Product Evaluation
PRODUCT EVALUATION
RED WING SHOCKS
If you’ve already heard the name Red Wing shocks being tossed about during bench racing sessions, it’s no wonder. These dampers, manufactured in Japan by Kayaba, world’s largest maker of hydraulic components, and sold under the Red Wing logo through Marubeni Corp. in the U.S., are already making quite a name for themselves. Noticing this, we decided to obtain several pair for evaluation. Marubeni sent us some of its aluminum-bodied Jumbo shocks and some of the gaspressurized Nitro variety. The aluminum shocks are still undergoing careful scrutiny, but we are ready to report on the Nitro units.
Desert racing provides tremendous punishment. Unfortunately, no one on our staff owns a big-bore desert rig, so we asked Ron Griewe, a friend of our own Jim Hansen, if he would like to try the shocks on his 400 Husky that he had just finished modifying for a longtravel rear end.
The Red Wings were installed in an inverted position. This is one of the advantages of a gas/oil shock. In this position, the shock body becomes sprung weight, while only the shock “hat,” shaft and part of the spring remain unsprung. Less unsprung weight means quicker response. Although the long-travel modification had not been intended for these particular shocks, they went right on with only a minor hitch. The Red Wings are very wide, necessitating inversion of the master link in the chain so that the clip faces the spokes. The chain still makes occasional contact with the spring, but it is nothing serious.
Performance of the Nitros is excellent. Damping is, in a word, great. Griewe also tried them on his 360 Mikkola Replica and, although the standard Girling gas-emulsion shocks provide fine control, the ride provided by the Red Wings is much more comfortable.
To discover how well the shocks conform to existing damping characteristics, we took a pair down to Brian Fabre at Number One Products. On the shock dyno we found that the Red Wing Nitros produce virtually the same damping curve as a fresh pair of Konis. No wonder the shocks were working so well. Just like having a pair of gas/oil Konis! In eight desert races, plus additional riding, the shocks have yet to fade or leak a drop of fluid. They’re really sturdy.
As the foremost maker of hydraulic components, Kayaba makes most of the suspension units for the Big Four. But most of these items are made to fit within a cost-per-unit figure dictated by the manufacturer. What happens when you allow the engineers to do their own thing, with less regard for cost, is just what has resulted here: a great pair of shocks.
They are the same basic units that took Jim Weinert and Kawasaki to the National 500cc Motocross Championship in 1974. . .although his were not officially Red Wings. They are virtually the same shocks that come on the new production KX250A motocrosser and, in smaller versions, on the new RM 125 Suzuki that we are now testing. And where do you think Suzuki went when it needed to install LTS on the works motocrosser? To Kayaba, of course. On all of these machines, and on our test Husky, the shocks have proven, and are continuing to prove, themselves to be superb.
Red Wing likes to play down the fact that its units are made in Japan. There is a certain stigma attached to shock absorbers that come from Nippon. But these units, whose only fault is their extra width and the resultant slight increase in weight, are doing their best to dispel that stigma. Besides, that problem of width is a minor one. The farther up the swinging arm you mount the shocks, the closer to the chain the shock will be, since swinging arms narrow as they approach their fulcrums. Mounting the shock slightly outboard of the swinging arm, as Kawasaki and Suzuki have done, is the answer.
Performing as well as they do, and being competitively priced (retail they should be in the vicinity of $95 a pair), Red Wing can expect to sell these shocks in great numbers. But sales would be even higher if Nitros were rebuildable.
Marubeni America Corporation can be contacted at 200 Park Ave., New York, NY 10017. Telephone: (212) 624-1489. ©
