What makes an A kit suspension?

Coatings, larger diameter, more adjustment, and some strengthened internal parts and a valving setting.

We're finding more and more riders who are preferring the feel of their smaller diameter "stock" forks vs. the A Kit alternative, though there are components for Supercross that we had to develop to strengthen the stock internals because they would fail with a SX valving setting combined with a sharp impact. Same goes for the smaller shock shafts on the stock shocks.

A large part of the expense is the coatings.

Thormx11, but they will be far from akit. Not that race tech does bad work, when properly set up A kit is straight up amazing

Inner chrome tubes, outter fork tubes, shock body, and shock shaft. Coatings are all about reducing friction which in turn provides a smoother, more consistent feel with better traction. We've done quite a bit of R&D and found some great stuff out about reducing friction. By applying a crosshatch on the lower fork bottoms we can actually get less stiction (static friction) that DLC coating. Applying a DLC coating after the crosshatch was even better yet. This cross hatch is done on each set of suspension through our door now, initially it was a $15 charge compared to a few hundred dollar per end DLC expense for better performance. I think it might even be included in the rebuild labor now, not 100% sure.

rocketsocks26, we actually have quite a few riders who prefer their stock stuff over A Kit, almost unanimously outdoors. From the feedback I've heard from riders, the ones that prefer a plusher feel shy away from the A Kit, while those who like to feel all the bumps a bit more in their hands are more in favor of the A Kit. Crazy thing is, the same type of comparison can be compared between air forks vs. spring forks. For SX, the A Kit strong point is the whoops, more feel and can almost never get too stiff on the forks there, but guys often struggle with harshness on any small chatter entering and leaving corners.

Also, your quote of $1000 is a bit high with Race Tech for most riders, and we offer a 20% VitalMX discount to all the members here. If you decide to get something setup be sure to mention VitalMX via phone or email when ordering for the discount.

If you have anymore questions or want to get a quote for a personalized setup for you shoot me an email to chris@racetech.com and I'll get you dialed in.

Any of you guys done crosshatching yourself? What did you use?

Engine lathe and a wire brush.


Don't actually do this.

to do a proper crosshatch you need a lathe or large drill press to spin the tubes. then use 220 grit aluminum oxide sand paper. if the 220 grit scares you (even tho it works the best and wont cause any issues) you can use 600 grit. top it off with SKF fork seals and you saved 600+ on DLC and will have less friction.

I believe if you were to research this further you will find that it will reduce stiction and friction in a hydraulic ram that has no side load. The issue is when the side load is applied it creates an increase in friction that is detrimental to the performance of the fork. There are studies that show this clearly so I would not crosshatch the fork tubes.
Using a drill press is a great idea, wet dry bring it down to 1500 grit or finer if it is an aggressive paper then polish them.