Kowa?

So apparently - because i have been hangin out on RM - i have discovered that these guys make MTB suspension. :lastweek:

Anyone ridden a set? Anyone got any good/bad/gossip/fact about these? Because the idea of Suspension made by a Moto company is appealing.

Showa too. What happened to that fork?

Still interested in peoples opinions - if you've ridden one for real. Nothing quite like the Whistler/NS for proving products. The pricing seems reasonable in Europe - the are under the "star" brand name - licensed from Kowa….
There are a couple of companies that seem to make sick DH forks, but not get them much out of Japan - Tech In, Showa, Kowa… Whats going on? Aren't we enough of a market? Everything else we use comes from that end of the world.

I rode a 7 inch dual crown for a year. Very light and responsive. Probably a great race fork (not that i race!!!). 30 mm stantions and all black. Back in the day there was a sweet 35mm version, 8 inch travel. That was money. If you cruise the japanese used sports stuff websites you can pick one up really cheap.

A dude that lives in cali was a race tech and we'd chat on the phone discussing rebuild and internal tuning adjustments. Only problem I had was getting parts if needed. Some guys used to race them in the US. They were distributed by THE and even had their stickers plastered on them although they were kowa's underneath and made in japan.

Overall a cool fork.

They were distributed by THE and even had their stickers plastered on them although they were kowa's underneath and made in japan.

Overall a cool fork.

They were bloody expensive.

I had thought they were made by Showa and were the same fork that was previously showing up on Shimano team bikes (Mike King for example) and had a bunch of manufacturers up in arms because big-brother might take some more market share?

I am easily confused though.

…

*edit: This is a pretty good read/review: http://brooklynmachineworks.blogspot.com/2008/02/flowride-fridays-kowa-suspension.html

and here is exactly the same review on PinkBike:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Kowa-suspension-160-single-crown-2008.html

Thanks A - that was a useful link.

i've been into motocross for the past few years an i have never heard of kowa suspension :???:

showa, kayaba and wp are the 3 stock brands on the big 5 company's bikes for the past number of years..

LOL i just did a search on Google for "kowa motocross" and what comes up first?
The post above. LOFL!!

what's wrong with a fox 40?
its a proven platform with nothing weird about it - they just work well, especially after james is done with it - and spare parts and service available quickly and locally.

I'm all abut the local service, but it does seem as if there is a product out there that we are not seeing at all.
Always follow the herd? Why?

what's wrong with a fox 40?
its a proven platform with nothing weird about it - they just work well, especially after james is done with it - and spare parts and service available quickly and locally.

True James does awesome service on almost all brands of forks, so it doesn't have to be a Fox for that reason. I wouldn't say the fox 40 is the ideal for for everyone. There is a lot of maintenance compared to what some are used to.

What about the new BOS stuff? http://farkin.net/article/a5a1b8/BOS_S_Toy_Review this was interesting to read. It'd like to see the same for their forks.

Always follow the herd? Why?

Ah yes… the mating call of the lonely Risse Trixxxy owner!

(http://www.risseracing.com/forks.shtml#trixxxy)

Always follow the herd? Why?

Or was the the War Cry of the lonely White Bros "Groove" owner?

(http://www.whitebrotherscycling.com/26dual.shtml)

Always follow the herd? Why?

Or was that the Death Throes of the wounded Stratos convert?

(http:// HA HA HAHA HA AH HA AH)

…

I love weird shit but I think I will stick to Fox and let other people try Kowa.

-D

Hey! I resemble that remark.
I have owned 2 White Bros forks, 1 Stratos and 1 Bullet Bros (remember that!).

What kind of bike geek would i be if i was only interested in running the same shit all the time?

showa made the forks that tomac ran as Tioga back in the day.. Having put that.. Whats going on with tioga, from cool to ofthe mark in the last 5 years..