ESA Replacement shocks available from Works Shocks

[Todd_Z1]

I verified this myself by calling Darrell at Works. Here is the post from the K-Bikes Forum:

 

Works Performance now has availability of replacement shocks that are fully compatible with your ESA suspension. They will need your old shocks to remove the hydraulic pre-loader and eye from the rear and the eye from the front shock.

 

Their pricing:

 

Rear: $649 + $100 for removal of the components from your stock shock and installation on the new.

 

Front: $479 + $25 for removal of the components from your stock shock and installation on the new.

 

You will have to send your old shocks in and they will be useless after the components are removed. The new Works shocks will be custom built to your weight and riding style. They also can be custom made to lower the bike from 1" to 2". I forgot to ask about the lead time.

 

They can provide replacement shocks for any ESA equipped BMW R or K-series.

 

If you are interested you can contact Darrell at Works Shocks at (818) 701-1010:

 

This is awesome! I can't wait to hear about someone's experience with Works replacements. My original ESA shocks are still in good shape but will probably need replacement by the end of the year.

 

Cheers!

 

Todd

 

 

[ESokoloff]

Soooo this means your keeping your S?

 

Thanks for the info

[Todd_Z1]

That depends on whether the dealer and BMWNA fix it. It squeals like a little pig when I let the clutch out in first gear. It is very annoying. Does your K12S do that?

 

Cheers!

 

Soooo this means your keeping your S?

 

Thanks for the info

[ESokoloff]

No squealing but in the past it seems like there is an abnormal clunk.

It's too intermittent for me to tell if it's real or my imagination.

I only have +10k on it as it's not the every day ride.

Hope I can blow out the tranny before the warranty expires, not after

[russell_bynum]

Freakin' sweet!

[smiller]

Freakin' sweet!

Yep. Kind of changes my view of the ESA option. If you can have fully rebuildable Works shocks and ESA functionality... what's not to like?

[russell_bynum]

Freakin' sweet!

Yep. Kind of changes my view of the ESA option. If you can have fully rebuildable Works shocks and ESA functionality... what's not to like?

 

Right.

 

I wouldn't buy it, but for riders who routinely switch between solo and 2-up, or solo and very heavily loaded, this could be the hot ticket.

[sgendler]

Yep. Kind of changes my view of the ESA option. If you can have fully rebuildable Works shocks and ESA functionality... what's not to like?

 

How about the price and the complexity for starters. Oh, and the weight.

 

--sam

[smiller]

How about the price and the complexity for starters. Oh, and the weight.

Well I'm not sure that whatever trivial additional weight ESA entails would be much of an issue on bikes like the RT, but do agree with the view that it represents unneeded complexity. Personally, I probably wouldn't choose the ESA option either... just that now it's much more practical for those who do want it.

 

I guess I used too few words in my original post... always a mistake around here.

[Todd_Z1]

The weight of the ESA shocks is negligible. They have a small electric motor, sensor and electric cable. Maybe a pound or two more than Ohlin, Wilbers, Penske at most. As for the added complexity...well yeah there is that. For my money, fully electrically adjustable custom shocks at less than Ohlins is a no brainer. I was not a fan of ESA until I had it and now it is a very nice option that I use all of the time. Can I live without it? Absolutely!

 

Cheers!

 

Yep. Kind of changes my view of the ESA option. If you can have fully rebuildable Works shocks and ESA functionality... what's not to like?

 

How about the price and the complexity for starters. Oh, and the weight.

 

--sam

[blkvelvt]

Todd, I agree. I wouldn't have ordered my bike with ESA, but I got a sweet ride with every option possible and only 6K on the odometer for a good price. ESA is on the bike. I don't need it but I like it. GPS is on the bike. Same feeling about that as well. It's a farkle. Same with the CD,radio,clear lenses, etc. Now that there is a rebuildable alternative, cool. Now I just need to ride it more and wear the OEM shocks out to justify a premature purchase without pissing off the household CFO.

[MikeB]

I too am happy to see the Works shocks available for my ESA equipped bike. I have come to really like the ability to switch my set up from single rider to fully loaded preload settings.

[ESokoloff]

I think ESA is something the skeptics among us love to hate.

Us with ESA love & embrace it.

As far as complexity, not much stays static these days.

Why should suspension components not advance to a new level?

[kingpinofdisks]

I tried to find a bike without ESA at first. But I got a sweet deal on a new K1200GT with the ESA, and I love it - use it all the time, depending on road conditions.

 

Now that I can get them replaced with Works for $1500, I am in HEAVEN!!!!!! I figure they will need to be replaced at 25K at most, which is one year away (am at 4900 since I bought my bike June 16 2007).

 

If you have the financial means, it seems stupid to avoid ESA. Comfort on the freeway, Normal for almost all other riding, and Sport for any fun mountain roads. 1-up or 2-up is set when you start the bike, and off she goes.

 

My friend's V-ROD wallows in the twisties and does much more hobby-horse motions on the freeway. He has told me more than once how he wishes he had gotten the K1200GT instead of his Hog

[RFW]

Hope these are better than the Works "Triple Steel Tracker" rear shock I bought 3 years ago for my ol' K100RT. It leaked through a porous weld as soon as I opened the box and I had to return it for repair immediately, the zinc plated steel parts rusted in a couple of months, the end fittings of the reservoir hose rusted, and there is so much stiction where the spring go-betweens slide over the outside of the shock body (now ain't THAT bright!) that I have to oil the OUTSIDE of the shock every 2 weeks. A really dumb design, and lousy workmanship.

