F
Tl:dr I got some stock 2019 Talon R springs for free if you want to pay actual shipping.
While I didn't find a dedicated thread here, I have seen many comments on the ride improvements Weller provides and thought they would be a good choice for me, too. I just got back from a visit to Weller Racing, near Phoenix, in a 118* heat wave . . . but everything is better now with the new shocks! The sunset is more epic, the deer have larger racks, the girls have larger racks, and the flowers smell better! 🤣
All kidding aside, My 1st ride last night was awesome. The shock upgrades have improved everything about my 2019 Talon R ride and handling. I have a little over 6,000 miles on my machine, and the bad Honda shock design was really obvious with the age. Between added weight and use, my ground clearance was down to about 11.5" rear & 12" front despite running 30" Terrabites. The way the shocks were banging & reacting to the trail made me suspect the N2 charge had leaked out of the stupid condom Honda spec'd Fox to use. Chatter & washboard rattled my fillings and led to headaches. Small bumps on the trail that my stock Jeep Cherokee could handle shook the whole machine as if hit by a wrecking ball. In other words, the crappy stock shocks did not age well.
I have no experience with tuning shocks or adjusting suspensions for dirt or racing. My suspension knowledge is limited to bolting on Jeep lift kits, or setting spring preload on road motorcycles back in the 80s & 90s. My main concerns, and reasons for delaying this upgrade, were possible bad side effects such as increased body roll or pogoing too much with the perceived increased travel & softer setup. Finally, I bit the bullet and called Weller a month or two back to make the appointment for June 15th, as I was anticipating adding even more weight to my Talon with the Milwaukee Packout setup and a Dirt Road Fab tire carrier/bed extender. All told, I'll soon have 200# plus sitting over the rear axle or hanging off the back, including my existing JEI Rotopax fuel rack above the bed with 6 gal of gas and a couple gal water.
When I got to Weller, the staff were all friendly, and bonus points for an office dog!
I was taken back into the shop, where all my questions & concerns were addressed before work began. They jumped on my machine like having an appointment actually meant something, which was nice. The Jack Daddy jack I just got works by replacing the lower shock bolt with pins & adapters the jack attaches to; they were happy to put those on for me in the course of the repairs. Not a big deal, but they could have declined for vague liability reasons or whatever. In under three hours, they were done and I was loading the Talon up on my trailer.
When I called & made the appointment, the Weller staff worked with me to understand my riding style, what upgrades I'd made to the Talon, trail types mostly seen, any planned future upgrades, etc; all to better understand my needs. The 1st dude I spoke with made a plan that deviated from their normal path, so he then had a 2nd dude check his work and call me to verify the plan and my needs. With my future build in mind, they actually changed springs from their usual Talon ones to heavier ones they normally use for a YXZ to better support my machine's load and work with my riding style. VERY impressive service, to say the least. Seems their plan is correct, as the first ride last night was much better than my Talon was brand new!
Out the door, ride height is now level and at ~15in. This will give the suspension room to actually move up & down & react to the trail, but it sure felt odd when I first climbed in after all that time sitting back and low and only around a foot off the ground. In theory, this added ride height should narrow the wheelbase a bit, thus improving handling, turning, & trail clearance, too. Weller is in a business park and they don't have a test trail nearby, instead, I put it on the trailer and headed back home. Every aspect of my experience with Weller, from first phone call to final handshake, was pleasant. The promises of follow-on care seemed genuine and I'm sure any future questions I may have will be answered quickly and completely. Since the tire carrier and packout setup were not installed, we know there will be future adjustments needed once another 150# or so are added, and Weller will be there to help when I call . . . of this I have no doubt.
OK, about the ride . . . you must remember that the new suspension is NOT set up properly, I still have a lot of weight to add to the rear. When I do install the new stuff, Weller will be there with the needed adjustments to maintain proper ride height & preload and whatnot. Despite this, every aspect of riding has been greatly improved! I did a 50ish mile loop with all the trail stuff I run across other than the occasional rock crawl, all trails I had ridden dozens of times and that I was very familiar with. Over every type of trail, I could feel the suspension working, and all the negative concerns I feared did not come to pass.
