| I have a contemporaneous magazine report which indicates that Ohlins were taking legal action against their fork seal supplier due to the well documented reliability problems.
I suspect the change to Showa was as a result of this - subsequent reversion to Ohlins may be as a result of improvement to seals in later years.
I guess the the beauty of the 851/888 SP models is that they are all quite different in spec and appearance, so ther should be one to suit most tastes. I cant help but think that you dont get that with the later bikes which (certainly due to the beautiful styling) did not change in appearance for many years.
I have the SP5 and I bought it because it was the only one I wanted .......... but it seems all these bikes have pros and cons:
SP3 - aluminium tank/ohlins
SP4 - ohlins
SP5 - showa/more power
It's as broad as it's long.
SPO is just a pretty bike without the grunt which is not in the spirit of things really ....... very pretty though!
Anyway that's the end of my rant - I hope I didnt offend anyone there!  |