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Kowa Forks

H

Hougham

Monkey
Mar 28, 2007
375
3
Do they still sell these in the US and if so does any one have to hand the importers details? The details are not on the Kowa home page these days. Thanks :)
 
D

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
Just out of curiosity, why do you want a Kowa anyhow? There are quite a few forks out there that kick some serious ass that aren't just the regular stuff. X-Fusion comes to find.
 
iRider

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,653
3,092
Maybe because Kowa will offer a red Kashima coated 8" travel fork with Avy cartridge? ;)
 
Gary

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,635
5,550
UK
Wow!! they'd look really nice on my new bike..



maybe add some tasteful white flat bars to keep the front end nice n low too?
 
DhUrbaner

DhUrbaner

Chimp
Oct 9, 2006
49
0
Word of warning, stay away from Kowa! My steerer tube loosened up on me and I sent it back for warranty. I never saw my fork or heard from anyone again. That was a year ago.
 
Inclag

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,752
442
MA
DhUrbaner said:
Word of warning, stay away from Kowa! My steerer tube loosened up on me and I sent it back for warranty. I never saw my fork or heard from anyone again. That was a year ago.
Click to expand...
Wasn't Kowa associated with Nemesis at one point?
 
DhUrbaner

DhUrbaner

Chimp
Oct 9, 2006
49
0
Yes, the fork was buttery smooth and the adjustment was really nice. Anywhere between 10mm to 160mm of travel. It handled everything up until the steerer tube incident. But now I have sh#t! What's it worth then? Anyone wanna buy a fork I dont have?
 
H

Hougham

Monkey
Mar 28, 2007
375
3
It sounds like your forks may have vanished to the same place as the old importer :( Did you ever contact Kowa direct about as from what I hear in Japan there support is outstanding.
 
DhUrbaner

DhUrbaner

Chimp
Oct 9, 2006
49
0
I tried a few times through e-mail, but have never received a reply. Was the person Japanese that you heard about the good support? Just wondering if they only support within the country?
 
no skid marks

no skid marks

Monkey
Jan 15, 2006
2,511
29
ACT Australia
I was selling Kowas in Australia, and had support from Kowa Japan. Not sure what happened in the US(Covic), but if you have proof of purchase etc, I'd contact Kowa Japan. Try get in contact with Mitsu(the guy in the vid), he's very helpful. His English takes time though.
 
Ithnu

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
The Kowa rep for the US, Joe Krajcovic, used to live here in Denver. I think he moved to the NW, Seattle maybe. His brother used to live in Denver too, he moved to Michigan. I haven't heard from either of them in a while.

Kowa was going to work with Brooklyn I thought. I still have my 160mm travel adjust fork, still working well. Of all of their forks the 160mm air was the best.
 
B

BROOKLYN1

Chimp
Jul 29, 2007
32
0
My fork went MIA to Covic as well... i'm sure service in Japan will be perfect... but I have no fork :-) if any one gets a contact to Japan, post it up. I am tired of doing wheelies all day.
 
H

Hougham

Monkey
Mar 28, 2007
375
3
BROOKLYN1 said:
My fork went MIA to Covic as well... i'm sure service in Japan will be perfect... but I have no fork :-) if any one gets a contact to Japan, post it up. I am tired of doing wheelies all day.
Click to expand...
Edit sorry meant Japan 06 66925551
 
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W

wasea04

Chimp
Jun 22, 2007
7
0
look me up on mtbr under the same name
I own two Kowa 160 Ss' and I love 'em! Mitsu is awesome to work with, he replaced my fork a couple years ago to with a newer model when I just wanted my fork serviced, and my fork didn't even need servicing! It was more of an OCD type thing....''I better service this badboy so that I don't damage it," kind of thoughts :) He also sent me out a new cartridge when mine started not staying in the travel position I set it in for free! When I eagerly thanked Mitsu he wrote back in broken english that while Kowa isn't the biggest manufacturer their customer service is by far the best, and I'd have to agree. The only bummer is that it takes a month and $80 to ship your fork to Japan for a servicing, although I don't think it'd be too hard for a Push type company to learn how to service them.
 
W

wasea04

Chimp
Jun 22, 2007
7
0
look me up on mtbr under the same name
By the way, Mitsu and I struck up such a good relationship, that he told me if anyone would like to buy one he'd send me the new 160 Ss equivalent fork(s) for $950 each. I told him I'm still in grad school and I can't afford to be his US distributor :) I bet if you wanted one I could email Mitsu and get you lined up for much less than it'd cost out of Germany.
 
D

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
950 for a Kowa? FOrget that.

You'd be mental to spend that on a fork with no US distributor, and a less than stellar history of being able to keep forks working properly.

X fusion, Rockshox, Fox, maybe Marzocchi. Leave the other stuff to lemmings and "lookwhatIhaves!"
 
HardtailHack

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,729
5,612
Really...the dude at Kowa is helpful? May have to shoot an email and see if they have new bushes then, I have Kowa bits floating around everywhere in the garage hopefully I still have the bits to put them back together.

The travel adjust is amazing, being able to have 30mm of negative travel gives so much extra confidence through the fast choppy stuff, for the three rides my forks worked anyway.

Still slightly tempted by their pedals.
 
D

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
X-Fusion is releatively new (at least with HQ stuff), and the MTB masses as a whole are idiot sheep that buy what they are told rather than researching what's actually good. So as the word leaks out that X-fusion is actually kickass stuff, they will be adopted more.
 
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