Well,
In less than 10 000 miles in South-America my brand new Wilbers rear suspension has had 3 rebuilds already!!! Starting to leak after short use, especially when doing some offroad. Waiting for seals for 4 days in Brazil in some farming city was my highlight how bad the crappy suspension can make your travelling mood.
The recent guy who rebuilt it was a very experienced specialist and said not very good materials and components used inside Wilbers. The aluminium mixture on both ends is rather crappy for example. Also the uneffective spring preload adjustment system, that can twist and crack the glue attaching pressurized canister to the top (it happened on mine - so it leaked from 2 completely different spots together with the seal!). Also once it leaked from the inner shaft seal (causing a bizarre leak from dampening adjustment knob). Basically it has pissed the nitrogen gas and oil out from the every possible hole on mine! Can this be a coincidence for a product that is considered a "high quality"?!
My stock Showa was fine over 50 000 miles and 10 years old - not a single leak or a problem after all the abuse it got from potholed and gravel roads and offroad in Eastern Europe. The only weakness it got was the spring got tired in time for 2up full gear riding. So I decided to put on the Wilbers for our RTW trip with stronger spring hoping it'd last.
...wrong answer.
The (stoopid) reason I bought it apparently there's lot of good reviews about Wilbers but mostly you see good reviews from guys who ride smooth roads in Europe and USA with very little offroad. But once you take it into third world it can get you into real trouble.
Other problem with Wilbers - very poor dealer network to get help or order parts when it decides to blow up when you love to travel in Third-World. Only one dealer per vast South-America for example.
And looks like I'm not the only one with blown up Wilbers. This guy in Buenos Aires has rebuilt already 2 of them in recent time. And Googling it I've found couple having similar problems in Third-World piss-poor road riding conditions where they tend to blow up outrageously frequenly.
Anyways, I've ordered a new rear Öhlins (a way too much stress+£££ spent Wilbers repairs and hassle already) making Öhlins look like a cheap and effective solution to my endless problems with the Wilbers rear shock. True, Googling it in the same way there have been problems reported with Öhlins too, but those guys sell 'em loads more than some small Wilbers as a producer, and Öhlins dealer network is vastly more advanced than Wilbers (i.e. Öhlins has dealers in 5 countries vs. 1 country for Wilbers there - 5X better chance to get help when in need), which means statistically a lot less problems with Öhlins IMO at least. Also the materials and components used are better from what I've got info listening the guys who've worked on various shocks.
Anyways, I'm personally highly dissapointed with Wilbers quality being stuck almost 1/4 of my travelling time in the middle of nowhere waiting for parts and waiting it to be repaired again and again. Think before you buy one.
Ride safe, Margus (stuck for anther week...)
In less than 10 000 miles in South-America my brand new Wilbers rear suspension has had 3 rebuilds already!!! Starting to leak after short use, especially when doing some offroad. Waiting for seals for 4 days in Brazil in some farming city was my highlight how bad the crappy suspension can make your travelling mood.
The recent guy who rebuilt it was a very experienced specialist and said not very good materials and components used inside Wilbers. The aluminium mixture on both ends is rather crappy for example. Also the uneffective spring preload adjustment system, that can twist and crack the glue attaching pressurized canister to the top (it happened on mine - so it leaked from 2 completely different spots together with the seal!). Also once it leaked from the inner shaft seal (causing a bizarre leak from dampening adjustment knob). Basically it has pissed the nitrogen gas and oil out from the every possible hole on mine! Can this be a coincidence for a product that is considered a "high quality"?!
My stock Showa was fine over 50 000 miles and 10 years old - not a single leak or a problem after all the abuse it got from potholed and gravel roads and offroad in Eastern Europe. The only weakness it got was the spring got tired in time for 2up full gear riding. So I decided to put on the Wilbers for our RTW trip with stronger spring hoping it'd last.
...wrong answer.
The (stoopid) reason I bought it apparently there's lot of good reviews about Wilbers but mostly you see good reviews from guys who ride smooth roads in Europe and USA with very little offroad. But once you take it into third world it can get you into real trouble.
Other problem with Wilbers - very poor dealer network to get help or order parts when it decides to blow up when you love to travel in Third-World. Only one dealer per vast South-America for example.
And looks like I'm not the only one with blown up Wilbers. This guy in Buenos Aires has rebuilt already 2 of them in recent time. And Googling it I've found couple having similar problems in Third-World piss-poor road riding conditions where they tend to blow up outrageously frequenly.
Anyways, I've ordered a new rear Öhlins (a way too much stress+£££ spent Wilbers repairs and hassle already) making Öhlins look like a cheap and effective solution to my endless problems with the Wilbers rear shock. True, Googling it in the same way there have been problems reported with Öhlins too, but those guys sell 'em loads more than some small Wilbers as a producer, and Öhlins dealer network is vastly more advanced than Wilbers (i.e. Öhlins has dealers in 5 countries vs. 1 country for Wilbers there - 5X better chance to get help when in need), which means statistically a lot less problems with Öhlins IMO at least. Also the materials and components used are better from what I've got info listening the guys who've worked on various shocks.
Anyways, I'm personally highly dissapointed with Wilbers quality being stuck almost 1/4 of my travelling time in the middle of nowhere waiting for parts and waiting it to be repaired again and again. Think before you buy one.
Ride safe, Margus (stuck for anther week...)