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I don't know about all the teams but Kawasaki used to and I suppose they still do.

The break in period of all bikes loosens up after initial use. The linkage gets freer as well as the suspension components. When the suspension specs are decided on for production, the bikes are well broken in, so when the bike is produced, everything fresh and tight, and has a tighter feel. Factory bikes are built from new pieces, but...

The first SX specific suspension I build on my own was in the mid 80's. At first I was basically just increasing spring rates and compression damping mildly. But as time went on, I started doing more radical changes testing with riders and getting good feedback which encouraged me to do more and more. I think I had a pretty...

The testing that my workers have done with the WP airfork has been very positive this year. PERSONALLY, I am not a big fan of single sided spring/damping design, so my opinion on the design is not so positive. But the performance for our customers has been good on them.

I went up to a track called CROWN 9 I think back in the late 70's that was pretty fun. I think that was probably the funnest track I rode up there. Also Mountain High in Fresno I think. A story from NorCal, I remember going testing with Darryl Schultz (when he was with Team Suzuki) up north once, but...

what is your question?

I met Shaun when I was working with Phil Lawrence. I had no idea who he was, but I thought he was really a lot of fun. I did some SX suspension for him and he ended up qualifying for a main event in LA. Later that night, I heard a bike running wide open in the pits and I...

I'm not sure I understand what your problems are. If you have the proper spring rate, then possibly you need to modify the valving a bit. Your complaints of headshake and harshness could be preload related, but a longer spring would preload the spring more and you may need less if you are experiencing those things.

Not really.

Yes, try having the fork revalved stronger in the rebound stack so it will allow you to run the adjustment open more. The same with compression, probably with the mid speed valve.

I have an idea about what you are talking about, and unfortunately, you are experiencing the compromise of suspension tuning. What makes one thing work really well, the same thing hurts the performance in another area and there is not always a way of getting the best of both worlds. If you are talking about running the rebound adjuster really...

I am familiar with the OHLINS 3 bushing configuration. KYB did some testing with it in the late 70's and early 80's and I really liked the performance on downhill braking. Eventually KYB stopped working with it because it was difficult to fix the second slide bushing deep inside the outer tube, and still allow it to be changed regularly...

When a fork compresses, the cartridge shaft has the rebound/MSV piston attached to the end and as it goes through the cylinder. Oil flows through the rebound/MSV piston and is metered by the MSV (mid speed valve). The introduction of the cartridge shaft entering the cylinder also displaces area in the cylinder, and this "rod charge" is forced through the...

We generally only use stronger spring perches for SX. The AOS (SSS) fork works quite well, and the bottoming resistance is adequate for most MX use. If you were to use stronger spring perches in mx, chances are the performance would get too strong (harsh) in certain areas.

1. At the highest level, in national MX racing, the components are rebuilt every race! Of course this is impractical for the average rider and not really necessary. But keeping fresh bushings in the front fork definitely maintains good performance. Virtually every impact your front fork absorbs comes with side load. These side loads wear and even slightly deform the...

1. When we test with riders, we have them ride the track and once they get a feel for everything, we ask their comments on how it feels. I do not expect them to give me specific directions in what needs to be done such as changing adjustments or damping and spring changes. I only want to hear what they...

no.

1. You can use standard KYB wear parts in the kit suspension components. 2. When vacuum bleeders first showed up, I saw the advantages of them, but wasn't completely convinced of their necessity because of the cost. I remember the YAMAHA race team was approached about using one, and they compared a shock built by hand and one built with...

Spring rate is determined by the rider's weight, but sometimes faster riders just prefer higher rates because they ride harder and like the added stiffness. When I first started working with 4 strokes, I found that they worked better with a bit more rebound damping because I felt the power delivery was not as abrupt as two strokes. I also...

That circulating system was used on the factory SR Kawasakis that year. It basically circulated the oil displaced by the shaft entering the body, going through the compression adjuster. The oil charge went into a reservoir with cooling fins on it, then back into the shock body. I think that it was abandoned because although it worked, it was a...