The story behind the birth of the modern motorcycle linkage
To understand where the modern motorcycle linkage came from, its useful to go back to the original engineering rather than working backwards from today's systems. In 1974, Donald G. Richardson developed a rear suspension system for a motocross motorcycle. On 25 November
Air Springs: Why They Feel Different, and the Physics Behind the Inconsistency.
Air springs have been around for a long time, every fork has an air chamber above the oil, and that trapped air contributes to bottoming resistance. However modern forks that use an air cartridge to replace the steel spring behave
Fork Seals May Not Be What You Think They Are
It’s easy to imagine a fork seal doing something pretty simple: it presses against the stanchion, creating a barrier that stops the oil leaking out. In reality it’s not that simple. A fork seal normally operates with a microscopic film of oil
Emulators
Do Racetech Cartridge Emulators Really Work? We Put Them on the Dyno to Find Out If you've ever ridden a bike with damper rod forks and wished it handled better, you've probably come across the Racetech cartridge emulator as a potential
Shimming the Adjuster Piston: A Closer Look at Refill Damping
I’ve seen after-market shock compression adjusters advertised where instead of having a check-plate to refill the shock on the rebound stroke, a shim stack has been added to generate damping on the rebound stroke. Fortunately, the school's shock collection includes one