of the rear cylinder to keep it from cooking my larger shock? I'm not sure if there is more clearance on the DL1000 and thought the wrap might reduce the heat on the shock and thus maybe last a bit longer.
 
#28 ·
I can't see the need for the exhaust wrap.

I installed mine today and it was a very simple install. less then half an hour and I was done.

I have a stock shock if anyone is interested in having the rebuild one I can see it to daughtry for you.
 
#30 ·
sbeadg is now having the shock rebuilt for his bike. So if anyone else is interested they should contact him to get his stock shock sent to Daughtery motorsports once he gets his rebuilt one and has it installed.
 
#32 ·
PM replied.
Motor7: if you are itching to have a Daugherty shock in the next couple weeks, you can take Tenny80's. PM me your email so we can get it straight with Jamie.
 
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