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1/10/2020
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Haines City, FL
US
Stewable
1/12/2020 10:40pm
1/12/2020 10:40pm
Edited Date/Time
1/17/2020 4:37am
AC has been running the BFRC shock on the 450. With as controversial as the shock is (especially in supercross) it doesn't seem to be holding him back any. Did Adam have the choice of running the BFRC vs conventional shock? Do you think the BFRC has been "figured out" or was it all just rumors from the beginning?
I think if Suzuki would have spent just a little more time on settings we would all be singing a different tune.
I think I have underestimated the impact of the "middle man" between the race teams and the factories. The open flow of information and the ability to communicate/translate feelings into words is much more important than I probably ever realized.
The Shop
I know HEP uses Ohlins suspension so obviously they do not. Kawasaki has been testing with the BFRC going all the way back to RV2.
Gajsers bike has BFRC. He is the world champ and top dog at HRC Honda at Europe. I think he can have what ever he wants on his bike.
Savatgy was always on BFCR? Then again his bike was blowing up at the nationals like it was a kxf 250 from 2004. He must have been testing all sorts of bells whistles on his bike.
Maybe kawi and showa have some sort of deal like JGR. Then again I just read this shit from the internet...
It is revalved by TZR and sprung for me, but like I said zero issues with it.
I think anyone that has had a issue is riding it stock, or been revalved by someone that's clueless and or they messed with the adjustments too much since theres no clicks they both just turn, hell I don't know.
Different system? I never heard of it
It seems strange to me that a manufacturer (Kaw) continues to use it previously with Savatgy and now with AC, but the factory team of the manufacturer that puts the shock on the bike OEM doesn't use it. Bad look to me.
I've never had an issue with mine, and if you have ever worked on a shock or changed oil you would love the simplicity involved in servicing the BFRC.
I have Race Tech valving front and rear on my RMZ, love it.
Really, my 18 RMZ is a terrific bike. The only thing I really wish it had was the magic button.
Q: HOW GOOD IS THE INNOVATIVE BFRC REAR SHOCK?
A: We love innovation, even innovation that is borrowed from someone else. Thus, we wanted to love the all-new (if you don’t count the Ohlins TTX shock it was borrowed from) twin-tube Showa BFRC rear shock. On a traditional rear shock absorber, a plunger pushes a valve with holes in it down through the oil in the shock body. The holes are covered by thin, circular metal shims of varying thicknesses and diameters. The oil, which is being compressed, has to bend the shims out of the way to get to the other side of the valve. The configuration of shims, on both the compression and rebound sides of the valve, determines how much damping the shock has. Since the plunger strokes up and down in the shock body, the damping changes with both plunger speed, direction and position. That is how most motocross shocks work. But not the BFRC.
The Balance Free Rear Suspension (BFRC) shock plunger doesn’t have a valve with shims on it. It is just a plunger, nothing more. It cycles the shock oil out of the main shock body tube into a secondary tube that brings the displaced oil up to the cavity where the clicker adjuster is located. The clickers share this space with the compression and rebound shim stacks that are no longer in the shock body. Taking the shim stacks off the plunger reduces the cavitation that comes from the oil sloshing around, and the two types of damping can be better controlled.
It sounds good, but it is not ready for prime time. The problem is that Suzuki’s BFRC shock isn’t well damped. Its shim stacks are not properly configured. It moves too freely, and harnessing the loose feeling uses up most of the available clicker settings (noting that the clickers on the BFRC shock do not click). The BFRC got its best results in road racing, which has much different load characteristics from motocross. The result is what test riders referred to as “wobble,” “wallow,” “waggle” and “see-saw”, all referencing the shock’s unwillingness to take a set unless the rear tire was hooked up and driving.
Pit Row
bottom line is manufacturers regularly sell a bike with bad suspension, the list would be long with every bike that was poorly setup from factory
From some buddies who've bought the RMZ and having talked with a few riders the BFRC isnt bad, it just needs to be tested and tuned. If every media outlet hadnt quickly shamed the shock immediately out of the box and just as quickly swapped it out for anything else in their builds more people would catch on.
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