Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

· (Top) Works Performance shocks handled the rear wheel traction chores on small bumps w ith control and comfort - also a gear highe r. (Middle) The S&W shocks never bottom over the high speed sky shot jump, while offering over eight inches of t ravel. Bottom ) Mulhollands felt great for awh ile, then sta rt to let t he rear end bounce and lost traction. The Curnutts were one of three sets we actually had an opportunity to race with , which was outside the bounds of the test itself. Ti me prevented us from co mpetin g fo r a weekend o n all of the dampers . The ' im pression after racing was very favorable. There was no changed in behavio r fr o m second lap to last. They are greatly im pro ved ove r the Curnutt shocks of even a year ago and may well suit a wider spectrum of riders . There was better feel in the co rn ers even as the rear end bounced arou n d m ore at lower sp eeds in whoop-de-doos . The only shared reservati on about Curnutt shocks is t he feel in g th at yo u don't know where the rear end is all the time or exactly what it will do next. It turns out n o t to do anythin g bad but the re is a slight fault in positive feedback. You ca n, however, sit down over bumps on Curnutts th at would absolu tely require a rider to be on the pe l:' wi th other shocks. All r iders agr eed th at th ey liked the all-aro un d ride on the Wo rks Per forman ce shocks be st. The rear w he el stay ed on th e gro u nd and, o n b ump y up hills, provded t ha t extra degree o f traction th at allowed everybody to take it a gear higher. There was no detect able co mp ro m ise be tween bi g bump damping and small bump d am p ing. All three riders felt that a so fter spring o r, perh aps , a progressive spring would improve the ir feel even more . (A 110 lb /in spring was fit ted fo r th e test.] On e factory very much in favor o f the WP sh ocks was the feeling o f co n fidenc e th ey gave the rider at all spee ds . On e tester summed up his feel ings abo ut Works Performan ce shocks: "When you don't feel anything is when th ey're right. You don't feel anything." Fox Sh ox worked incredibly well landing from big jumps or in o t her usage th at forced the heavy spring and very firm rebound damping jet into ac tion . Over smaller bumps and a ccelera ti ng out o f co m ers at speeds achieved on an RM in second and . third gear they ' were frankly d isappointing. What we t hink may be happening is that. the rebound damping jet isn 't as ' effective at pressures developed by small bumps while the very stiff 185 lb{in spring in th e split sp rin g set-up makes the rear en d hop more than it would with a single milder rated spring in a constant wind. One immediate rebuttal is th at we weren't pros and weren't riding them hard. enough but you should re member th at every bod y wh o races mo t ocro ss has to decelerate to near zero speed to make some hairpin com er s and that top speed in second and third gears is the same for everybody · during acceleration out of co m ers. Damping needs to be more progressive. Some riders might find S&W freon bag shocks too harsh. We found th em ' very positive in fee l with any firmness in damping compensated for by the soft ride on light 70 or 75 lb/in S&W springs. The relatively very low spring r ate seems to wo rk, as we co u ld ne ver really bottom them over the jumps. Rebound co ntrol was goo d from the standpoin t of kn owing exactly when to get on the . t hro ttle an d keep th e RM d riving straigh t ahead. Cornering co n tro l still see med to be the stro ng point o f S&Ws. This wa s anot he r se t o f shocks we ra ced o n wi th no ap paren t fade but they see m ed to be more fatiguing than the Curn utts and slightly less than the Fox Sh o x under race co ndition s, allo wing fo r app ro ximate ly the sam e p hysical sha pe o f rider, inclu ding hours of slee p before the race , e tc . Certainly, a t S86.5 0, th ey have price go ing fo r th em in the curren t market . A co up le o f ye ar s ago , we co uld easi ly p oint o u t are as for improvem ent in rear suspension units and accurately predict the trend. With this current b at ch, it was much more difficult to do with in creased performan ce even demands on the shocks and a hei ghtened sense in all m otocrossers of wh at ma kes for good suspension. Act ua lly, the curren t step to n ine inches of fade-resistant suspension travel was o ne we co u ld see coming but that ap proach has j ust ab out reach ed its physical an d stru ctu ral limits. The sus pension qu esti on s remain ing still beg a real answer. Where do we go fro m here ? • 31.:

• Cover