ak-20's vs Ohlins

[RndHoleSqPeg]

So I am thinking of upgrading my forks on my S4RT, I have put new springs and had the suspension setup for me. The shop that I normally deal with speaks nothing but love for traxxion ak-20's but they are mainly racers and my bike isn't a racebike only.

I will on the other hand probably be getting an 848 or 1098 in the next year that I could see swapping the cartridges to, if its getting some more track time.

Anyway, anybody have experience with ak-20's vs ohlins cartridge upgrades?

[junior varsity]

AK-20 Gas or standard AK-20?

The modular (future removal and adaptation to subsequent bike) is a really cool feature of the AK-20's if you are a regular bike upgrader. Seems like that would fit into your 848/1098 future very well.

I'm a fan of Traxxion Dynamics generally. They also vend Ohlins because some folks have to have ze gold regardless whether its better or not (though its quite good, 'best' is always arguable)

[battlecry]

I ordered a set of regular (not the gas charged) AK-20s for my M800S and they sent me the wrong model.  I just sent them back the complete forks so I do not have anything to post until they return my upgraded forks. 

I installed them myself and can tell you it is doable for the DIY with minimal tools needed.  A second person isn't even needed to fit the spring washer but it is a good idea.  The on-line instructions give you an idea of what is required, but they are not current and I had to call them with a couple of questions, which they answered right away.   I ended up reusing the seals at the bottom of the fork and the spring washers. 

The materials and the visible machining seem top quality.  They took the time to figure out a non-standard spring rate for my weight, so the springs were different weight right and left. 

The setup is one leg does compression damping, the other does rebound damping. 

I ordered a set of adjustable caps which were nicely finished and smoothly anodized.  You use a hex key to externally adjust the rebound and the compression.  The rebound one has a red socket, the compression one is silver. 

Each cap has a captive preload adjustment.  You can screw the adjuster with a larger hex key  but the spring adjustment is internal to the cap, i.e. you do not see the screw come out if you loosen the preload.   This may be useful if you have handlebars that interfere with high caps. 

The adjustment controls are smooth and do not have clickers.

They came with Maxima 7.5 fork oil.

They seem well thought out. 

That is all I can say for now.