Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods Hagon Shocks.. the story so far

After changing my front springs for hagon progressive and seeing such a major handling improvement I decided to get some rear progressive adjustables (2810)

Went to their shop, 23 miles away, picked up a set, went home and fitted, then leant on rear of bike and woah.. too much travel, went back to shop and had the springs changed from 20kg to 23kg, fitted them and still not happy so took them back to shop (again) and had 26kg springs fitted.. yummy, BUT, the dampers are not strong enough for the now powerful springs.

Took them back to Hagons today and they upgraded the damping unit... just fitted them and must say they defo feel better now, hope to get a test ride on them soon and will post back any other info on them.

So if anyone gets Hagon 2810`s, its a 26kg spring with medium damper at least, I am 14stone 9 pounds in case anyone needs to know..

TrOjAn

Well went for a ride... still no good, one up the shocks are about 3/4" from the bottom.. taking them back again on Monday

TrOjAn

Terry, you weigh exactly the same as me and it also took me a while to find the right spring ie 26kg.

I have the nitros though and to be honest I haven't heard many talk highly of the cheaper units. All I can say is the nitros are brilliant now and with the progressive fronts as well I have just forgotten about most poor road condition. To a point that is cos some roads are just a disgrace and can test anyone's patience.

BTW, with mine I have found the best pre-load adjustment to be about 5 or 6 turns down, thereby leaving me about another 25 to play with.

Yea these 2810`s are not as good as the nitros but better than the original shocks.. Ill be happy once I get them right.

There is 3 turns on the top, the snail type adjust (pre load) each step being quite large... I used to have the standard shocks as preloaded as could get.. its just nice to be able to adjust the damping.. makes a huge difference.

TrOjAn

ok, so you have the stepped type pre-load adjustment. Nothing wrong with that type. Glad you like yours too. It does take a while to find the optimum point of adjustment but when you do you'll be real happy.

Are you considering getting the hagon progressive springs for the front? They too help get our bikes suspension tuned both front and back cos they sort of work as a unit ie poor front damping effects the rear and vica versa. That's how I see it.

Well aint that just my luck.. was ment to be taking the bike with shocks on back to hagon tomorrow.. now there 4" of snow on the main roads with more to come

Doing me head in now..

TrOjAn

Sorry to here that Terry but, it's 34C outside here at the moment and when it gets a bit cooler I'm going to take my babe for a ride and do my next portrait photo. Something I do every once in a while as she gets better with age.

I know, why don't you steal some bread or a hanky or something so you can get a free pass over here for punishment

Yeah, we've heard about your snow falls over here. Apparently it hasn't snowed like it for over 2 decades and lots of people couldn't even get to work. "get outa here" LOL

On a serious note though, the weather you are experiencing at the moment can actually be as bad as being too hot, which is what we are experiencing.

So here we are, you guys having record snow falls, and us over here the exact opposite.

We are also experiencing storms too which have been really quite damaging to many people's homes.

Times are definitely different that's for sure.

Anyway, just to cheer you up here's a pic taken yesterday in the heat

Staffo, how much were the Hagon Nitro's? Thinking I may have to invest in some decent shocks.
Cheers,
Cruser

Stafo, can you give me the part no or any identifier for those nitro`s?? I am thinking it might be the way to go instead of all this hassle with the 2810`s.

Also, have you ever had a pillion on with them?? how are they if you did?

TrOjAn

Hi Terry,

here's the aussie website

I'm not sure about the part number but all I did was look at the website for hagon in Aus and decided from experience if you want quality that works and lasts you have to pay for it. Hence there was no confusion on which shocks to get.

If you talk to your distributor and tell him you aren't happy with the cheaper hagons and that you want the Nitros with the 26kg spring, if he is a proper distributor he'll organise it for you.

As far as two up goes, you won't have a problem. In fact I took my son on the back for a 200km trip even when I had the 20kg springs on and whilst I knew they weren't optimum, we still had a comfortable ride.

So provided you have the 26kg spring you will be good to go two up as there is another 20 turns or so of the pre-load as it's now set at about 5 or 6 turns. In other words, before you go two up just wind down the pre-load as there is plenty to play with.

LOL @ my local Distributor... Im going to THE main HAGON place where they actually make them.. in fact in my younger days I used to deliver their newspapers.

TrOjAn

I didn't know you lived that close to the factory.

BTW, you won't be disappointed with the nitros. Top quality and look brilliant.

I'll be interested to see how they go.

OK, just got back again from Hagon... didnt buy the nitros as they are double the price!! wife would kill me, now on 30kg springs with heavy dampers.. will get them on and see how it goes, also took some photos while there, they got some record holding bikes there

TrOjAn

some pics would be nice and it will be interesting to see how you go with the heavier springs and dampers. BTW, understand you've got to keep the little lady happy

11.30 pm here so just about to go to work (night shift) will get the shocks on tomorrow and hope to get the photos done as well...

TrOjAn

Gah.. went for a ride with the 30kg springs.. hit a pothole thought I was on a hardtail.. ouch, taking bike with shocks back to hagons wednesday.. they can look at it and find a solution.

Tempted to get standard replacement progressive rears instead of the adjustables, doing me head in now

TrOjAn

I send the standard Hagons back twice for spring changes, but similar results. I thought the Nitro's would have been better. Love the Progressive 440's that replaced my Hagons.

It'd be pi##ing me off too mate. If Hagon want to sell there units cheaply, they should at least work otherwise they aren't competitive.

You wouldn't be the first (as we know) to get fed up with these cheap ones.

