Nitron NTR Sport Shock

well, just for city riding I would have kept the OEM shock. It was nice and soft. However, if you like to go sideways and weigh over 80kg you need an upgrade
 
2stangs69-91 said:
please give us a comparison from this to the Penske after you have had some time to ride with it thanks.
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I finally got a chance to take the bike for a decent run today.

I did the Wiseman's loop from Windsor to Wisemans Ferry and then onto the Old Rd and back, so it was an excellent mix of bumpy and smooth roads with tight bits and nice sweepers.

My initial impression of the Penske was that it felt softer, smoother than the Nitron.

This could be due in part to different pre-load settings but the Penske definitely felt a bit smoother on my butt and it handled everything I threw at it with ease.

I have a 2008 R1 front end and the front end felt a bit harsh compared to the rear, so I will now have to fiddle a bit with the clickers on the front end to get the balance right.

The Nitron shock having only 1 way adjustment (rebound) was limited a little when things got rough.

If you adjusted the rebound to try and soften the ride, you could only go so far, as the bike would start to pogo if you made it too soft.

The Nitron always worked better setting it up on the firmer side.

This is where the Penske came into it's own, you can separately adjust the compression from the rebound to make the ride more compliant when things get rough.

The Nitron shock is an excellent shock, especially if you are heavy or light as you can get the spring rate and valving set up for your weight, over the stock shock.

The Penske however is another step better, mainly due to the separate compression cartridge and it's worth the extra money over the 1 way Nitron.

Nitron however also make a 2 way shock which I suspect would be similar to the Penske but it starts getting up there price wise and Penske has back up support everywhere.

It probably makes more sense to buy a Penske, especially if you live in the USA and have access to Traxxion Dynamics suspension, Lee and those guys are excellent.

I emailed Lee for base settings and he recommended 10 compression out, 17-18 rebound out which worked really well.

All in all I'm really happy with the Penske mainly due to the extra adjust-ability, it really is an excellent shock.

Thank you scottyd, the shock I bought off you has made my riding experience all that much better.
 
2stangs69-91 said:
Thanks for the write up! I am debating which way to go with the rear shock. money is a concern but I don't want to spend it twice..
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You'd be happy with either.
The extra adjustment on the Penske tips the scales in it's favour but it does come at a higher price.
Keep your eyes open on here for a good second hand one.
They do become available from time to time.

Sent from my GT-I9300
 
I've been using the Penske now for a few months and I initially thought it was softer/smoother than the Nitron.

After checking the riders sag it was set to 40mm so no wonder it felt softer/smoother.

After adjusting the sag to 35mm it now feels very similar to the way I had the Nitron set up.

To be quite honest I don't feel any difference in ride quality between the 2 and it makes my original decision of going for the 1 way adjustable Nitron shock a good one.

There's a happy bloke somewhere in Japan with my old Nitron and for the street, you can't beat it for quality and especially price.

When I first bought it the sales rep told me that people were using them racing and after owning the Nitron for a couple of years and then comparing it to a 2 way adjustable Penske I can see why, it just works and is easy to set up.

The extra adjustments you get with the Penske are all well and good but in the real world they both felt pretty similar to my arse and both work really well on the FZ1.

So go with whatever you feel like you want to buy, having extra adjustments is great but at the end of the day a shock is only as good as it is set up and with the huge variation in road conditions that we have here in Australia, you can only set them up for certain conditions, not all conditions.
 
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That's an excellent comparison. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. What's the difference in cost since performance is not really an issue?
 
Cobalt said:
That's an excellent comparison. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. What's the difference in cost since performance is not really an issue?
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From Australia, the Nitron cost me around $500 odd dollars shipped from the UK. A Penske costs around $1100 shipped from the USA. More if you source one locally.
The margins are closer if you live in the US due to extra shipping costs to the UK and I think the cost of the Nitron has gone up a little since I bought mine.
I'd buy a Penske if I lived in the US due to the ease of getting support as it's a US product.

Sent from my GT-I9300
 
ballmead said:
From Australia, the Nitron cost me around $500 odd dollars shipped from the UK. A Penske costs around $1100 shipped from the USA. More if you source one locally.
The margins are closer if you live in the US due to extra shipping costs to the UK and I think the cost of the Nitron has gone up a little since I bought mine.
I'd buy a Penske if I lived in the US due to the ease of getting support as it's a US product.

Sent from my GT-I9300
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I was going to buy my Ohlins from over seas, but as soon as you go over the $1000 mark you get slugged all the taxes, fees & charges. Once I added all this up it was only $40 extra to buy local. Plus buying local means that if I have any issues I can take it back to the dealer to get it sorted. Under $1000 and you usually save big bucks buying over seas if you have a good exchange rate (not now for us Aussies).
 
The ohlins cones with one spring stiffness. if you need another spring you will need to buy one and have the spring fitted by a professional. It's twice as expensive as the Nitron and is even more basic, with only compression damping setting. With even less than Ohlins money i'd buy the Nitron NTR Race shock which allows for separate settings for compression and rebound damping

Sent from my X-Wing
 
javahaxxor said:
The ohlins cones with one spring stiffness. if you need another spring you will need to buy one and have the spring fitted by a professional. It's twice as expensive as the Nitron and is even more basic, with only compression damping setting. With even less than Ohlins money i'd buy the Nitron NTR Race shock which allows for separate settings for compression and rebound damping

Sent from my X-Wing
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Well that isn't quite true. When I ordered the shock the asked what my bike was and my rider weight so that they could install the correct spring before they sold it to me.

My Ohlins shock has compression, rebound and spring tension adjustments all on dials so it is easy to adjust.
 
Dicko said:
Well that isn't quite true. When I ordered the shock the asked what my bike was and my rider weight so that they could install the correct spring before they sold it to me.

My Ohlins shock has compression, rebound and spring tension adjustments all on dials so it is easy to adjust.
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we're obviously not talking about the same shock and geographic region

Sent from my X-Wing
 
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