GP Suspension bye-bye

Recently GP Suspension was bought out by KFG Racing in Auburn Washington.

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KFG

Will Dave supply internal parts or is GPS, for lack of better words, history?

IMHO, Dave supplied the brain power behind GPS.. if his designs and ideas are not carried forward, it's open season for finding an excellent suspension shop.

I want to get very political here, as I've heard of the BS Dave was going through, but I won't violate the policies here, too much respect. But I just might go off big time on the https://candybutt.org site.

OK, deep breath, hopefully Dave is up to a new, more profitable venture. He is great peeps, and I wish him the best.

Crap. Due for service, and hoping this new owner is as good as Dave.

Hudson said:

Crap. Due for service, and hoping this new owner is as good as Dave.

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Yeah, me too this winter. Guess we'll find out then.

EDIT: The owner of KFG is Barry Wressel is a WMRRA and OMRRA (the local road racing clubs) road racer and former club president of WMRRA (2000 & 2001). I would assume that he and Dave knew each other very well. I think we will be in good hands if Barry is anything like what I have heard from other friends that race at WMRRA and OMRRA.

AuburnFJR said:

Hudson said:

Crap. Due for service, and hoping this new owner is as good as Dave.

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Yeah, me too this winter. Guess we'll find out then.

EDIT: The owner of KFG is Barry Wressel is a WMRRA and OMRRA (the local road racing clubs) road racer and former club president of WMRRA (2000 & 2001). I would assume that he and Dave knew each other very well. I think we will be in good hands if Barry is anything like what I have heard from other friends that race at WMRRA and OMRRA.

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I believe I met Barry at Thunderhill last fall during a track day. He told me he knew Dave well, Barry seemed like a good guy but I did not need any service at that time. Who's first for a service report?

Bugnatr said:

I believe I met Barry at Thunderhill last fall during a track day. He told me he knew Dave well, Barry seemed like a good guy but I did not need any service at that time. Who's first for a service report?

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Just handed my FJR over to them this morning for suspension service (GP suspension front/Penske Rear), at the recommendation of some friends who have used Barry's services extensively. I'll post back if service is either outstanding or lacking.

Norman Hamer said:

Bugnatr said:

I believe I met Barry at Thunderhill last fall during a track day. He told me he knew Dave well, Barry seemed like a good guy but I did not need any service at that time. Who's first for a service report?

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Just handed my FJR over to them this morning for suspension service (GP suspension front/Penske Rear), at the recommendation of some friends who have used Barry's services extensively. I'll post back if service is either outstanding or lacking.

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(Tying threads) Someone else already did:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=147220&pid=985435&st=0entry985435

dcarver said:

Will Dave supply internal parts or is GPS, for lack of better words, history?

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He trained the guy, gave him all the stuff, I think Dave's out of the business. I'd suggest everybody give the new guy a chance. I would have myself, but I was in a time crunch to have a leaking seal replaced and did at DVP instead.

dcarver said:

I want to get very political here, as I've heard of the BS Dave was going through, but I won't violate the policies here, too much respect.

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That's wise. I'm not going to share his other thoughts because they are not remotely appropriate for this forum or FJR/motorcycle related.

Hudson said:

Crap. Due for service, and hoping this new owner is as good as Dave.

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Looks like it's time for the gang to branch out into fork service. I've got the equipment list here somewhere...

Hopefully KFG will work out for us. Inital service pricing from a few months ago wasn't very encouraging.

--G

escapefjrtist said:

Hudson said:

Crap. Due for service, and hoping this new owner is as good as Dave.

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Looks like it's time for the gang to branch out into fork service. I've got the equipment list here somewhere...

Hopefully KFG will work out for us. Inital service pricing from a few months ago wasn't very encouraging.

--G

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You can do it. I plan to. Having Dave and Pops in the same hood made the decision easier to have Dave do it. Oh well.

AAAWWWW CRAP!!! Just when I need to have my rear shock serviced while the FJR is resting for the winter here in VT. I'll be watching this "issue" to see how things work out.

Sorry to hear Dave has bowed out so to speak. I talked to Dave for the first time back around March or April. I was trying to find

the right person to do my forks and rear shock. I had talked to many but finally wound up going with the guy all

the way across the country. We talked at length. Dave came up with a solution for one of my concerns that no one

else had. Has to do with being vertically challenged. Dave was very bitter about his situation with the tacks man

to the point I was hesitant to send my forks as I may never see them again. But there was something in his voice that

caused me to ignore my brain and listen to my heart. Glad I did. Best of luck to you Dave

Being in NC, you ought to talk to Rick at Cogent Dynamics. I've heard really good things about him.

