Hagen Nitro Shocks

[beardyweirdy@me.com_imp]

I bought and fitted a pair of Hagon Nitro Shocks yesterday.
They don't have the CB1100 listed on there website as a model they cover but I spoke to Dave at Hagon and he has the specs. Dave made up a pair for me for the next day. I popped round to their workshop in Essex and collected them yesterday.

Dave couldn't have been more helpful. He got a jack out and lent me a few tools and we fitted them there and then. He checked that the specs were right and showed me how to fit them properly. Then showed me how to set them up and got them in the right ball park for me and the bike.

I then gave them a 160 mile run to fine tune them.

They have a rubber cush on the slider to soften them bottoming out. He said you can use this to see how much travel your using. Very helpful. Ideally you should find the cush towards the bottom of the slider but not touching the bottom casting. That way your using the full travel of the shock but not bottoming out and loosing some of it's action.
I'd set the damping adjuster to the midway point of it's 10 clicks at 5.

After the first run, a blast thru town and a fast A road burn, I stopped to have a look what was happening. From the feel of the bike it was a bit bouncy and felt a bit soft.

The rubber cush was against the bottom casting, indicating that I wasn't getting the best from it. I increased the Pre-load of the spring and added another click of damping. I then set off on a twisty country lane blast, up to about 70ish. Pushing quite hard. Then a FAST ride down the motorway back to London and a quick ride thru the backstreets of South London, taking Sleeping Policemen (Speed Bump Restrictions) at speed. One to test the shocks and two because I was late for a meeting ;-)

When I checked the Cush at the end of the run, they were pushed down to about 1/4 inch off the bottom. Figured I had the pre-load set about bang-on.

The ride after I'd increased the Pre-load and adjusted the damping was fantastic. The backroads were a hoon. Very agile and never got out of shape. Felt really sharp. The Highway blast was perfect, I thrashed it and it was perfectly stable up to un-speakable speeds. Crossing cats eye's, white lines and divets in the tarmac never effected the bike. Jumping the speed bumps in town was as good as it could be and the bike was super agile. It's really made the bike handle so well.

I'd highly recommend these shocks. They've really improved the bike all round. Dave and Hagon were great. Really friendly bunch and very helpful. You really couldn't ask for more.

Also, at £399 a pair they are, I think, great value. I asked Dave if he sold in the USA and he said they had an outlet in Cali. Also, I guess you could order direct from the UK.

Gett'em while the Pound is so low!!
Also, just to add, I asked for Black Castings with a Black Spring.
They were made up for me as I wanted them. All for the next day... not bad!

I'll post a pic later on...

[Inhouse Bob]

Good price for a better shock!

[Ulvetanna_imp]

shocks are the best possible upgrade for the bike as far as handling

ikon also a good brand for the $$$

[Papa Weeley_imp]

I dealt with Hagon here in California, and I have to say, their customer service is A-1. Great people to deal with, and very helpful. The big attraction for their line is that they can put them together to suit your weight, riding style, and even looks on some models ("slimline" versions versus a heftier looking model, and chrome or black springs and caps, as well as some anodized colors).
They also build your shocks to order, and give you a set delivery date. When they didn't get the components in from the UK that they were expecting for my custom spec set, they emailed me immediately, giving me the reason for the delay, and a new, concrete date so that I'd know exactly when to expect them. Great service.
The improvement they made on my Bonneville was exceptional - and for an EXTREMELY reasonable price. They're very popular with the retro Triumph crowd, but oddly enough, I never thought of them for the CB. I'm actually pretty satisfied with my CB's ride, but for that kind of money, it might be interesting to try them out. Which of the Nitro model variations did you get? Would be great to see a pic!

[TINK_imp]

Rear shocks will definitely make a big improvement on handling.
Front spring upgrade will balance out the bike perfectly
Here's my write-up on installing Race Tech springs > http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3773

PS
I went with IKON (a/k/a/ KONI) on the rear.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

chrome covers with black springs looked good on 2013

i ended up with the ikons set at max preload and max damping all the time

that is set to the 4th out of 4 damping selections

each setting is very noticeably different from the next

as with the hagon they were built to my weight and style and turned out to be ideal

take note as the front spring preload and ride height are very important as well