From the first session, I found this shock supple, communicative, and easy to set up. Twin-speed compression adjustment is nothing special these days when it comes on so many road bikes. Nevertheless, the WP underlines its value with consistent, gradual, and linear adjustment that makes it easy to get handling and bump control dialled right in. Likewise, the rebound adjuster also offers small yet tangible steps.
My shock is a hybrid, made of an off-the-peg race body with pukka competition internals, so it’s performance will be slightly higher than a standard race shock (in confusing suspension parlance, ‘race’ means standard for trackdays and club racing, ‘competition’ means top notch for British and World level privateers. Then there’s the full-factory stuff.)
The real telltale of shock performance is rear tyre condition. If you can’t stop the tyre from tearing up, then your shock is crap. Perched on the WP, my 180bhp K4 treats tyres like babies. Even when worn out and used up, they always look smooth and with nothing more than a slight orange peel graining to show they’ve been working.
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Recently I’ve been using a Penske. While it works well, I can’t get such a precise set-up. It forces a poor compromise between bumps and handling because compression adjustment is single-speed and six-step only. The range of rebound damping is also insufficient.
Life with the WP hasn’t been entirely peachy. I’ve had two problems with it leaking. The first time it cracked the main body, and the second was due to the first repair not finding all the faults.
Importers Full Travel Suspension were very helpful, and they have a good reputation for service to their regular customers too. I’m told the crack is a very unusual problem (of course). It wouldn’t put me off using WP again. In fact, I really hope my next bike has a WP shock in it. The race paddocks tend to agree too.
Contact: Full Travel Suspension, 01284 752102, WPsuspension.co.uk
