Koni Seals

ashmowerman

Ashley Stone
I have a pair of 87-2171 on my X, i was adjusting the dampening on them and found one had a slight seal leak.
Do we have a contact to get new seals for them? the importer in Australia will do the job but wont sell we the parts to do the work myself.
Ashley
 
You might try TruChoice https://www.truechoice.com Its a long shot but they sold me shock oil so...
BTW they sent out an email message recently trying to drum up business, said turn around time was as short as three days right now.
 
Unfortunately things have changed with Koni. Their authorized service facility is now a race shop in Northern Calif; Performance Shock Inc at Sonoma Raceway. And that facility will not sell parts, only provide the service themselves (for a price). Before this you could buy new seals direct from Koni, however they were very difficult to install. They are not typical lip seals, but a propiarity design.

There are other shops that do Koni service work such as TrueChoice, but Koni doesn't officially list them (that may be why TrueChoice was trying to drum up business). Some companies say they are "authorized", however according to the Koni reps I speak to at SEMA every year they are not (I'm not sure why the discrepancy). And I seriously doubt any of the independent shops like TrueChoice will sell parts either, as they were never in the Koni parts business (they always referred you to Koni directly). Shock oil is not considered a replacement part, and you can buy it very affordably from motorcycle parts suppliers. So it appears the individual seals are no longer available...at least not the top seal. The other seals inside the unit are typical items available from standard commercial seal suppliers.

Basically Koni is moving away from "self servicing" and pushing everyone to pay for professional work. Bilstein has done the same. Their US headquarters and central service facility in San Diego used to be accessible to anyone. No longer true. Now you must go through a retailer for service. And the policy is to buy new ones, submit your old units for examination, and you will be reimbursed if they deem your old ones were covered (they have a million mile lifetime warranty).
 
I thought of a possible option, but I doubt they have the right seals for these particular Konis. There is a offshore company that makes affordable Koni knockoffs for motorcycle applications, "Ikon" (even the name is a ripoff). They offer the seals for the units they make, which are exact copies of the older Koni bike units. As I said, I doubt those seals are the same. There are a LOT of different Koni top seal designs, and each type has evolved over the years. So the odds of these old bike shocks having the right seal is extremely slim. But it might be worth asking them what they know. Perhaps they can lead you to another company that is making copies of the right seals.
 
The Motorsports Marketing Manager for Koni USA is an old friend of mine. I have tried to buy parts from him for my own stuff and can't. You'll have to send them out to be rebuilt.
 
Well, in this case I don't mind. I had Koni rebuild mine. Their technicians are excellent and I trust their work. Shocks are finicky things and I know that I don't have the experience to do what they can do.

I have no experience with TrueChoice since they shut down their parts operations a few years ago and no longer know anybody there. If I were going to send them out I would send them to Anze Suspension. I know Angelo well and trust him to do quality work. https://www.anzesuspension.com/
 
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