Well your mileage might vary but, I find the following:

Smoother action - less harsh
Consistent performance throughout a race
Smoother range of adjustment
Greater range of adjustment i.e adjustments to the settings have very noticeable effects
Wide range of springs available
Quality (altho' your experiences show otherwise)
Rebuildable - serviceable
Service centre availability

It's a bit hard to describe but, with a decent shock like the Ohlins I can feel what the suspension and tyres are doing, with lesser kit it's not so easy.

I don't think Ohlins is the best any more and there's a wide choice out there now but, it's still good stuff. Whether you think it's worth it for your type of riding and the roads you ride on depends upon you. For me it's worth it and I'd always spend money on suspension over anything else except tyres.

Ohlins reputation came from racing,a completely different world to road use,with different values.Stiction is more important than seal longevity,time between rebuilds irrelevant etc.Success in racing sells,some people buy what they perceive to be good wether or not its fits theyre needs.Ohlins,Termignoni,Akrapovic etc.Just my view of course.

for me, ohlins rear means 1 click makes a heck of a difference!! on my old showa, 4 or 5 and it still felt the same.....not tried forks tho

Ifr you have it rebuilt, go for the grey alloy body..........its a bit tricker and no great extra cost..................fwiw.

Lighter as well. I'm not sure if you can specify them from new though - I've never seen the option.

Tricker in what context ?

better material, lighter..............

I had a 996 that handled like a pig on it's standard showa's until I had the suspension setup. Once it was setup I could do whatever I wanted with it really.

Then I bought the 998R which obviously has ohlins all round. I was looking forward to getting it on a track to see how good it was and it was rubbish! It felt like a barge. A call to Neil Spalding from Sigma later and we put on a bunch of base settings he's used previously and bingo - a very neutral and sweet handling bike.

Any bit of suspension is going to be shite unless it's in decent condition and well setup. Now that I've ridden them both setup well I can say the ohlins are far smoother across the same piece of road than the showa's were - even thoughboth got me round there. I guess it means you'd be more confident on the ohlins because there's good feedback etc.

Just my 20p worth :D

LOL lighter ? the whole shock weighs less than 5kg... if it makes it 4.5kg... really ? is there a point ?

What ever!.......you asked "in what context?"

Ive given you a context! If you want further context........because i/we can afford it!!

If anyone on here could tell the remotest difference across all the stuff available with suspension..............they would probably be spending their time better else where!

Why didnt you ask your question to the original post......its just as relevent, and so is the context. Why do people have Ducatis with Ohlins on........because they can afford it!

It doesnt make you a bad person having an older showa shod 916!

[Edited on 28-4-2006 by andyb]