Life of shocks depends on a of of things, the stock VX shock rarely leak because of the design so you many not see leakage with them. Mine was very bouncy and I could tell they were not preforming as they should at least it seemed that way to me so I had them rebuilt. I noticed a big difference after the rebuild so they were either worn out or due to age they were not as good as they could be. Rebuilding is expensive but the OEM shocks are a good design and perform well when in good condition. You can get after market ones cheaper, some people are happy with the aftermarket ones and some are not so I guess it really boils down to what you want kind of ride you want and what you want to spend.

If you go aftermarket keep you old OEM shocks so if you are not happy with them you have an OEM set to rebuild and if you are happy with the aftermarket ones you can sell the old OEM ones to someone that wants to rebuild them. Just do not through out the old OEM shocks either way. I am always on the look out for a cheap extra set of shocks so I can rebuild them and have a set to put on and not have any down time waiting for them to be rebuilt. I plan to keep my VX until I die, but that is just me and a few others I am sure.