First up was some medium chatter stuff, things a little larger and further spaced than washboard, stuff that felt like they turned the stock Talon shocks into solid rods at about 30MPH. The stock setup bouncing was so bad that directional control was hampered. With Weller, I cruised right over, and noticed I was going a bit faster than usual, too.
Next come some driveway & dirt road transitions across my trail. Not exactly ramps, but I guess you can get air if going fast enough. They would buck the stock setup rear badly, and I would have to slow down to 25ish normally. The Weller setup handled these with zero drama, I felt like a Trophy Truck soaking up crazy landings.
Now I'm trusting the suspension a bit more, and I'm coming to my favorite series of whoops. A couple of smooth edged ditches and a road transition closely spaced that are like a dirty roller coaster at around 35MPH. If I hit it much faster with stock stuff, it can go badly wrong. I hit the first whoop and instantly got concerned because daylight disappeared as the front end dove down. I had a brief thought of "Hmmmmm, that's never happened before." and was expecting a jarring crunch. Turns out, when suspension actually moves through it's travel, it soaks up bumps and you go down the trail without any drama! The shocks cushioned the bottom transition without passing any jolt to the frame or people inside . . . nice! I also realized I was going a bit faster here, too.
The rest of the ride was more of the same, I could feel suspension working without passing much into the cab. I found myself going a little faster everywhere because it just felt better. One of my favorite things to do is drift and rear steer up the mountains, this was improved, too. The back end worked better, the two sides worked together, with breaking loose and drifting turns easier and more predictable than the stock shocks that fought each other. High speed twisty paved roads, no probs. Rough & rocky trails, no probs. 2 miles elevation, no probs. Rough but convenient connector trail that I hated, no probs. (is fun now!) Everything I did was faster, yet more comfortable. Body roll, not a concern. Pogoing, not a concern. Bad valving making the stock shocks become solid when I had the balls to actually hit a bump, not a concern.
Overall, this was definitely worth the $1600ish it cost. That sounds like a lot until you break it down . . . 8 new springs, 2.5 hrs labor, new valves and oil, pro test/tune & setup, ride height & pre-load adjustment, and actual schrader valves. My floppy stock adjuster knobs are firm again, too. One random thought I had while enjoying the new ride quality is that the whole machine will last longer because it's not being punished with a rough ride any longer.
While I didn't find a dedicated thread here, I have seen many comments on the ride improvements Weller provides and thought they would be a good choice for me, too. I just got back from a visit to Weller Racing, near Phoenix, in a 118* heat wave . . . but everything is better now with the new shocks! The sunset is more epic, the deer have larger racks, the girls have larger racks, and the flowers smell better! 🤣
All kidding aside, My 1st ride last night was awesome. The shock upgrades have improved everything about my 2019 Talon R ride and handling. I have a little over 6,000 miles on my machine, and the bad Honda shock design was really obvious with the age. Between added weight and use, my ground clearance was down to about 11.5" rear & 12" front despite running 30" Terrabites. The way the shocks were banging & reacting to the trail made me suspect the N2 charge had leaked out of the stupid condom Honda spec'd Fox to use. Chatter & washboard rattled my fillings and led to headaches. Small bumps on the trail that my stock Jeep Cherokee could handle shook the whole machine as if hit by a wrecking ball. In other words, the crappy stock shocks did not age well.
I have no experience with tuning shocks or adjusting suspensions for dirt or racing. My suspension knowledge is limited to bolting on Jeep lift kits, or setting spring preload on road motorcycles back in the 80s & 90s. My main concerns, and reasons for delaying this upgrade, were possible bad side effects such as increased body roll or pogoing too much with the perceived increased travel & softer setup. Finally, I bit the bullet and called Weller a month or two back to make the appointment for June 15th, as I was anticipating adding even more weight to my Talon with the Milwaukee Packout setup and a Dirt Road Fab tire carrier/bed extender. All told, I'll soon have 200# plus sitting over the rear axle or hanging off the back, including my existing JEI Rotopax fuel rack above the bed with 6 gal of gas and a couple gal water.
When I got to Weller, the staff were all friendly, and bonus points for an office dog!
