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Fork upgrades

  • Thread starter Thread starter crapwacker
  • Start date Start date
C

crapwacker

Guest
Years ago, the mountain bike forks were all springs and/or elastomers. Preload was adjusted from the cap, by means of a cammed adjuster. I wonder why no such adjuster exists as an upgrade for motorcycles. A guy named Arlo Englund made and marketed replacement air cartridges, that were fully adjustable for weight , compression and rebound dampening. Again, wonder why this type of upgrade is not made for motorcycles? These cartridges lasted for ever, and were fully serviceable. Replace the o rings and lube them up, and you were good to go.
 
I have never heard of such devices, and without researching how they work, I would imagine that some serious re-engineering would have to happen to apply them to motorcycles. The average mountain bike weighs, what? 20 pounds? The average GS weighs ... about 550? What is the stroke on the mountain bike forks? Two or three inches? The GS is ... about 6 inches?

Who knows, it might work, but they would have to be totally re-designed to work with all that additional stress.

.
 
the primary fork upgrades are:

1.) progressive springs

and

2.) Racetech gold valve emulators.

Most forks already have preload adjusters.

Modern USD forks have more bells and whistles.
 
Steve said:
I have never heard of such devices, and without researching how they work, I would imagine that some serious re-engineering would have to happen to apply them to motorcycles. The average mountain bike weighs, what? 20 pounds? The average GS weighs ... about 550? What is the stroke on the mountain bike forks? Two or three inches? The GS is ... about 6 inches?

Who knows, it might work, but they would have to be totally re-designed to work with all that additional stress.

.
Click to expand...

Well there is the space available in a motorcycle fork to accommodate a larger cartridge, meaning larger piston surface area,which would support the bike's weight. To achieve 6 inches of travel, the cartridge would be a minimum 6 3/4 inches. I'm sure that a set for a mountain bike couldn't be retrofitted into a motorcycle fork, but the design being implemented would sure be nice. I know the Progressive springs are a nice product, but an air system is infinitely adjustable, and provide lifetime service.
 
They make cartridge emulators for the GSs...just not YOUR GS from what im aware...
 
On that flimsy thing? Dude, lets be realistic here. YOU are NEVER going to push THAT bike to ITS limits as far as handling goes. I will NEVER push my ES to ITS limits... We're just everyday riders. Those bikes will handle way beyond my "pucker" limit. You stick a bunch of modern crap on there, and you'll find the most hindering factor is the hinge in the middle of that frame. Its not a modern bike bro. If you want modern, buy something a little more modern.
 
I wouldn't go through the time and expense of a busa swap, and air cartridge would be an easily tunable and hopefully bob free upgrade. What are those knock off emulators about? Like price, features, ect.
 
Air shocks are usually used on Mountain bikes as a compromise for lightweight on a trail or race bike. All the downhill guys use a spring. I wouldn't want to use an air shock on a motorbike, the couple of pound in weight & unpredictable nature is not worth it (Yes I'm a big mountain biker with a couple of full suspension bikes).

Dan :)
 
Real men ride hardtail... :twistedevil:



Back to motorcycles: I'm sure it would be possible to scale up the mountain bike concept, but it's probably just not economically practical. It's hard enough to get these cheap bastards to drop $80 on fork springs.

With decent fork springs (Progressive, Racetech, etc.) good fork oil (some experimentation is needed to find the correct weight for your needs), a bit of attention to setting sag correctly (by experimenting with different preload spacers), and possibly a fork brace and Gold valves (if available), GS forks can be made to handle extremely well. Or put it this way -- you can easily upgrade the forks to the point where they are no longer the weak point.

It is impressive how much Suzuki got right on these bikes as far as frame geometry and handling potential. But after a couple of miles on a modern bike, my GS feels like a loose collection of Tinker Toys.

And so what? It's an entirely predictable collection of loose pipe. Sure, the frame flexes and the fork waggles when I pitch it into a fast corner, but after 12 years of warp speed abuse, I know exactly what it's going to do.

In fact, I've discovered that I use the information and input from the flexing to understand exactly what's going on. I just installed a fork brace, and I'm still getting used to the stiffer front end -- it actually feels a little numb now that it's not wobbling around as much. The flexing also forces me to be very smooth, which is a good set of skills to have on any bike.
 
I have an Orange E4 as well (high end English hardtail)... Real men ride ridgid though I would think ;) (I have one of those too back in the UK - an old Muddy Fox).

I actually took my E4 down the ski runs in the Alps about 8 years ago - did the downhill world cup course on it.. Top speed of 52mph on it - Off road!!

Back to the topic in question - I still wouldn't like to ride an air sprung shock on a motorbike, too much pump up from heat generated by all that weight needing such a high pressure I would think & horrible results if/when you blew a seal...

Dan :)
 
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