by Shakti Stunter » Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:47 pm
na, not really....
basically standard shocks are not really dialed in, so they do not give you maximum control and safety for the road, as they try and average everything out, but why not set them for what you want the bike to do?
most bikes tend to use the cheapest fork oil, and dont really throw in the right amount for adaptability, and the valving is usually not too crash hot... You see you control your compression (how much the front end dips e.g. around corners or over bumps) via the quantity and type of fork oil, and by adjusting the screw position at the top of your forks... You can also set each fork separately, one with better low speed compression and the other with better high speed... (good if you do a range and variety of riding...) you control the dampening (or rebound... how quickly the bike moves from the dips to rest position) via the valving (and the screws at the bottom of the forks).... having your bike revalved and reoiled, means that with your front end, you immediately have far more control of when you swing your bike into corners... you can take them far more quickly (cos the bike flicks in) and with far more safety... and you can set the bike up better for stoppies for instance
now for the shocks, similar scenario to the front, except its controled by a spring... now the standard rear suspension can be rebuilt and it can work just fine, but after market gives you more adaptability and control, and again it allows you to fine tune it so the tyre is far more likely to stay in contact with the road, and the bike doesnt sustain as much jolting impact when you drop the wheelie!!! Also, A soft rear (and by that I dont mean tyre) on a litre bike for instance will throw the weight back and give you more traction and throw the front end skyward. Its not that hard once you wrap you head around the physics of it.... (and you start looking for anyway possible to negate the skill level factor.....)
May a flea climb up my ass find happiness.