ESA questions

[rattso]

Does anyone have enough miles on the ESA to determine the long term reliabilaty? Would those that have it buy it again? Does it work to your satisfaction? At the cost I wonder if just building in the price of Ohlin's or Wilbers would be a better option--those are rebuildable. Do the shocks on the RT go soft in rebound damping as quickly as the LT?

[georgesilverman]

I have 5000 miles on my 05 RT with ESA. Originally, I was not going to buy the bike with ESA thinking that I'd put a set of Ohlins on after the OEM shocks wore out. However, now that I have ridden with ESA I really like it. The ability to adjust damping on the fly is really useful if you live in an area of expansion joints on the freeway enroute to your twisties. I also do about 20% of my riding two up and the ability to change the preload with the bike idling in neutral has been great. I can't speak to long term life yet and yes, it you have to change the rear shock it's going to be expensive. However, my dealer indicated that Ohlin is developing a replacement shock for the rear which would retain the ESA function.

My recommendation is that if you ride on a lot of different kinds of roads, do a fair amount of two up riding and are an aggressive rider you'll appreciate ESA.

Hope this helps.

[gkgeiger]

Mine just failed at 21K. It's at the dealer now. I took it in Sat. but they couldn't look at it. Going back this morning. The preload wouldn't change and I was going to leave with the wife on Wed. for the VT rally. It won't handle 2up with camping gear and luggage on the softest setting. Wish me luck. There have been a few failures listed on the BMWST site.

[messenger13]

The ESA on my new GT is my favorite option. It is truly amazing. At 4200 miles, I can't comment on it's reliability yet.