Questions riders ask

All Moto Performance is in Glasgow, Montana, and it is a mail-in shop. Riders ship fork and shock from all over the world. You are not driving anywhere and you are not leaving your bike with anybody. You pull the components, box them, and send them.

All labor, fresh high quality oil, and moisture free nitrogen on shocks. The oil is Blud Lubricants, 5wt in the fork and 3wt in the shock. Hard parts like seals and bushings are the only thing billed on top, and you hear about them before anything gets ordered. Service and revalve pricing is per component, so a fork and a shock are two line items. Lowering is one price for the whole bike, added on top.

No. Beta and the XTrainer are the specialty and where the deepest model specific knowledge is, but KTM, Husqvarna, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, GasGas and Sherco all come through. If you ride something unusual, email before you ship.

Start with the spring charts to check whether your rates are even close. If the bike used to feel good and now does not, it needs a service. If it has never felt right, even new, it needs a revalve, which corrects the shortcuts the factory made to suit a broad audience and a production budget, and tunes the damping to your terrain, setup, style and pace. If you are still not sure, that is exactly what the conversation with Aaron is for.

Typical turnaround is about 2 weeks from when your components arrive. It is a moving target and changes with workflow, so touch base for an accurate estimate.

An invoice goes out by email once the work is finished, with several electronic payment options. There is no deposit to start a conversation and no card taken up front.

Just the forks and the shock, or whichever end you are having done, with a copy of your rider form in the box. Take out any push button bleeders and put the factory screws back first so nothing weeps in transit.

Hard bow or rifle cases work very well. Otherwise any suitably sized box is fine, and your local hardware store often has fluorescent light or weed trimmer boxes on hand. Secure a case shut if it has weak latches. There is no need to drain the fork oil, but if anything is leaking, wrap it in plastic garbage bags so the package does not get wet.

Get a label through Pirate Ship. It is significantly cheaper than any retail counter, and UPS works well. Ship one way: return shipping is added to your final invoice. A quick email with your tracking number when it is on the way helps match your box when it lands.

Yes, suspension comes in from all over the world, and parts and cartridges ship worldwide. Please say which carrier you would like for shipping, UPS or USPS. Shipping and any customs fees need to be taken into consideration. For Canada, shipping to and from a US address south of the border can be cheaper still.

It depends far more on hours than on seasons, and on use and abuse. Oil breaks down from heat and shearing, not from sitting, so a rider putting in weekend enduro hours needs it more often than someone riding twice a month. Wet and muddy conditions call for much more frequent services, while dry, casual riding can be pushed out some. 40 to 50 hours is typically par for the course. If you cannot remember the last service, it is due. Email and describe your hours and you will get a straight answer.

No, but it is usually worth it. Fork and shock work as a pair, and freshening one while the other stays tired tends to move the problem around rather than fix it. Each component is priced separately at $175, so you can do one now and one later if that suits your budget better.

Fluids and nitrogen are included. Hard parts are not. If a bushing or seal needs replacing, you hear about it before it goes on the invoice, and the common parts prices are listed. Nothing gets ordered without telling you first.

Firmer or softer is the smallest part of it. A revalve does three jobs. It corrects the shortcuts and compromises the factory made to suit a broad target audience and keep production costs down. It puts the circuits and features of the damper that the manufacturer misused to work the way they should. Then it tailors the result to your terrain, your bike setup, your riding style and your pace. Springs hold up the weight of you and the bike. Valving decides what happens next.

If the bike used to feel good and now feels tired, you need a service. If the bike has never felt right, even brand new, you need a revalve. Clicker adjustment cannot fix a setup that was never built for you.

Sometimes, and springs are cheaper, so it is worth checking first. Check your weight against the spring charts. If your rates are already correct and the bike still feels wrong, the answer is valving. Springs are not a substitute for poor valving, and neither one works without the other.

No. The $350 includes the complete service. You are not paying $175 plus $350. Hard parts like seals and bushings are the only thing added, and the prices are listed.

