Ohlins FGR 300 and Showa Balance Free Fork Comparison

I'm not looking to purchase either but I noticed the physical similarities between the Ohlins FGR and the Showa BFF but couldn't find much technical information on the FGR. All that is detailed about the FGR is that they are pressurized and have separate dampening and lubrication oils.

Does anyone know if these two forks operate in a similar fashion? Showa published a schematic of their fork and I found separate images of physical cutouts as well. It appears what used to be housed inside the fork tube in a traditional inverted setup is now external, similar to a piggy-back style shock.

It would be interesting to see a comparison of dampening force characteristics of the two forks to see how well the $4600 Showas stand against the $10k+ Ohlins in terms of linear dampening. Thoughts?

Ohlins FGR 300 Picture:


Showa Diagram:

 

Go with whatever your trackside suspension guy can work on and/or knows best. There's no point in throwing the greatest stuff on there if no one can get it setup correctly for your needs.

 

im not sure that pic is the FGR300. its missing the adjusters near the caliper.

Ohlins usually puts good pdf's online that u can find through a google search. in this case, seaching "FGR 300 filetype: pdf" worked great. (remove space after filetype:, silly emoji)
https://www.ohlins.com/app/uploads/world/2016/08/OM_07280-20.pdf

are u trying to compare an OEM fork to $10k Ohlins or some other Showa fork?

 

I think the term Showlins was coined for this awhile back.

 

That PDF is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! Good catch on the picture I didn't notice the discrepancy, but have included a picture of the correct fork below. I'm trying to see how similar in design the OEM Showa fork on the ZX10R and 2017 GSXR-1000R is to the the FGR.

 

Who is running Showa in Motogp? I can't remember.

 

I don't believe anyone in the GP class is running anything other than Ohlins except for KTM and their WP set up. The WSBK Kawi is the only one at the sharp end running the Showa that I've seen

 

Maybe that's what I was thinking of.

 

I thought the HRC bikes ran showa. At least they used to, right?

 

I think a few years ago when Alvaro was on the Gresini Honda, it was reported that he ran Showas. Not sure that was the last time or not.

 

They use to. Not sure when they made the switch but the 2016 bikes ran Ohlins.

But they still use the Pro Link suspension on the rear.

 

Yup.....Bowling Bau was the last to run non-Ohlins boingers on the Gresini Hondas (2014 I think). The Repsol team dropped Showa for Ohlins many moons ago (2009 was their last year I believe).

 

Once Yamaha spun off Ohlins there was no reason for Honda to run Showa.

Didn't Honder own a big part of or all of Showa?

 

Yup.

I thought by that line of rationale that Kawi might've owned Kayaba (KYB) but I don't think that's the case.

 

Kawasaki or Suzuki, can't remember.

KTM (or the same group that owns them) owns all of or the majority of White Power (WP). Thanks gawd they don't use that name anymore.

 

The only ones on the World stage I know of that use it is the Kawi WSBK's.

 

You will notice that the good Ohlins have working Comp and Reb on both sides :P

 

man... that's like a $21k picture right there. day dreaming...

 

It appears Showa is marketing an upgraded "KIT" version of the OEM BFF, touting it as WSBK level suspension. At $8k the KIT BFF is almost the price of the FGR.

http://japan.webike.net/moto_news/test-ride-reports-on-showa-bffbfrc-lite-kit/

 

No sh$t, I told someone that once and they just looked at me with a strange face.