be some serious terrain ahead in the day. Our goal was
to spend some time in the Talon 1000X without the Live
Valve option so we would then get a serious look at the
value of the Live Valve model later in the day. This 64-inch
Talon 1000X SXS utilizes a three-link suspension in the
rear with 15-inches of eective travel on all four corners.
Our ride revealed a very flat and steadily handling SXS that
was predictable in most any situation. At speed through
straight, rough and dipped out sections of the trails our
Talon 1000X-4 seemed to handle the stress perfectly fine
with little shock fade. You should recall that the Non-Live
Valve model has the QS3 clickers on the piggy reservoir
where the Live Valve equipment would be on the LV model.
I think our setting for the start of the day until the first stop
was on the softest setting on the QS3 and then we opted
to go all the way to the third setting which gives the ride a
much stier experience. In their stock form the QS3 shocks
worked very well and it was comfortable even when the
driver's talent was not.
Moving on to the Honda Talon 1000X-4 Live Valve rig it
was clear that there was something dierent in the house
at that point. We found the ride to not only be more com-
fortable overall but the cornering ability greatly improved
and bottoming resistance may have been tested, then
determined successful, before the day was through. The
subtle dierences in the shock dampening became more
and more apparent as we crawled into the rougher sections
where the Silver State Desert race was held. The terrain
From Nevada deserts to Montana
mountains, Fox Live Valve keeps
impressing us.
46 TALON GUIDE
