I have been using a Trax on my husky for a while now, combined with cone forks.
my thoughts have changed, the trax isn't worth the extra money for the performance gain and certainly not the maintenance upkeep. Make sure you have a good understanding that the shock will need servicing 25hrs max if doing mx as the little trax springs break very easy and can't be disassembled without fully stripping the shock. Since I service my own suspension this isn't a problem for me but could get costly for someone who doesn't.
I was recently given the opportunity to do some testing for Dave at Suspension Matters on my Husky 501.
I previously have had the shock setup with Terry Hay on my old Husky 350 and was real happy with it. When I got the 501 I fitted those settings and aftermarket parts initially in the standard 501 shock before later obtaining a used Trax shock from the UK. After servicing the trax (including changing the broken trax springs) and trying a couple of different settings I ended up with a shock I was really happy with. With shim settings very close to the stock Trax enduro settings.
Dave asked me if I was interested in testing a serviced Ohlins TTX shock (not the flow version) and a standard linkage shock he built and dyno'd. He didn't give me any details on either shock regarding what outcomes I should expect. The Ohlins shock was for sale but there was no pressure to buy it, more so an opportunity to compare a standard shock against 2 premium aftermarket shocks and get an independent review to benchmark his tuning abilities.
I invited a mate out for the testing day last Sat, both of us can be fast when we want, certainly not A grade but not back of the pack either. My mate is the type of bloke who is happy with stock 4CS forks and would have no idea where his clickers are set so a good opportunity to see if he notices any differences.
The same 6.0 Racetech spring with 10mm preload was used for all testing.
I had a good run lined up which is about 1.5km up and back with a good mixture of a high speed section with sharp rocks, jumps, slow rocky section, G-out and a good sandy corner. We recently had some rain and the track was washed out but not dusty. Rear tyre is a 80% worn out Bridestone 404.
First up was my trax just to get a baseline run and warm up. My mate thought it was ok but made more comment on how nice the cone forks are now since he last rode it with SSS forks.
Next up was the Ohlins, initially I could tell how much more soft the shock felt, just wheeling it around to turn around it felt a lot more springy than the trax. Both of us done a back to back run, both of us liked the shock, it didn't do anything bad and traction was good. It did use a lot of stroke all the time. Saying that we both liked trax more as it's firmness offered more support.
Next up was Dave's standard WP shock, from the outside it looked normal, no fancy coatings, bladders or expensive adjusters. We again both done a run and came back and discussed. Traction again was impressive and the shock didn't do anything out of the ordinary. My mate made a comment it kicked him when going over a jump but my spring rate is a good 2 up from his. It also felt a lot more springy than my Trax and it stayed high in the stroke, but the difference both of us noted so much was just how progressive it felt, the shock was beautifully plush but as you pushed it hard it ramped up and soaked it up. Jumping it and landing like on pillows.
My mate was out from here on as he came off a week ago and hurt his wrists.
I initially began to wonder what expensive parts Dave had fitted inside to get it to feel this way....
In disbelieve I needed to do some more testing so I bolted the trax back up and went for another run, it felt good but lacked the progressive feeling Dave's shock had. My Trax was more firm all through the stroke compared to Dave's.
In went Dave's shock again and down for another run this time targeting some nice sized sharp rocks and mono-ing over them to let the shock take the full brunt force, again nothing, it just soaked them up without kicking the bike.
So where to now? After speaking to Dave with my findings we are planning on doing some more testing. So tomorrow i'm sending my trax to him (and the Ohlins) to get him to build it and dyno it to get the exact same damping curve as the stock shock he built. The luxury of his fancy expensive dyno machine is he can test and build a shock exactly the same over and over again, making small changes to yield the same damping curve. This will allow us to test the full benefit of the trax mechanism as well as the internal friction differences of using the trax (PDS) piston which is half the thickness of the standard linkage piston.
Dave guarantees me the standard shock is stock inside, no aftermarket pistons, rebound separator or other trickery are fitted, only difference is the shim stacks. Putting this into perspective, for the cost a revalve Dave got a stock shock working better than a factory shock (new $3k or so here), now the question remains is the trax mechanism noticeable enough to outlay the cost difference?
Stay tuned for round 2
