Suspension dyno video

[Robert Taylor]

Here is our new suspension dyno, suitable for doing both forks and shocks. On the bookstands early next week will be the July issue of BRM magazine with an article that elaborates further about this dyno , plus lots of other cool stuff

[sil3nt]

Cool piece of kit!

Any reason forks are coming out with compression one fork and rebound on the other?

[Robert Taylor]

Cool piece of kit!

Any reason forks are coming out with compression one fork and rebound on the other?

Yes it is indeed a very cool piece of kit but the real value is in how much it helps us to determine end specs when working on shocks and forks. We will post a few more You Tube videos over time with some real world solutions aided and abetted by the dyno.

Id like to very clearly point out that its purchase ( nigh on 35k with machining of adaptors added and other ancilliaries) was not funded by my business, it was funded by part of a legacy from my late parents estate . Like many businesses in this broken world we are a low margin industry with overheads and Im sure many think that returns are helped by an avaricious attitude. That is not the case!

With respect to forks with seperated function here are some reasons for same, and there may be other reasons;

1) Cost to make and therefore end price. Less duplication of parts required side to side. Seperated function forks are in fact nothing new.

2) Given that many modern sportbikes ( especially ) have lots of clamping area and large diameter axles they become ''one entity'' ( as eluded to in the video ). So it further allows this seperated mentality

3) In the racing world it is extremely vital that setting changes can be made as quickly as possible and the very best cartridges and forks ( Ohlins ) take that mentality to the nth degree. If you have to make a compression shim stack setting change you only have to lift the lid on one fork, and without removing that fork. This can ( most commonly ) be accomplished in less than 15 minutes, once we managed in 7 minutes.

4) Damping response lag time is significantly foreshortened where a fork only has to provide damping in one direction only. This so that its not constantly reverberating between compression and rebound cycles, and in laymans terms getting ''confused'' and ''wasting time'' establishing that it needs to provide damping in the opposing direction. This is in fact a big deal for top road racers who will push the front end to the edge where it will constantly ''tuck fold''. Such racers have told me that with such forks they can have a near lose and save it and bring it back much more readily, where otherwise with older technology they would have been sliding it down the road.

Thats my 2 cents worth, there will be other plausible advantages.

[TOTO]

I always learn something new from you sir. Thank you and I hope your new piece of equipment proves worthy to your dedication to motorcycles.

[Tony.OK]

Hi Robert, so what are you looking for in regards to the dyno curve Robert? If I was to tell you my shock is for example too stiff feeling, would you dyno then alter and be looking for a shallower rate of angle on the dyno?
Would lag between reb and comp show as a spike?
Looks like a good bit of gear...........can ya redo the vid though as it didn't show your shining personality

[jellywrestler]

how bout a bit of background music in the Vid Robert?, what would you reckon it should be?

[Kickaha]

They should have some hot chick with big tits narrating it instead of some old guy

[vifferman]

Hi, Robert.

Does this mean that someone can send you their shock(s) and forks and other information such as rider weight, riding style, etc. and then you can use this machine to dial the damping in (shim stack, bleed valve settings, etc.), or is it just a fine-tuning tool once you've already got things basically set up? (What I'm getting at is does it fundamentally change the way you do suspension tuning?)

[Robert Taylor]

how bout a bit of background music in the Vid Robert?, what would you reckon it should be?

Incantations , by Mike Oldfield.

[Brian d marge]

35 k !

do you need "Snap On " when stahlwille will do?

Stephen

Still , if you are going to muddy your hands , I would expect tht thing to be an essential bit of kit , my shock guy over hear also has one ...

unfortunate wasted on my Enfield

[Robert Taylor]

They should have some hot chick with big tits narrating it instead of some old guy

Sorry, keeping the suitably endowed twins to myself.

[Robert Taylor]

Hi, Robert.

Does this mean that someone can send you their shock(s) and forks and other information such as rider weight, riding style, etc. and then you can use this machine to dial the damping in (shim stack, bleed valve settings, etc.), or is it just a fine-tuning tool once you've already got things basically set up? (What I'm getting at is does it fundamentally change the way you do suspension tuning?)

Candidly, its important to remember that its still a tool of trade, albeit one that can verify if your setting direction is correct or otherwise before you laboriously bolt in and thenagain remove from the bike because it still didnt exactly live up to expectations. Suspension guys are not ''born gurus'', this is all about experience and committment.
We recently revalved a 2012 Aprilia Tuono Sachs brand rear shock. Reasonable shock but terrible settings that cause a very harsh ride. We already had Ohlins aftermarket force curves on the database relevant to that model and we simply revalved the Sachs shock to match the Ohlins force curves as closely as possible. We have never met the customer, he sent us the shock ( and forks ) We revalved, dyno'd, optimised and sent back. He is a very happy customer.
Moreover this teaches us a few things about the effect of different types of setting techniques

[Robert Taylor]

35 k !

do you need "Snap On " when stahlwille will do?

Stephen

Still , if you are going to muddy your hands , I would expect tht thing to be an essential bit of kit , my shock guy over hear also has one ...

unfortunate wasted on my Enfield

We had an Italian dyno, like many things Italian it broke. This time we bought the real thing

[Pussy]

Incantations , by Mike Oldfield.

Or some porno movie background music. I see you weren't wearing your fishnets the day the vid was made?

[ducatilover]

Neat video Robert. One day when I'm a big boy I'll send you some stuff to make betterer.