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A narrow, single lane, track requiring technical skills to negotiate.
The dirt bike opposite of “WFO fire road”.
Got to love Australian slang 🤡
The Shop
I'd also assume there would be less front end traction under braking if you aren't getting maximum weight "over" the front, but perhaps I'm not thinking about it correctly.
Your last sentence makes perfect sense to me. I couldn't imagine entering a corner with my front end feeling like it is "sticking up" or "locked "at full travel.
Interesting for sure but I wonder how the different offset of the fork will impact the handling
For a good comparison, the ideal would be to compare your prototype with a standard sxf 350 from 2012, and then ask some pro-riders to give their assumption.
A question : would it not be better to use a stronger shock in the hossack triangle then the one you are using now ? (the difference in weight of an MTB bike and an enduro bike is considerable...)
I didn't notice a lot of flex, but also only rode it for 5 minutes on relatively flat ground
What I realized is that whilst teleforks are good in some ways they are bad in others and a Linkage suspension is also good in some ways and bad in others....so I thought about combining the two but in such a way which keeps their relative strengths but also reduces their relative weaknesses...they become a system working in greater synergy.
I can use the original fork from the bike and so I can get most of the long travel through the telefork but mounting the telefork in a steeper configuration which lessens some of a teleforks weaknesses.
The linkage is of shorter travel which keeps it compact and light and it can be tuned to give a very specific Kinematic profile which then works in harmony with the telefork...the biggest issue with this setup was understanding it and finding that harmonious relationship between the linkage and telefork.
Now this is the really cool part...the two suspension systems combined now give two wheel paths too the front wheel which has never been seen on a dirtbike before......combined they give a wheelpath range of movement which allows the front wheel to move more freely within this range with greater response and sensitivity too the bump forces being put into it...
It gets better....a normal telefork front suspension system will have two main layers of compliance...the first is the front tire...the second is the telefork itself....anything accelerations that gets past them then is felt by the rider.
This dual suspension system adds a third level of compliance through the linkage suspension...the upshot of this is an amazing level of front suspension compliance and control when riding over rough ground.
Every single person who has ridden these bikes has come away very very impressed.
On the subject of the front MTB shock....the issue here is that to keep the linkage front suspension compact enough means a very short compact shock of useful travel....MTB shocks are ideal for this and the latest stuff is very high quality....the Fox DHX2 I am using in the front of the KTM is a Down Hill specific shock designed to take hard abuse...Foxs latest dampers are actually quite heavy as they incorporate some steel internals to make a stronger damper and they are very adjustable with Hi/Lo comp and reb.
The Fox damper in the KTM is also being used with a very low 1.5:1 leverage ratio compared to a quite high ratio of as much as 3:1 found in some DH bikes....consequently I am using a spring rate that would be in the low range when compared too a DH bike....so the shock isnt being overly stressed...tests have shown that it isnt getting overly hot....the other thing is that the telefork is still doing most of the work...its the most active of the two.
Here is a data trace showing the two front suspensions working together....the blue trace is the telefork moving over a series of bumps...the pink trace is the secondary suspension also simultaneously moving over the same bumps....notice the two traces are almost the same in frequency just different in amplitude....they are both working in good harmony with each other.
So any accelerations that get past the telefork are then absorbed by the secondary suspension...the level of compliance this gives has to be felt to be believed.
Pit Row
Are you considering production in the foreseeable future ?
Some good news tho...yesterday we had Geoff Ballard spend a day test riding the bike and he came away very very impressed with the front suspension....from his feedback we are going to make some changes and he is keen to have another ride.
Next week we have Ben Grabham swinging a leg over the bike for his impressions of it....should be interesting....happy days.
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