Forks With Ohlins Valves Vs. Ak-20S

Those are the old product.

The new cartridges are an entirely new product.

 

Interesting.

Mine, and every single set I install, tune, and service seem to work just fine.

 

So to Ak20 gas charged or Ak20 non gas charged?

The $1k isn't the deciding factor but yet is a definate factor.

How fast does one have to ride in order to reap the benefits of the gas charged Ak?

 

I was un impressed with the AK gas forks. But have heard good things about the new gas stuff being developed and offered by Penske with Mike in charge. I havent ridden them myself, but will likely do so in at least one team bike this year.

It is very hard to argue against the ohlins if youre used to that feel.

 

I can only give my amateur opinion of the two, so stick my input in a different category than Metric & Probst, but I've ridden both the Ohlins 30MM forks set up by a knowledgable tuner as well as the AK-20's set up professionally. I, like Mike, prefer the AK-20's feel better than the progressive feel of the Ohlins bits. For a middle of the road novice it was much easier to find the sweet spot setting that worked for me. That said, the gas AK's I rode on in a super kit ex DSB bike didn't have the same feel, but the bike was way undersprung for my big ass. I'd save the dough and run AK20's, great people to deal with and definitely useable for the mere mortal, and as was stated you can switch them from bike to bike.

 

Oddly enough I really gelled with the AK-GAS stuff I have.

As far a bump absorption, I was really impressed. There was a lot of movement as far as dive but the forks didn't bottom and provided good support. Different but I liked it.

 

So are you a front runner? or mid pack or where do you run?

On which tracks do you run and how bumpy are they?

 

The particular day I tried the forks it was at Barber, I was running 33's/34's and felt I was riding kinda crappy.

Was real surprised with my times, went around a second quicker than my best time there. I have enough laps around there to know that this wasn't a simple "track knowledge" improvement. The bike was working particularity well that day so I won't go as far as giving the time improvement completely up to the forks but yeah, I liked them.

BTW, said forks were from benprobst. Probably the same one's he didn't care for. Just goes to show you what works for one rider might not work for another and vice versa. :up:

Hope that helps.

 

: D


Yeah they are incredibly nice. The smoothest thing I've ever ridden. I always compared to ridding on a piece of bent steel. Like an oil spring seat. The up and down movement was so smooth and controlled, but just didn't feel "damped" to me. Even though it went up and down perfectly, I just couldn't "feel" what it was doing. At 33-34s at barber, they were the greatest thing in the world. But when riding hard and getting to the 31 range I just couldn't trust them. They never did anything wrong, never let go, just didn't give me the info my brain needed to be on the edge and trust them. It was mentally taxing forcing myself to trust them.

 

This is what Tman did my 2012 gixxer 1000 with a TTX in the rear.

 

So if I am running trackdays only where I am not riding as hard and fast as I possibly could, then the easier pace perhaps the gas would be better than the non gas? Or atleast offer better feel inspiring more confidence?

Hell I have only ridden on shitty leaky Racetech crap. Where I have had to Reflatten the valve body every couple weekends to stop them from bleeding, which is far too much maintenance and PITA. So an unpgrade to nearly any cartridge will be an improvement, I just want the best bang for the buck, new bike this year and don't want all the headaches of the last few.

 

The gas forks are awesome. They are far better than I am. Was just sharing my experience with them as a front running expert. I was faster and more comfortable on the Ohlins parts. The exact forks I sold went to a guy who loved them. And before I owned them John Jacobi went a solid second a lap faster on them at a couple of tracks. It's down to preference. As I said, just providing data for your decision.

 

I love my the feeling of my RaceTech carts, better than the gas ohlins but I never really got the ohlins properly setup so they're probably better than I think. I won't be installing the gas stuff on my new bike, I can't justify the cost and I don't think I'm fast enough to "need" them. The extra $1000 is a lot of seat time.

 

I like the Ohlins Gas for the Panigale. I like them alot. My 2 cents.