REVIEWS - Limited Edition iShock - by West Anderson

As anyone who rides a stock bike or has ridden a stock bike knows, it doesn’t take long to figure out that the stock rear shock was certainly not meant for adult abuse. So, when I started upgrading my bike, a rear shock was one of the first things I looked at. I did some searching and most of the shocks I came across nobody seemed to know much about or they were totally out of my price range nor did they offer much adjustment for the price. Then I came across the Limited Edition iShock. At first I had a hard time deciding between the Limited Edition and the regular iShock with reservoir. I made my decision when I came across the Limited Edition for $300 instead of the normally advertised $378. I figured for a extra $50 over the normal reservoir model, how can I pass up compression dampening. By the way if you do some searching you can find the Limited Edition being sold for around $300; sometimes on ebay or certain online shops like www.xr50racer.com, which is where I found mine.

But now on to just how well this shock really works. I have used this shock on both my stock swingarm and now my +2” extended swingarm. On my stock swing arm, the shock was a drastic improvement over the stock shock. The shock still retains some of the plushness of the stocker but yet resist’s bottoming on big hits 10x better. Another great advantage of the Limited Edition shock is that you can run your preload a little softer for that added plushness in the initial stroke and use the compression adjustment to make sure you won't bottom out.

As good as the shock works on a stock swingarm, it works even better on a extended swingarm. The added leverage of a longer swingarm makes the shock even plusher through more of its stroke and really helps give a smoother ride over rough terrain. It still soaks up the big hits just as good as before, although you may have to dial in a little more compression for bigger hits due to the added leverage of the longer swingarm. This lets the shock travel fully through its stroke to give you all the travel possible. For the model without the compression adjustment, you can only turn the preload on the spring stiffer and the shock will work just as good but stiffer in the initial travel of the stroke.

The iShock’s are one of the most popular shocks on the market and for good reason, they work extremely well and are reasonably priced. If your on a budget or simply looking for one of the best shocks out there under $400 then this is your shock.

About the Author: West Anderson - I have been riding dirtbikes since I was 6 years old and have never been off a bike since. I got into 50's about 2 years ago when I acquired a 1977 Z50 from a storage garage. Had the Z for about a year but I really wanted a xr50 bad once I started seeing trick ones riding around and I found out more about racing. So I sold my Z and found a used 2002 stock xr50. I rode stock for a couple of months. Meanwhile, I became a member of PlanetMinis and started learning everything I could about 50's and all of the aftermarket companies and parts available at the best prices. I now have vast knowledge of 50's, what works, what doesn't, and can pretty much diagnose any problem that you may come across. Currently, my bike has a large amount of aftermarket parts on it and about the only things left stock are the frame, hubs, engine cases, crank, and tranny. I am starting to race my 50 as much as possible. Hitting as many local races here in Florida as I can, and I have done very well in my first couple of races. I ride and practice on it everyday and am always trying to find ways to run it into a corner harder and lean it into a rut further just to gain that edge.

Related Links: Hydrodynamics USA (I-SHOCK!)


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