Thoughts about Showa shocks

[Hello_Darkness]

After our competition in Georgia, we were afforded the opportunity to drive 4 seat Talon X base models at Iron Mountain in Dahlonega, GA. All units were stock, no modifications or accessories at all.

The ride was around 14 miles, with speeds averaging above 20mph. We weren't taking it easy, and the trails were a mix of fresh trail, whooped out and rutted/cross rutted sections. Speeds did rear mid 40s at times, on all sorts of trail types.

Let me preface my observations by saying I've never driven any UTV beyond the parking lot of the 2 dealerships I've worked for. Other than the 1 time I test drove a P1K in a rock pit up from our dealership for diagnostic purposes. So my experience is limited to those situations.

All I can say is the Showas didn't seem that bad, the front was very good and soaked up more then I thought it would at first. My General Manager who owns a Talon R, converted to a XC turbo race car said they were pretty impressiveal as well..The rear was definitely less smooth, but being further behind you may have made it worse or not as apparent. I would like to attempt the same situation in a 2 seater and get a feel for the rear more.

For anyone with an older model (before the power steering update) the new power steering is phenomenal and never seemed to struggle, even with aggressive quick turns.

All in all i was impressed what that machine did and took without a flinch. Again i dont have the experience any of you do here with these machines, but it was still amazing to me.

 

[Admin]

 

[906UP]

@GovtMule & @JayPo have Talons with the Showa's, maybe they can give their thoughts.

I'm showing my age a bit but when I was racing motocross & hare scrambles/enduros, late 80's-early 90's, Showa was the most common shock/forks being run. I always had a good impression of them.

 

[GovtMule]

I don’t have anything to compare it to other than my Pioneer that had Fox Shocks. I don’t have any complaints with the Showa’s, yet.

 

[lee]

@Hello_Darkness my impression is that you where using the vehicle at the speeds it was designed for.
If you cut the speed to half or a quarter then it would seam too stiff or rough and you might spill your beer.
(Just my 2 yen worth)

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

The new Showa shocks on the Talon R are set up very similar to how my custom tuned shocks are set up spring wise for short course racing. I don't run a dual rate setup. The crossovers set ride height and the tenders are there to keep the springs in place under full extension. It also completely eliminates rear bucking because as my car leaves the ground it doesn't have a bunch of extra stored energy in the rear springs to cause the bucking.

My only Issue with the Showa shocks is that there is no preload/height adjustment as delivered from Honda but I think its 100% possible to order parts from Showa to change that. The new model KRX has Showa shocks as well, but they have dual rate springs and crossovers on what's basically the same shock....

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

@Hello_Darkness my impression is that you where using the vehicle at the speeds it was designed for.
If you cut the speed to half or a quarter then it would seam too stiff or rough and you might spill your beer.
(Just my 2 yen worth)

Some people really should have bought a Jeep Wrangler instead of a SxS......

 

[JayPo]

I have no complaints so far (about 900 miles) with the Showa shocks on a 2 seater 1000R. But I have never ridden any other Talon and my only comparisons are my old SXSs; a P500 and a Yamaha X2 850. The ride of my Talon is way more better than those. I have played with the settings and have settled on midway between soft and middle on the low speed damping and full soft on the high speed damping. Most of the miles have been at slow speed (< 20 mph) on trails like Windrock and TWRA.

 

[JWB]

I don't doubt that Showa struts are high quality, they've been around forever. But the ones on the rear of the Talon X 2 seater are so wrong it's hard to believe Honda could miss so badly. It seems so far that this is really only an issue on the 2 seat version of the X model. I've posted this in other threads- the X 2 seat rides like Absolute Sh*t. I just replaced all four with Bandit Stage 5 struts. They were $2400 to my door. I haven't had it on the trails yet, just in the fields and road to my house, but I can say that it rides as it should- nice and soft- no back breaking jounces, no more diving under braking, or squatting on acceleration, and surprisingly, it took care of the crazy touchy throttle thing too.

 

[CID]

I don't doubt that Showa struts are high quality, they've been around forever. But the ones on the rear of the Talon X 2 seater are so wrong it's hard to believe Honda could miss so badly. It seems so far that this is really only an issue on the 2 seat version of the X model. I've posted this in other threads- the X 2 seat rides like Absolute Sh*t. I just replaced all four with Bandit Stage 5 struts. They were $2400 to my door. I haven't had it on the trails yet, just in the fields and road to my house, but I can say that it rides as it should- nice and soft- no back breaking jounces, no more diving under braking, or squatting on acceleration, and surprisingly, it took care of the crazy touchy throttle thing too.

I'm not arguing that the X is poorly valved for what most of us use our Talons for.

I'm just adding this for ... whatever ...

One of our members, in Canada IIRC (X is all that's available there), set up a course through the forest. He had hated the suspension on his X since the beginning and, I believe, that he had come from Poo Poo or Canned Ham. And he sold his X and bought a turbo Canned Ham IIRC ...

As bad as he felt the suspension was on his X, it set the fastest time through that course; both directions. So, as bad as it seems, Honda had 'something' in mind.

I'll add this (and I know very little about suspension) - the factory sets up the shock to work at a specific 'shock shaft speed'. If we don't ride fast enough to get the shafts up to that engineered speed, the shocks can't work as engineered.

My '21 R rides like a dump truck most of the time ... but I ride in the desert and it's wide open out there. Although I try to keep my speeds under control (because I'm usually alone), every once in a while something (a washout) will jump up in front of me. I won't have time to react and I'll poop my pants thinking that I just folded my Talon in half. 😢

Much to my surprise, the Talon's response to that will be - "That all U got?"

I still think my R rides like a dump truck.

 

[futzin]

@Hello_Darkness my impression is that you where using the vehicle at the speeds it was designed for.
If you cut the speed to half or a quarter then it would seam too stiff or rough and you might spill your beer.
(Just my 2 yen worth)

 

[futzin]

Some people really should have bought a Jeep Wrangler instead of a SxS......