Yes. Lowering is added to a service or a revalve, and the $200 covers the whole bike, fork and shock together. A fork and shock service with lowering is two service prices plus one lowering price. That number assumes your bike can be lowered without custom springs. Some models need them, and if yours does, you hear about it before anything gets ordered.

Not if it can be avoided. If the bike can be lowered on its own springs, it will be. That keeps you on a standard spring, which makes buying a replacement down the road a lot easier. Some models do need custom springs to lower properly, and those are extra.

Done badly, yes. Most off the shelf lowering kits either delete a function of the fork or shock or take travel out of one end and not the other, which throws the balance off and makes the bike push in corners. Done properly, the bike keeps its damping through the shorter stroke and stays balanced front to rear. You lose travel. You should not lose function.

It depends on the bike and how much travel it started with. There is a point past which you are asking the suspension to do something it physically cannot, and we will tell you when you are near it rather than take your money and hand you a bike that bottoms constantly. Send your bike and your inseam with the rider info form and you will get a real number.

Often, yes, and it is cheaper. A low seat, a softer seat foam, or shaving the seat gets a lot of riders where they need to be without touching the suspension. Lowering the suspension is the right answer when the seat alone is not enough. We will say so if we think you are about to spend money you do not need to spend.

Yes. The lowering process is 100% reversible, and the valving usually stays the same.

Put blocks of wood under your feet while you sit on the bike, which gives you a good idea of how much you need. Err on the taller side. Lowering always costs some performance, but the confidence of getting a foot down when you need it generally far outweighs it.

From $1,180 for the stock forks and shock reworked, up to $2,905 for an XT Lucky cartridge and an MXT46 shock. Every option includes springs for your weight. Hard parts like seals and bushings are extra if they are needed. There are options beyond the $2,905 setup, but they tend to be outside what most XTrainer owners are after. See every option on the XTrainer packages page.

Yes. Every option includes fork and shock springs chosen for your weight with gear on. On their own, the AMP fork spring is $180 and the shock spring is $150.

Worth it is very subjective. However, there are no downsides in performance to going more premium. You are not robbing Peter to pay Paul. Each step up adds circuits and sophistication, which means less compromise over a wider range of terrain and speeds. And if you need to stick to a certain number, there are more budget oriented options than the most popular setups on the XTrainer page.

It can be worthwhile if you ride motocross, or if your riding involves big impacts and high speeds. For the vast majority of owners riding rocks, roots and general off road, the Lucky kit can be set up better, without the price tag, the complexity and the weight penalty of a 48mm swap. If you do want to go 48mm, the recommendation is a Boano KYB kit. It is $3,000 and comes with generic valving. AMP valving tailored to you is billed separately.

The upgrade path and the work are the same. What matters is which kind of Lowboy you have, because Beta did it two ways. The Lowboy lowering kit uses internal spacers and lowering methods that are easily reversible, so bringing the bike back to full XTrainer height and travel is simple. The factory Lowboy model changed out some major hard parts. Taking that one back to a full height XTrainer is possible, but significantly more expensive.

It replaces the basic and poorly designed compression adjuster on the stock shock. Adjustability goes up significantly with separate high and low speed circuits, but the main benefit is dramatically better internal pressure management. That gives you a more stable chassis and better bump compliance, and it really bridges the gap to a complete aftermarket shock. It is $220 and can be added to any option that keeps the stock shock.

It depends on how fast you ride. If your riding is mostly 3rd gear and up, rounding up is wise. If it is mostly 3rd gear and down, rounding down is typically best. Either way, use your weight in full gear, and take any accessories or luggage into account.

Sometimes. A simple spring change with no valving work may satisfy some riders. But springs are not a substitute for poor valving. The two work together to give traction, comfort and control, and if you are unhappy with how the suspension performs after installing correct springs, that is a reliable sign the valving, preload or setup is wrong.

The published charts cover the Beta Standard RR, Race Edition, Xpro and XTrainer. Other brands come through the shop regularly, there just is not a public chart for them yet. Email with your bike information, or send in a complete rider form, for a recommendation.