Jrussell Have you ever road a non es with a stock shock revalved and resprung?
I have not. I am sure it can be done, and done very well no doubt. The issue for me is you are spending a lot of money and when finished you are still left with an emulsion type shock.
There was a good post on here or maybe adventure rider where the owner had his drilled and modified for a remote reservoir. It was a nice job and I believe he was happy with the result. At least then he had a remote res shock with better performance than an emulsion shock.
When I was club racing I have had other stock shocks rebuilt/resprung and the result has been good. One of my biggest gripe is Japanese manufacturing installing non standard springs which increase the cost of a restring because you need to get spring adapters and spacers to make standard springs work. Being in Canada also doesn't help as we don't have access to these parts easily and the extra costs to get them here just add to the bill.
I was recently browsing the Stadium suspension website where they advertise they will modify stock un-servicable shocks so they can be rebuilt normally. Good to know there is a place in Canada who will do this. I know there are other shops like Accelerated tech that offer this as well.
Overall when I look a the extra costs to modify the stock shock or have it just re-sprung, for me it is not worth it. Save the stock one for when you sell the bike. Invest in a quality aftermarket shock. Much or most of the cost can recovered at a later time. All the money you invest in that stock shock is gone when you sell the bike, so I really don't see a huge difference in overall costs. Also you get a nice ride out of the deal.
I am not a fan of the ES suspension, but that is another rant.