Rick

For anyone in Canada or near B.C. The Riders Edge Suspension in Vernon, B.C. rebuilt my forks with Race Tech Gold, valves, seals, and springs and replaced the bushings with OEM. They also ordered my shock GS-3 from Race Tech and I installed that! Ian Mckill owner is very knowledgeable and great guy to work with! Don't work there or have any financial interest, just had a good experience! I love the Race Tech suspension very much.

Barry Wressell is the owner of KFG. Barry has been an install facility of GP suspension components for a long time. I am guessing at least 6-7 years. Maybe more. Barry is a stand up guy and knows motorcycle suspension VERY well. I had him do the suspension on my 01 FZ1 about 5 years ago. All I can say is wow. If you are needing suspension service on your FJR I do recommend Barry at KFG. I will tell him about this thread and I am sure he will chime in when he gets back from dialing in the suspension on Jake Holden's CBR1000rr this weekend down in Laguna.

Well just got my bike back from KFG/GP Suspension in Auburn WA on 7/28/2012. What can I say other that I am grateful that George Hespe AKA EscapeFirst was there for me. KFG did a less than satisfactory job. Maybe it was because Barry and most of the shop was at Laguna Seca- do not know and do not care. The bracket for rear shock Penske reservoir kept hitting my boot. Turns out the bracket was installed wrong- should have been installed on the opposite side of the frame hanger from the muffler bracket instead of sandwiched in between. The hose for the reservoir was routed incorrectly too. That whole thing is a redo this afternoon, just hope that my muffler did not get tweeked because the one side had to be pushed further out to sandwich the bracket. Will find out later.

As to the set-up, it was a joke. The tech admitted that this was all pretty new to him. I do not blame him. Instead the owners have to take responsibility here. There was nothing but the compression set even remotely close in the rear, the front was better but still wrong. The rear penske shock was bottomed out for ride height. George saw it within 10 seconds of me arriving at his house. I had told the tech twice that the bike felt ass end low and he merely measure sag and took out preload. :angry2: Then mentioned that Barry, the co-owner, would have to look at the rest. Bike felt very weird yesterday- ass end low, poor initiation into turns. Wow, I was upset with my hard earned money spent. However, again thanks to George, turns out that I needed about 9mm (toward the upper end of the shocks adjustment range) of ride height adjustment. KFG had 0mm of ride height and had not tightened the lock nut. All in all, George spend about 30 minutes and got my suspension close. I feel like KFG Suspension owes George some money. Maybe about $40 of the $80/hr labor rate. I did spring (pun intended) for lunch for Mr. Hespe.

Maybe I just caught the shop on a bad weekend? However, I paid top dollar and got a C- job. Yes, it is all fixable (unless my muffler is tweeked in which case it is D- job). I just expected more. BTW, my bike was there for a week, and I told them that I needed in on Saturday at 10am. As you can guess, did not really get worked on until Saturday am and did not get it until 2pm. All the time, I said, late is fine, but I want a quality job done. BTW, they seem to have done a good job on the tapered bearings in the steering head- this was the hardest thing where I thought there would be issues. Just goes to show you. Now up to the garage to fix the bracket install.

Thanks for a timely report.

As much as I liked GP's serup on my 06,Looks like I'll be taking the 08 else where.

Let's hope Barabus's experience is an anomaly, Dave/GP certainly knew his product and treated FJR owners very well.

Barabus and I managed to get settings matched to my '09 with fine tuning/tweaks coming later to get it *just right*. Going to center stand was the first indication something was very wrong...

--G

Well the bad bracket install did not tweak the muffler. So all is now fine there. I expect when KFG gets my message tomorrow they will say all the experienced techs were at Laguna. That is fine- maybe they should have shut down for the week or scheduled the jobs that the lone, new tech could handle. Either way, the bike left their shop in piss poor condition and that is on them. I hope this is a one off but I have no way to tell.

Barabus said:

Maybe I just caught the shop on a bad weekend? However, I paid top dollar and got a C- job. Yes, it is all fixable (unless my muffler is tweeked in which case it is D- job). I just expected more. BTW, my bike was there for a week, and I told them that I needed in on Saturday at 10am. As you can guess, did not really get worked on until Saturday am and did not get it until 2pm. All the time, I said, late is fine, but I want a quality job done. BTW, they seem to have done a good job on the tapered bearings in the steering head- this was the hardest thing where I thought there would be issues. Just goes to show you. Now up to the garage to fix the bracket install.

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How disappointing. REALLY disappointing. Glad George was able to help you get it worked out. I know now where I will DEFINITELY not be sending my suspension stuff for service.