I'm going to have some shocks built, my question is this, with the forces on the bike in a right hand turn would it be a good idea to have the left rear shock set up for a heaver compression rate?, I know i could adjust it but to keep things even spring wise I was thinking that the valving should be different, what say you all.
I would advise against having a different shock rate from left to right. this could have an adverse effect on your lateral loading at the rear end of the bike whether you have a conventional swing-arm or not, it could cause alignment problems down the road.
Lonnie
Thanks Lonnie, I respect your user knowlage and will follow your advise.
Originally written by Hack'n on 11/16/2007 2:11 PM
I would advise against having a different shock rate from left to right. this could have an adverse effect on your lateral loading at the rear end of the bike whether you have a conventional swing-arm or not, it could cause alignment problems down the road.
Lonnie
I would guess that this would apply to a leading link set-up, too. I've had trouble with an FJ1200/Friendship hack rig I bought this summer. The front brakes go away after a bump. Pump, pump, pump, and they're back & not spongee.
At 1st I thought the brakes needed bleeding. The calipers are from an 02 YZF600. I took them off the bike to bleed them and oriented them as if they were mounted to a pair of forks like the bike they came off of. No bubbles. and the problem didn't go away.
Yesterday I noticed that there are different rate springs on the front shocks. The guy I bought it from said that the builder did that on purpose. Now I'm thinking that the front wheel flexes from side to side & the rotors are forcing the pucks back.
I'm going to replace the 50+% worn brake pads hoping that the decreased space between the pads & the rotors when the pucks are all the way back will make the brakes better, but I'm pretty sure that it will result in only a slight improvement. Pump, pump & they'll be back.
Am I on the right track?
The mismatched shocks assemblies would certainly be suspect.
Normally a bump wouldn't change the alignment between the brake pucks and the rotor(s). However a lateral force caused by different resistance ratios on either side of the suspension could cause flexing and a subsequent temporary brake failure.
Lonnie
Thanks for the reply, Lonnie. I'll replace the springs & the pads & go from there.
Take care if you do not have a play in the swing arms pivot. Then in deed you might open the break's calipers at passing through a hole.
Sven
