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Equipping the Bike - what's the best gear? Anything to do with the bikes equipment, saddlebags, etc. Questions on repairs and maintenance of the bike itself belong in the Brand Specific Tech Forums.
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 21 Mar 2007
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Thumbs up Hagon Shocks...
Before setting off on our trip, I swapped the standard rear shock on our Africa Twin, with a new Hagon unit.

After 25,000 miles, 6000 of which were off road and fully loaded, the rear shock blew it's seal. After 150 miles of po-go-ing down nbumpy Bolivian roads, we finally made it into the small desert town of Uyuni (where we are now).

The next day I phoned Hagon and explained the problem.

"No problems" they said. "If you buy a replacement now, we'll ship a new one out to you via UPS. When you return, we'll take the new one back, refund you and recondition the old one free of charge".

So far, they get the thunbs up from me....
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  #2  
Old 26 Mar 2007
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I had similar good experience many years ago when Koni still made bike shocks. I had bought a bike with a crap old and totally worn out set of Konis.
On recommendation of a bike shop I contacted the Koni Importer and was asked to send in the shocks for repair.
They phoned me a few days later apologizing many times and telling me that they could not repair the shocks as they did not keep spares for this outdated model.
They asked me if it would be ok if they send me a pair of brand new shocks :-D
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  #3  
Old 27 Mar 2007
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I rate them
I fitted a Hagon to my Elefant before a little jaunt to Kazakhstan and back. It was a massive improvgement on the stock Boge shock that came on the bike, and survived a poor road, sand and rocks pounding that totally sheared my exhaust brackets and snapped my pannier racks in about 6 places...

Annoyingly it didn't survive the bike getting torched by some B*$%^rds once I got back to the UK..... hardly Hagon's fault though! I'm saving the pennies for another one right now.
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  #4  
Old 28 Mar 2007
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Thumbs up nothing to do with this topic i know, but......
henryuk, in chichester the other day i saw a "camel scheme" Elefant done up good as new, with a ducati 1000DS motor in it. looked and sounded fantastic!

the bike they shouldve built instead of the multistrada
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  #5  
Old 31 Mar 2007
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Unhappy Hummmm
Henryuk...so your jaunt to Kazakhstan must have taken you over a fair few miles of corrugations, yes? The reason why I ask is that I fitted the new shock a couple of days ago, got about 40miles down the road (after riding for an hour) and the bloody thing started to loose dampening again!

Under closer inspection I found that the dampening adjuster was leaking oil. Since then we've spent the last couple of days bouncing down beautiful Bolivian roads at a tedious 15-30 mph, trying to reach some smooth tarmac in Argentina.

I plan to ring them tomorrow and find out what the score is. So far, great company service.....great shock for two up on and off road (it survived the Transamtrail fine).....but weak on small, constant corrugations...

More to follow.....
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Last edited by markincyberspace; 31 Mar 2007 at 00:50.
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  #6  
Old 14 Apr 2007
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New shock (2) sent through to Mendoza free of charge. I don't know what the problem is on washboards, but their service is excellent.
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  #7  
Old 18 Apr 2007
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Glad to hear that they have sorted you out!

Yep there were lots of corrugations, huge blind potholes, dirt, rocks, a few flights of steps (don't ask), the bike was loaded right up on the back including two tyres and I gave it a proper pounding.

I might have been lucky with the rear shock, everything else got battered in some way, my pannier racks broke in about 4 or 5 places, one fork got bent, both lost a lot of chrome and wouldn't hold oil, rear subframe snapped..... When I got back compression on my horizontal cylinder was about 2:1.............

Thinking about it the rear shock might have been the only thing that didn't get damaged! A small exhaust fire took care of damaging bits and bobs at the back (indicators, plastics, bit of my seat) and an errant mercedes took care of the front. Everything in the middle just got knackered, even the Scottoiler died!

Lot of fun though!
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