[russell_bynum]

If you have the financial means, it seems stupid to avoid ESA. Comfort on the freeway, Normal for almost all other riding, and Sport for any fun mountain roads. 1-up or 2-up is set when you start the bike, and off she goes.

 

Urgh.

 

Good shocks will not need to be adjusted to provide good control in the twisties and a smooth freeway ride.

 

However...switching between load conditions (solo, 2-up, luggage, no luggage, etc) is a different story.

 

If you don't frequently make big load changes, then ESA doesn't make any sense at all...you're much better off saving your money and getting a set of good aftermarket shocks.

 

But...if you do frequently change loads, then it might be worth considering paying the extra $2300 for quality shocks (Works) with the ESA feature to make it easy to make that adjustment.

 

My friend's V-ROD wallows in the twisties and does much more hobby-horse motions on the freeway.

 

V-Rod is not designed to handle well. It's designed to look fantastic...which it does.

[russell_bynum]

Hope these are better than the Works "Triple Steel Tracker" rear shock I bought 3 years ago for my ol' K100RT. It leaked through a porous weld as soon as I opened the box and I had to return it for repair immediately, the zinc plated steel parts rusted in a couple of months, the end fittings of the reservoir hose rusted, and there is so much stiction where the spring go-betweens slide over the outside of the shock body (now ain't THAT bright!) that I have to oil the OUTSIDE of the shock every 2 weeks. A really dumb design, and lousy workmanship.

 

The Works that I had on my RT were great. No rust anywhere on the shock, no leaks, very minimal stiction. The rear shock I bought for my RT back in late 2002 (I think) is still going strong. It's been rebuilt once (after about 25-30K) and is currently installed on Lisa's R1100RS. The front shock was sold to another RT rider (the RS and RT have slightly different front shocks, so they're not compatible) and was still going strong as of El Paseo.

 

I'm not sure what to say about the shocks you got for your K-bike, but your experience is nothing like mine or the other people I know who have Works shocks.

 

In the interest of full disclosure...the only real problem I've ever heard of from people dealing with Works, is a lack of response to calls/emails. I've always had a really good experience with that, but I've heard from at least 3 people who have had problems.

[HexHead]

For my money, fully electrically adjustable custom shocks at less than Ohlins is a no brainer. I was not a fan of ESA until I had it and now it is a very nice option that I use all of the time. Can I live without it? Absolutely!

 

I've ridden an ESA equipped ST back to back with my Ohlins equipped ST. While the ESA was impressive in that you could really feel the differences in the different modes, the Ohlins still felt more planted.

[John in VA]

[i've ridden an ESA equipped ST back to back with my Ohlins equipped ST. While the ESA was impressive in that you could really feel the differences in the different modes, the Ohlins still felt more planted.

 

+1

 

No comparison.

[PhillyFlash]

I think ESA is something the skeptics among us love to hate.

Us with ESA love & embrace it.

As far as complexity, not much stays static these days.

Why should suspension components not advance to a new level?

 

I think the ESA is a nice idea, but with the shocks BMW uses, I'm not overly impressed; so not everyone who has them loves them. Yes, you have a few different settings to choose, but there's not way to adjust them specifically for your weight and riding style. The Solo preload with the Normal damping may be perfect for a 200 pound rider, but may feel much different for a 175 pound or a 250 pound rider. Yes, if you weigh less you could try using the comfort setting instead, and if you weigh more you could try using the Solo with luggage or the 2-up setting, but you're still very limited in terms of dialing the shock in for your weight, riding style, and road type.

 

I have been used to riding with Ohlins on my R1100RT for years, and I find the ride was significantly smoother than with the stock ESA on my R1200RT. I'm hoping that a large part of the reason has to due with the inferiority of the stock BMW ESA shocks (I'm not saying that they're bad, just that the ride quality is inferior to Ohlins). If an Ohlin or Works ESA shock can significantly improve ride/comfort quality within the range of available settings, their price is roughly the same as replacing the stock with non-ESA Ohlins or Works, and their rebuild times are approximately the same as non-ESA Ohlins or Works, I would be very interested in trying them. Otherwise, I'll be switching to non-ESA Ohlins for the great performance I've come to expect from them, and the almost infinite ability to set them up for any weight, load, riding style, or road condition, even though you can't do it on the fly (once you ride with the Ohlins under different circumstances and keep track of the settings that you like, it takes about 30 seconds to adjust the preload and damping on the rear shock; once the front is set, I've rarely had to change it).

 

One other thing that's great about the non-ESA Ohlins - as the shock gets closer to needing a rebuild, you can keep adjusting the preload and damping to continue getting a very good ride pretty close to the time you actually get the rebuild. Once the ESA shocks start to go, there's not much you can do except try one of the firmer settings, possibly resulting in some pretty poor rides, or needing to send them in for a rebuild much sooner.

 

Considering all of this, though, I'm looking forward to hearing reports from riders who try the different rebuildable ESA shocks that come on the market, and who can objectively compare them to the stock BMW ESA shocks and non-ESA Ohlins shocks.

[ESokoloff]

Howard,

Sorry I made too broad (& fast/superficial) of a statement.

The ride quality of the ESA on my KS is a bit lacking compared to the Wilber's that were on my wife's GT.

ESA is WP's (White Power) name for electronically controlled suspension.

 

What I'm embracing about this concept is the ease of use & versatility of this next generation suspension.

Sure you can change the setting on a manually adjustable shock but not on the fly as road conditions change.

This is but the first generation of one particular manufacture (made to BMW's specifications & perhaps $ limitations).

I'm sure cost will come down, & quality, features & selection will grow as this technology matures.

Öhlins has CES (Continuously Controlled Suspension System) and I have to think it's only a mater of time until it's offered on specific models of motorcycles.