Ohlins, Marchesini, Brembo...

[jasonsmith]

What are the benefits of Ohlins , Marchesini wheels and Brembo brake equip?

Seriously, I really have no clue.

[derstuka]

Are you being sarcastic? If not, each has better quality and built a name for itself by doing so. Kinda like comparing a Ford to a Toyota.

Ohlins builds great multi-adjustable forks which allows for (sometimes) lighter weight, increased strength, and most of all, a better ride thru being able to fine tune the suspension to the rider, riding conditions, and so on.

Marchesini offers custom lightweight wheels which are many times stronger (or just as strong and weigh a lot less), and available in a variety of colors, metals, designs, and so on. Very possible to free up significant unsprung weight over stock wheels.

Brembo brakes are more of the same....different caliper applications, e.g. radial brakes....lighter more powerful calipers (many times with 4-8 piston applications) with increased feel and should be.....shorter stopping distances.

Just some of the many benefits of those three manufacturers...

[jasonsmith]

No sarcasm what so ever. Was just curious about the difference noted in performance. I guess the wheels the only real performance benefit would be the weight saving's true?

[derstuka]

Oh, and I forgot to add, besides quality, you are paying for the name as well....well, with quality comes price!

[derstuka]

Originally Posted by jasonsmith

No sarcasm what so ever. Was just curious about the difference noted in performance. I guess the wheels the only real performance benefit would be the weight saving's true?

Well, I guess it depends on how that you look at it. Could be appearance (also known as the BLING BLING factor), quality, and weight. The weight can be a big positive and very noticeable for reducing steering effort, and unsprung weight on the suspension. You should check out these Carbonfiber wheels made by BST....they had a sort of test run on them in Cycle World, or Motorcyclist the other day. They were amazed at how light the steering effort was. I would not buy them, cause they are like $2000 or $4000 a piece, but hell, they sure do look cool and are light as hell.

http://www.motorcycletoystore.com/sp...els/p_268.html

[Spike]

& they don't make a VFR rear wheel! ;-(

[RVFR]

Well a memeber here, believe his name to be Safe-T has those itmes on his one of a kind Viffer. Sweet bike, is a version Honda should have made.

[jasonsmith]

Originally Posted by RVFR

Well a memeber here, believe his name to be Safe-T has those itmes on his one of a kind Viffer. Sweet bike, is a version Honda should have made.

Yep this one, Owner SAFE-T:



Amazing bike. Go "Here" for his photo's.

[GPracer2500]

I changed to Dymag magnesium wheels on a '98 CBR900RR I once owned. The wheels changed the bike. It handled like it weighed 50lbs lighter even though there wasn't nearly that much actual weight savings (although they were a lot lighter). I mean really--the difference was dramatic to me. The "flickability" goes through the roof. It's like every 1 lbs you can remove from a wheel is like taking 3 lbs off the bike.

There's probably no better place to loose weight on a motorcycle than the wheels.

[keeena]

Originally Posted by GPracer2500

There's probably no better place to loose weight on a motorcycle than the wheels.

Yup, lighter weight wheels equals improved accel, braking and handling.

Originally Posted by jasonsmith

What are the benefits of Ohlins, Marchesini wheels and Brembo brake equip?

Whats interesting to note is that the 3 mods you listed are what knowledgeable riders consider more important than power (motor) improvements. Idea is that increased suspension, handling and braking will help improve riding skills, comfort and capability (and can still make you faster) vs. tweaking motor/intake/exh/FI. But ironically motor improvements are what many riders focus on first.

[derstuka]

Originally Posted by jasonsmith

Yep this one, Owner SAFE-T:



Amazing bike. Go "Here" for his photo's.

Very nice looking bike. I wonder if he is afraid to ride the thing being how pretty it is? I think I would be afraid of scratching it and/or getting it dirty and spending days cleaning and polishing it back to luster. I would need another bike to ride that I didn't care if it got dirty. Oh, and the frame looks sweet too.

[RVFR]

Seeing this gets me going, Woo Hoo and saying, hey Honda you see this? Would make for a nice 7th gen, add in 200 more cc's wouldn't hurt either. huh?

[vwrxtrd]

While we are on a wheel subject........ these are sweet
CARROZZERIA FORGED VFR800 WORKS KIT

[RVFR]

Nice , very very nice. I want a set.
taken from their web site, this is what the front should be like.

[jasonsmith]

Is there anyone who can say that their Brembo's are way better than their stock jobbies. Or their Ohlins are way better than their stock whatever. I'm just curious if I should be adding these items to a wish list or not. I guess I shouldn't even think about front Ohlins... saw them on the "bay" for like 10,000+$$. There is nothing anyone could say to make that worth it.

[GPracer2500]

I felt faster (as gauged by competing with fellow riders) with the Ohlins I had on my '98 900RR. Albeit, the difference was incremental and not something everyone would appreciate. The stock unit was pretty good. One feature the Ohlins unit had that the stock shock did not was adjustable length/ride-height. It also had a much wider range of compression and rebound adjustment. You don't always need that extra adjustment range but it's sure nice to experiment with the extremes when learning what works and what doesn't. Also, the availability of re-valving for most aftermarket shocks (to suit an individual) goes way up.

On my old HawkGT, the Fox shock I installed made a huge difference--more so than the Ohins on the RR. The stock Hawk shock is so-so at best. I gained compression damping adjustment, rebound damping adjustment, and much needed ride-height adjustment in one fell swoop. Overall control of the machine when pushing it went way up. In that case, I think it was a difference most any sport-minded rider would notice and benefit from.

It's difficult to articulate exactly what makes excellent suspension "faster" than really good suspension. So, I'm struggling to relay exactly what one should expect from upgrading a shock. I guess that's why I've yet to land that elusive test rider position with Honda. Plus, my experience was many years ago and it's hard to remember specifics. But I'd venture that in general, stability and traction can be improved with a better shock. And it's been said that there are plenty of issues that seem to come from the front end that disappear once the rear is sorted.

I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade most stock shocks with a premium aftermarket unit if disposable income allows it. This would be particularly true on a bike that was never built with a race track in mind.

$0.02

[RVFR]

I can say it's a definite yes in my up grade to a better shock and front end redo. If they made forks for mine I'd buy em that and a brake up grade. Funny thing about the brakes at least on mine, be nice if I could up grade but seeing it's going on 11 years old there's nothing out there. Been looking into forks/brakes off other models that might switch, thing is it's so damn close to being as good as it can get I'm pretty sure there's not a whole lot to be gained by doing this so?? so for me an up grade will be more than likely another bike. That said this VFR of mine is still way better than most new and she won't be going anywhere any time soon if ever. But yes, Ive seen and felt what top of the line products can do for improvement, all though only the owner can decide if it's worth the extra $$

[keeena]

You can get a lot out of most sportbike suspension components by just springing it for your weight and servicing it regularly. Having adjustable reb & comp helps (which VFR does not have), but you can get new valving as part of a rebuild. This should be more than adequate for majority of riders.

Wheels are expensive...not much to do about that.

A new MC, calipers and rotors can get expensive, but flushing brake fluid, installing SS lines and good pads are not. And those changes are more than adequate for the great braking performance.