I was taken back into the shop, where all my questions & concerns were addressed before work began. They jumped on my machine like having an appointment actually meant something, which was nice. The Jack Daddy jack I just got works by replacing the lower shock bolt with pins & adapters the jack attaches to; they were happy to put those on for me in the course of the repairs. Not a big deal, but they could have declined for vague liability reasons or whatever. In under three hours, they were done and I was loading the Talon up on my trailer.When I called & made the appointment, the Weller staff worked with me to understand my riding style, what upgrades I'd made to the Talon, trail types mostly seen, any planned future upgrades, etc; all to better understand my needs. The 1st dude I spoke with made a plan that deviated from their normal path, so he then had a 2nd dude check his work and call me to verify the plan and my needs. With my future build in mind, they actually changed springs from their usual Talon ones to heavier ones they normally use for a YXZ to better support my machine's load and work with my riding style. VERY impressive service, to say the least. Seems their plan is correct, as the first ride last night was much better than my Talon was brand new!
Out the door, ride height is now level and at ~15in. This will give the suspension room to actually move up & down & react to the trail, but it sure felt odd when I first climbed in after all that time sitting back and low and only around a foot off the ground. In theory, this added ride height should narrow the wheelbase a bit, thus improving handling, turning, & trail clearance, too. Weller is in a business park and they don't have a test trail nearby, instead, I put it on the trailer and headed back home. Every aspect of my experience with Weller, from first phone call to final handshake, was pleasant. The promises of follow-on care seemed genuine and I'm sure any future questions I may have will be answered quickly and completely. Since the tire carrier and packout setup were not installed, we know there will be future adjustments needed once another 150# or so are added, and Weller will be there to help when I call . . . of this I have no doubt.
OK, about the ride . . . you must remember that the new suspension is NOT set up properly, I still have a lot of weight to add to the rear. When I do install the new stuff, Weller will be there with the needed adjustments to maintain proper ride height & preload and whatnot. Despite this, every aspect of riding has been greatly improved! I did a 50ish mile loop with all the trail stuff I run across other than the occasional rock crawl, all trails I had ridden dozens of times and that I was very familiar with. Over every type of trail, I could feel the suspension working, and all the negative concerns I feared did not come to pass.
First up was some medium chatter stuff, things a little larger and further spaced than washboard, stuff that felt like they turned the stock Talon shocks into solid rods at about 30MPH. The stock setup bouncing was so bad that directional control was hampered. With Weller, I cruised right over, and noticed I was going a bit faster than usual, too.
Next come some driveway & dirt road transitions across my trail. Not exactly ramps, but I guess you can get air if going fast enough. They would buck the stock setup rear badly, and I would have to slow down to 25ish normally. The Weller setup handled these with zero drama, I felt like a Trophy Truck soaking up crazy landings.
Now I'm trusting the suspension a bit more, and I'm coming to my favorite series of whoops. A couple of smooth edged ditches and a road transition closely spaced that are like a dirty roller coaster at around 35MPH. If I hit it much faster with stock stuff, it can go badly wrong. I hit the first whoop and instantly got concerned because daylight disappeared as the front end dove down. I had a brief thought of "Hmmmmm, that's never happened before." and was expecting a jarring crunch. Turns out, when suspension actually moves through it's travel, it soaks up bumps and you go down the trail without any drama!
The shocks cushioned the bottom transition without passing any jolt to the frame or people inside . . . nice! I also realized I was going a bit faster here, too.The rest of the ride was more of the same, I could feel suspension working without passing much into the cab. I found myself going a little faster everywhere because it just felt better. One of my favorite things to do is drift and rear steer up the mountains, this was improved, too. The back end worked better, the two sides worked together, with breaking loose and drifting turns easier and more predictable than the stock shocks that fought each other. High speed twisty paved roads, no probs. Rough & rocky trails, no probs. 2 miles elevation, no probs. Rough but convenient connector trail that I hated, no probs. (is fun now!) Everything I did was faster, yet more comfortable. Body roll, not a concern. Pogoing, not a concern. Bad valving making the stock shocks become solid when I had the balls to actually hit a bump, not a concern.
Overall, this was definitely worth the $1600ish it cost. That sounds like a lot until you break it down . . . 8 new springs, 2.5 hrs labor, new valves and oil, pro test/tune & setup, ride height & pre-load adjustment, and actual schrader valves. My floppy stock adjuster knobs are firm again, too. One random thought I had while enjoying the new ride quality is that the whole machine will last longer because it's not being punished with a rough ride any longer.
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