YSS - finally, the affordable re-buildable shocks for our bikes?

[Margus]

While doing maintenance on my R1100GS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I saw nice series of shocks on the shop's shelf and one of them looked exactly like my rear. Asked about it and it was for my bike - so far I know only very few companies make rear shocks for my bike so this company must have a huge selection of shocks and it turned out they do! The visual building quality of their different shocks was very good, I say on par with famous expensive European makes like WP and Öhlins.

The company was YSS. They are made in Thailand.

Y.S.S. :: World Class Suspension ::

I asked for the price and was amazed. It was less than half of price of the similar Öhlins shock for my bike! Half less than OEM Showa shock as well, while they're completely rebuildable and looking at the price, I reckon their spare/service parts are cheap as chips too - so you can carry the overhaul set (seals) with you.

Although they are capable of building wannabe racing shocks with remote reservoirs, piggybacks and all other fancy gizmos that I saw there on different road racing bikes, the BM selction seems to be very simple line - which, maybe for travellers, is a good cheap option?

I'm usually not very trusty of some cheap Asian products, but that said I've been VERY dissapointed with various world famous expensive shock makers that have blown up way too easily when going gets really tough, even when they're correctly set up for doing it - I thought they were designed to take punishment, but they just aren't and I've spend silly amounts of money on repairs. I don't need Dakar solo racer's type of dampening and traction, piggybacks, and zillion different (including angle-) dampening adjustment screws etc, I just need average dampening shock that is capable of taking punishment on a fully loaded bike and most of all - that it lasts - because I can not repair a blown high pressure emulsion shock in the bush myself. Even my stock simple non-rebuildable shock lasted longer than supposed-to-be high quality rebuildable aftermarket shock. So maybe it's time to try something cheap now and who knows, maybe due to their simplicity, even works longer than "penis-enlargment" fancy coloured shocks from the famous western manufacturers?

Anyways, actually I have absolutely no idea how long lasting they are in real life. But their price tag really stunned me as a rebuildable shock. IF it lasts as long as WP/Öhlins/Wilbers/Technoflex/Hyperpro etc while costs half the price, looks like a good alternative to expensive shocks, especially that we currently have no other cheap alternative in Europe for them.

So the big question mark - does anybody have experience with YSS shocks in hard offroad conditions with a loaded bike?

Anyways, I'm a bit tempted with some big question marks and I'm on the way to Thailand now. Maybe visit their factory and see if the prices there are even lower.