What is the diff between GPsuspension and Traxxion

[Fencer]

With the group buy in play and me spending cash lately like water. Why stop the bleeding now.

This could be a NEPRT like what tires do you like. But I would like a serious discussion on the diff in setup of the two venders.

With the front fork setup I know the Traxxion AK20 is a modular style that could carry from bike to bike but its about twice the price of the current GB avail from GP Suspension. Is Traxxion offering more in thier setup than the fork rebound/dampining offered from GP?

 

[sportryder]

... With the front fork setup I know the Traxxion AK20 is a modular style that could carry from bike to bike but its about twice the price of the current GB avail from GP Suspension. Is Traxxion offering more in thier setup than the fork rebound/dampining offered from GP?

GPS was revalving the OEM cartridge body in their GB. Traxxion Dynamics can do that also. We rarely do revalving of OEM cartridge bodies anymore. When the OEM cartridge is revalved, your front suspension mods would normally be sold with the bike so that $$ outlay would be lost. Most of our customers choose to go with the AK-20 cartridge kit. Also, the owner of the motorcycle could easily remove the AK-20 kit, reinstall the OEM cartridge bodies, springs and spacers, THEN sell the bike. No money lost. Decide what your next bike is going to be and we'll retrofit the cartridge bodies to be used in the new bike. Fork upgrade expense is substantially reduced. The AK-20 cartridge bodies and rods are hard-coat anodized to eliminate wear. A couple of Gold Wingers have over 50k miles on these kits. During their last fork servicing, the bodies and cartridge rods showed no sign of wear. There are other significant details of our AK-20 kits that dramatically improve damping performance compared to the OEM Soqi cartridges used in the FJR.

 

[twowheelnut]

What is the diff between GPsuspension and Traxxion

Erm, spelling? :dntknw:

 

[MCRIDER007]

GPS was revalving the OEM cartridge body in their GB. Traxxion Dynamics can do that also. We rarely do revalving of OEM cartridge bodies anymore. When the OEM cartridge is revalved, your front suspension mods would normally be sold with the bike so that $$ outlay would be lost. Most of our customers choose to go with the AK-20 cartridge kit. Also, the owner of the motorcycle could easily remove the AK-20 kit, reinstall the OEM cartridge bodies, springs and spacers, THEN sell the bike. No money lost.

Good answer! The only thing that I would add is that the GPS revalving kits could also be removed from the OEM cartridge body and then transferred to another FJR.

The question I have about the GPS rebuild vs the AK-20s is the final result. Is there enough of a difference in (street) performance that any of us could tell which was the better upgrade?

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I opted for the AK-20 cartridge kit and, IMO, is the best thing i have done for the FJR!

While costly, I feel that the money spent was worth every penny.

Lee is a fantastic person to deal with and their service after the sale is excellent.

I am planning a ride down to Atlanta this spring to have them do some work on the rear Penske.

Bottom line, Buy which ever fits your pocketbook better. (or max out that credit card! :lol: )

 

[sportryder]

GPS was revalving the OEM cartridge body in their GB. Traxxion Dynamics can do that also. We rarely do revalving of OEM cartridge bodies anymore. When the OEM cartridge is revalved, your front suspension mods would normally be sold with the bike so that $$ outlay would be lost. Most of our customers choose to go with the AK-20 cartridge kit. Also, the owner of the motorcycle could easily remove the AK-20 kit, reinstall the OEM cartridge bodies, springs and spacers, THEN sell the bike. No money lost.

Good answer! The only thing that I would add is that the GPS revalving kits could also be removed from the OEM cartridge body and then transferred to another FJR.

The question I have about the GPS rebuild vs the AK-20s is the final result. Is there enough of a difference in (street) performance that any of us could tell which was better upgrade?

What you say regarding the valve assemblies being removed is true, but it's not something that a person handy with tools should or could do. We've seen tons of OEM cartridge bodies ruined because a friend of a racer friend etc had revalved them. You can literally damage/destroy the cartridge body by not clamping it with the correct tools so you can remove the compression valve assembly. This isn't difficult work, but it does require the correct tools and the knowledge on how to handle these parts. The AK-20 cartridges take this level of work out of the equation since you do not have to go inside the cartridge to do any "revalving". Any person fairly handy with tools that can read should be able to easily complete the installation.

Yes, there is a noticeable difference in performance no matter what the riding environment. The Soqi cartridge body is made from soft aluminum. Lack of servicing (changing out fork oil) and high mileage (over 30k miles) causes the insides of the Soqi cartridge to become barrel shaped. In the center area of the fork stroke, or what I refer to as the sweet zone, very little damping can be developed on high mileage units because there is so much leakage past the rebound valve piston band. This effects compression and rebound damping. Our AK-20 cartridges are hard-coat anodized inside and out. Lateral runout inside is less than 1/2 of 1 thousandth of an inch over the length of the cartridge body. We also use a patented design for sealing the cartridge where the bushing is. All OEM cartridge bodies only have a bushing. There is leakage at that point even when brand new. We have a floating bushing and a very low friction O-ring oil seal there. They don't wear out and they seal very well.

IMO, If a person couldn't tell the difference in the ride between an AK-20 equipped FJR and one that was simply resprung and revalved, then they aren't paying attention and would probably be perfectly happy with the stock setup.

The advantages of the AK-20 system has helped the product sell itself over the past 2 years. Granted, the buy in is higher than revalving the OEM cartridge body. However, what you get is a complete state of the art damping package which you do not get by installing good valving inside the OEM Soqi cartridge bodies.

Please don't mis-read this. I'm not stating that the GPS stuff is not good. What I am saying is the performance can be better and especially if the mileage already on your FJR is high before revalving the OEM cartridges. If you service and revalve them early on before any wear takes place and then service them regularly then you would most likely be very happy with the results. In some high mileage examples, the only option would be to install new cartridges because the old ones are shot.

 

[MCRIDER007]

The AK-20 cartridges take this level of work out of the equation since you do not have to go inside the cartridge to do any "revalving". Any person fairly handy with tools that can read should be able to easily complete the installation.

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation -- I guess I can only hope that my cartridges were not shot before the rebuild.

When you say that no "revalving" is required when switching the AK-20s between bikes, is that limited to switching between the same models (FJR to FJR) or switching between any bikes? I would certainly think that a GL1800 would require much different valving than a FJR and there would be some "money lost" in the retrofit.

 

[sportryder]

The AK-20 cartridges take this level of work out of the equation since you do not have to go inside the cartridge to do any "revalving". Any person fairly handy with tools that can read should be able to easily complete the installation.

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation -- I guess I can only hope that my cartridges were not shot before the rebuild.

When you say that no "revalving" is required when switching the AK-20s between bikes, is that limited to switching between the same models (FJR to FJR) or switching between any bikes? I would certainly think that a GL1800 would require much different valving than a FJR and there would be some "money lost" in the retrofit.

When you quoted me, I wasn't referring to revalving of the AK-20 cartridge. I was referring to a customer wanting to revalve/respring their own forks. Most people should never attempt such a project even if they were handy with tools. TD has made it possible with the AK-20 drop in kit for almost anyone to upgrade their forks.

Since you mentioned it, I'll touch lightly on "revalving" the AK-20 cartridges. Many bikes have the same shim stacks and valving specs with the primary differences being the type of piston holder that is used. Some others have minor variations to the stack. We do not recommend anyone doing the retrofitting or revalving in the AK-20 carts. Send them to us or an authorized Axxion Center to have that work done.

Lastly, there will always be some money lost but it's still a good bit less on the retrofit than starting over from scratch with the new bike.