New I.S.O. Review

Since the other review was locked I decided to post a new one. I think Drake does absolutely the best suspension work available and has some of the best customer service around. I have never had a problem with his communication. My suspension parts have had the utmost tuning and Drake has gone more than the extra mile. He has put up with my OCD-isms and has not been bothered. He has gone to bat for me with Rock Shox and has swung big. My tuning(s) on front and rear are better than anything I have ever ridden and if it wasn't I can assure you Drake would make it so. You absolutely cannot get the same personal attention and expert advice from any other suspension technician, hands down. You cannot fault Drake for poorly mass manufactured products (Fox, Rock Shox) and inferior o-rings. And your shock is not the only shock in his shop so not every shock can get in and out in 48 hours. Some miracles also take longer than others. Give the guy a break and don't be a dick. It is business, nothing personal so don't make it. I stand by his work and tell everyone I come into contact with where to go for custom work and personal attention they cannot get anywhere else. That is my two cents.

You must of never heard of Craig at Avalanche he make his own line and if you have tried you would say its pretty amazing stuff. I had a good friend from GP have a not so good experience with drake. I can also say that Craig at Avalanche has the best customer service,experience and knowledge out IMO. His stuff has been ridin and tested by Josh Bender,Lance Canfield and others who go BIG. I am not trying to knock Drakes work its just Craig at AVY is soo knowledgable he takes other manufactures products and makes them work like you would not believe til you ride it. I think Bullcrew Travis will back me on this one . Maybe Maybe not.

I don't want to turn this into a pissing contest. Just saying people don't need to trash someone's business over petty things like I read. And no I have not heard of Craig over at Avy but I am sure he does awesome work too. Still no need for people to trash Drake and ISO.

Lol i live in socal and hear stuff from friends and shops.

Avalanche is top notch, its the boasting drakes the best that started collins stand and ill agree with collin 100%.

I am just trying to inform people of different choices available to have services done.

Thanks Travis I feel the same way. Avalanche is amazing suspension and i swear by it!!

Craig and drake are on different levels drake is not a engineer and doesnt claim to be, he does try and fix isues with mass market stuff which is a good thing and for rebuilds its a good option.
Hippietech (jerry vanderpool) is a total stud worked for rockshox and sat side by side with the engineers hes slow but does great work and is slammed at all times as well as gets the 411 for inside mods and tunes.
Jumping jerry has alot of street cred as well as connections and being a pro for so long plus hes fun to ride with. (hard to get ahold of).

There are good options and every one has a personal take on stuff, ive known craig for over 6 years and go online and search his reputation for quality and design. Its right there with or above boss, ccdb and less $. He doesnt use vendors so direct is how he keeps the cost down.
Although raising prices to put him where he belongs in the market is probably.what he should do.

OCD wrote:Give the guy a break and don't be a dick. It is business, nothing personal so don't make it.

I don't think I've seen anyone on here make it personal.....just frustrated.

It's cool you had a good experience. I had a good experience too. I took a fork of mine in and hung out while he worked on it. Drake was really cool and the fork felt great. That being said, people's experiences seem to vary.

COLIN M wrote:I am just trying to inform people of different choices available to have services done.

That is a good idea. We need a sticky thread with after market shocks and places that do mods, i.e.:

Aftermarket Shocks:
-Avalanche Downhill Racing (also does mods/kits)
-Elka Suspension

Services:
I.S.O.
Garage Works Suspension
PUSH

I would have liked to have known about Avalanche and their 5th Element mod kit before I had Garage Works rebuild it. They were about the same price.

And just for the record the fact that there is someone locally to assist people in their need for suspension repair, rebuild, seals service etc is good. Theres alot of bikers here and i hope Drake does well.
This place was missing someone to do the work one on one especially the service and maintenance intervals.

Thanks Kdiff, you got what i was trying to say. I just feel the same about avalanche as OCD does about Drakes work.

Drake is dependable and very technical. I like that there are other resources.

Thanks Travis for that info!

bullcrew wrote:Craig and drake are on different levels drake is not a engineer and doesnt claim to be...

Hmmm, I don't think you know Drakes background.

Cap'n wrote:

bullcrew wrote:Craig and drake are on different levels drake is not a engineer and doesnt claim to be...

Hmmm, I don't think you know Drakes background.

no im quite sure they are on different levels. I dont see fox calling him with offers or marzocchi on stuff im prety sure showa hasnt contacted him to make the guts for their new forks and darren at push didnt call drake to get info from him.
Not a pissing match there just on different levels , craig has a DEEP base and history with several highend companies in weapons, stabalization systems, etc. Mechanical engineer backed by wold tool for a long time with huge connections in gov. And hush hush stuff as well as regular non private projects for over 30 years.

As well in the mx arena for most of that riding and designing for racetsch and several others all the way down to piston design flow and what viscosity oil for best results and thats been his conection with golden spectro for years as well

Pretty sure that gives him a pretty big base of knowledge and thats why i say that, jerry worked side by side with rockshox and i like jerry but still not on the same level. Not a jab but fact and jerrys a great tuner with a huge base.

Not bagging on him theres alot of pastors and then theres god. Lol


Drake may be an engineer my comment was based on the poi.t h does tuning and rebuilds he.doesnt claim to manufacture and do full redesigns and new specd parts.

i believe drake works for NASA sometimes.I thinks he a engineer

LOL maybe thats why they are shutting down the space shuttle program!

COLIN M wrote:Thanks Kdiff, you got what i was trying to say. I just feel the same about avalanche as OCD does about Drakes work.

This is an ISO review thread not avy. To be fair, lets keep it on topic. Thanks

Agreed cameron.

Nuff said..

Thanks gentlemen

Drake is most certainly not a bump on a log. Drake does not manufacture (to my knowledge) cartridges or components, but he does do rebuilds and tune ups as well as upgrades for very reasonable prices and he's a local who supports GP. I'm all for him and ISO.