Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

seemed to work all right. At that point, we had a few flaws. We went to a little more sophisticated design technique, and we used a computer to generate the shape of all our structural pam. At that point, nobody had ridden the forks except for myself. We started serious test riding in February of 1980. The first guy to ride the forks was Chuck Sun in February (1980) and he felt that there was quite a bit of poten· tial in the forks but at that time we had a few problems that needed to he resolved. The type of problems that we encountered were mainly damping and friction problems, but they were fairly minor in nature and they were fairly easily resolved. Can you tell me how it differs internally, or ia that ,till pretty aecret? The difference is that we use a damping mechanism which is speed sensitive and highly tunable. If you hit something at the same speed, regardless of where you are in the travel, it will react the same. In a velocity sensitive system, damping is controlled by a series of valves which open and close depending on speed. When you have a system that just uses a single orifice with no valving, the damping rises quite a bit faster than you would like as the speed goes up. Ikcauae it', a fixed ,ize? Right. Now in order to get the proper damping curve, you have to have some kind of a control valve and that valve opens as the pressure increases. Now there's a million ways to do this and there're some that are better than others, but I think the most important thing here is that if you don't have the ahape of your damping curve right, the system really isn't going to work properly. Does anybody ebe in the induatry have apeecl aenaitive damping like thia in their forb or ahoc:b? In shock absorbers, it's very common. I would say that 90% of the shocks used are speed sensitive. What ia the problem in bringing apeed lenaitive damping to forb, and why hasn't anybody done it before? It's more complex, expensive, difficult to make lightweight and more sensitive to dirt. What do the forb weigh? Well, right now the forks weigh in the neighborhood of seven pounds per leg. That compara pretty favorably with a regular Simona fork, dOCln't it? It compares to about nine pounds per leg. Now the one thing that I do have to say here is that we haven't finalized our oil volume, and Inat will change the weight. The reason for that is because we're increasing our compression damping now and we're able to reduce the quantity of oil considerably. Who has ...uted you in developing the forb? In a broad sense, Honda has. Their race department head okayed the tests and the racing. As far as riders go, Chuck Sun has given us valuable input and has been the real workhorse in the development. Most of the Honda factory riders have at least ridden the forks. Roger DeCoater was at two tests and provided some valuable input. With his experience, expertiae and most im· ponantly, his ability to blend eIJ8ineer. ing and riding, a nod from him means you really have something. Did you get the nod? I think so. Two tests don't prove every· thing, but we did very well. We have had a lot of help from Cliff White and Eric Crippa (another Team Honda mecbanic) in practical mechanical design. These guys are professionals and have a good feeling for what's gning to work. Bruce Burness (of Ohlina) has saved us a lot of time in already knowing the ,- NSENIPARKER JORGE the Sacramento Mile one-TWO at E ~ E ..... 00 0') ..... ~ 0') .... C'oJ 1-0 Po. < " scotty's Choice of JorlY ca Glo"es are 0_ Boots Hi-point \ * R1CII0 * Int Dealer for see your HI-PotltJon needs. all your compe NGPRODUCTS HI.POINT RA:; Company Penton Im Ave., Lorain. oH ~7 3709 w. Er sacramento, 9604 Oates Dr-, r: BOB HANNAH/STEVE WISE MXSCHOOLS Two Day Sessions Taught IN PERSON By Bob Hannah & Steve Wise Stormy Acres Cycle R.nch, Tyler, TX June Oat..: 16&17, 18&19, 23&24, 25&26, 29&30 More Sessions in July & August INFO: (214) 894-7805 ~ Grand'Opening Race, June 28th 21

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