The thing is they aint the cheapest, there mid priced so I expected the same as the standard Triumph ones with a little bit extra as there progressive...

Im am leaning towards asking for my money back and putting the standard ones back on..

Blowed if Im going to spend double to go to nitro`s

Just checked the Aussie Hagon supplier site you posted above, same part number as the ones I started with.. go figure?

TrOjAn

Will post back tomorrow on my return from Hagons

mine are back with Hagon now too. First ride on Saturday in new guise.. wonderfully smooth on motorways but couldn't cope with main roads. (I've given them a set of specs to achieve with the units being as they are only 280mm). Hopefully they'll be back on friday and working...

Well I did the trip to Hagon and spent 30 minutes chatting to one of their tech guys..

Im still running the 30kg, damping on 4 and preload at zero.. running ok, handles nice, hoping to have a test ride 2 up soon so will check them out with the extra weight.

TrOjAn

Should of gone to Eddy's and got the Progressvie shocks

believe it or not guys, when I first received the nitros I was given 20kg springs. It has taken 18 months and about 25k kms to now have the 26kg springs and I am not bullsh##ting, the ride is superb. Now remember this too, the nitros have all SS parts and the cylinder is 18mm compared to the standard shocks using 12mm. This helps to prevent overheating and then poor performance.

Anyway, I've only just sent the 23kg shocks back to the hagon rep who actually worked at the factory when young. He grew up with the son of MR HAGON and they raced bikes together over in the "old dart" until he came to his senses and realised life was too short to live anywhere other than the best country on earth (here we go).

So I told him about all the complaints and mentioned it might'nt be a bad idea to tell whoever that needs to know that the cheapies either need sorting or stop selling them cos increasingly, it sounds like they are junk.

Certainly there have been a number of fellas who have gone down this track before so they oughta sort it, or pi#s em off cos they make all of em look bad.

Anyway, I don't have to defend anything cos I know that if the nitros can give a good ride out on some of the outback roads in Aus, they must be alright.

I guess what I'm saying here is, if you can't afford the nitros then you probably are better off getting the "progressives" from our mate Eddy. Maybe hagon just don't quite realise that cruisers really need a descent set of shocks.

good luck chappies

So he came to his senses and moved to the US? Smart guy when did he do that?

Got mine back last night... Straight on bike.. 280mm, 40mm stroke, 26KG springs, Hard damping. Short run this morning and they feel ok... a little sharp but I'm sure they need running in... I am 95Kg (in gear)

I found it took a fair bit of trial and error to find the exact pre-load adjustment cos I didn't know how good my suspension could be .

Because I've done these mod's on a budget and unsure of the result I'd actualy achieve (looked good on paper) I opted for the cheaper ones. With this set up now I've found the the sag and reactions static, (bouncing on it in the gge to get some measurements) are very close to my theory. I think some of my initial problems also came from the change in inclination (lowered 40-45mm). Wanting some reasonably fair weather now to test (long journey) but they feel ok after an hour or so. Firm but not severe.
Anyone else tried to calculate their shock set up with similar results ??

I didn't realise you had lowered your rear end with the hagons. That would make a big difference to the possibilities for the best ride.

I actually started off with a shorter nitro but sent them back straight away cos I was scraping my old tors (since sold) too easilly.

I should add, I have learnt a lot since then but purely through my own personal trial and error. Certainly a lot of error on my behalf but the hagon mob need a kick up the bum too for recommending the wrong spring rating

Here's the type of shocks available in Aus, so can you see which ones you ended up buying.

Better still, have you got a photo of your bike now with the Hagons on? Just interested that's all.

Pics in new thread, customs forum, staffo. They ride pretty well now, just a little over damped. The rear pipes have been lifted 12mm on the hangers and tilted in slightly for clearance... This seems to have worked well...

Well theres a strange twist to the story... went down my mates the other day to balance his carbs for him and it turns out he has 2 sets of Hagon shocks not in use as there "too hard".

He gave them to me and I have just put a pair on, they are 1" longer than the standard triumph ones with 1" LESS travel than the Hagons I bought.

Just went for a ride and what a difference, really good, spoke with Hagon and they say let us see them and they will give me a refund on the ones I paid for.

Just need to do a 2 up test but theres NO way these will allow the rear guard to hit the wheel and I havent even turned the preload up yet ride height once Im on is about the same as standard so Im quite excited.

Will post the outcome.. TrOjAn

i've put hagons on my sporty
they are rebuildable unlike progresives
and from my experiance british suspension always work better than jap ones

So, off I go to Hagons with all my shocks under my arm, spoke to Tony (first name terms now) and he looked at my ones and took them apart and the springs are like 23kg, he kindly renewed the snail adjusters and cleaned them up and renewed the spring retainers... then I got a full refund on the 2810`s.

What can I say, I dont normally praise anyone but I will make an exception this time, throughout this shock saga I have never been made to feel like a pain in Hagons rear end, the outcome is not what I had imagined all those weeks ago when I picked them up but hey, I now have what I WANT! and the bikes riding like a dream so THANKS HAGON.

Anyway, all happy now and it just goes to show that one mans GREAT shock setup is NOT for everyone.. like my pants, very personal

TrOjAn

O yea, the photos of that wickedly nice bike

Hey Terry, thanks for taking me (us) for a ride on your Hagon journey, Certainly was interesting.

Just as long as you are now happy and the shocks are doing their job nicely and safely.

BTW, love the pics of Alf's bike. They must have been interesting times back then.
cheers
staffo