air shocks fox\kyb.. you got any info?

[bigk]

Fox airs are unreal to look at but are hard (tedious) to get tuned correctly & I've seen one too many collapse at a race meeting, ending the riders day. At least with a spring you can still "circulate" with a blown shock. There are lots of options for new shocks & all have their pro's & cons. Personally I prefer to source used Ohlins (remote res/piggybacks) & rebuild them. Parts are easy to source & over the years of experimenting/testing, we have found some really nice valving specs for both old style & ITC style. I don't find clickers necessary if the spring rate is right.
Not sure what I would buy new these days, although I have just had a set of top shelf Ohlins built for client to suit 1983 Husky TC510. They cost LOTS of money, although not a great deal more than a couple of the other manufacturers mentioned in this thread offer.
It's a hard call if you don't know what you want, my suggestion is to really analyse what it is you're wanting the shock to do & buy the best according to your budget. There's no point paying for 50 clicks of rebound & compression settings if you are the not the type of guy to make the very time consuming effort to tune them.
K

[Slakewell]

The gazi are great as they are easy to buy and set up and have the best traction of any shocks I have used, the rear sticks like glue. They do bottom a bit to easy and kick on big braking bumps.They dont give the good front end feel.

Sounds  like the spring rate is a bit soft and the rebound damping is not right. No front feel means too much weight on the rear end. Tried dropping the forks through 5mm?

I have tried the old dropped fork trick and raising the rear height ( Gazi have a threaded shaft for adjustment ) cant get the same feel as the fox airs for front tire bite.

[shelpi]

The gazi are great as they are easy to buy and set up and have the best traction of any shocks I have used, the rear sticks like glue. They do bottom a bit to easy and kick on big braking bumps.They dont give the good front end feel.

Sounds  like the spring rate is a bit soft and the rebound damping is not right. No front feel means too much weight on the rear end. Tried dropping the forks through 5mm?

I have tried the old dropped fork trick and raising the rear height ( Gazi have a threaded shaft for adjustment ) cant get the same feel as the fox airs for front tire bite.

just out of interest, both sets of shockers are the same length?

[Slakewell]

Yes both same length. Thou you can adjust the Gazi length in mm. Fox Airs you can swap the tops but thats a big adjustment.

[shelpi]

very interesting, makes ya think, whats your thought on why shockers on the rear (al be it being the same length and adjustable) would give a different feel on the front end
cheers

[80-85 husky]

depends on how they allow the spring to unload and push the front down. lots of weird stuff happens in a shock body

[Oldfart]

My wows are getting the correct spring the first time round, and a supplier that stocks the correct rate for MY application not an in between which is the norm these days.

[Slakewell]

The Fox Airs have the little spring mod that most do to give some sag. The rear sits higher for longer but even at low speeds the front feels different. I have tested back to back same bike same track say day etc, 3 different shocks and on pure MX the fox airs give the best lap times.
My guess is some how they transfer more weight to the front.

[shelpi]

very interesting, I luv the nitty gritty's like this, good for the grey matter
cheers

[TT5 Matt]

any good useable information is good for the grey matter and does alot for keeping you out of club demmenture which after seeing my old grandmother in the nursing home with alot of others I don't want to be another victim

[Wasp]

I had to modify one of those shocks fitted with rod ends the other day . It was meant to be for a CR 250 79 . The stroke for that model should be 148 mm . The shocks (as mentioned above ) had rod ends fitted to achieve the 445 mm , but the stroke on them was 113 mm .(Basically a 390 mm shock extended to 445 mm ) No wonder he bottomed them out constantly . Rodends are great for road racing or short circuit where you don't need all the travel that the motorcycle was designed for . But for long travel MX you want max travel (like the original shock or longer)and any head angle adjustments are done with fork heights . Just saying , thats how I would do it , but then I am not always right .

[ghostdancing]

Walter, another question... i've just discovered that the high priced\big reputation works performance shocks (gasser series, around 650usd for a set, 2 or 3 springs for each shock..) are emulsion shocks..no separation between oil\gas .

i thought that after decarbon system was introduced (oil and gas separated by a piston or a bladder) any good shock should be a decarbon system inside.. (less cavitation and all that consequent..)

what's the truth on this?

[tony27]

Separating oil & gas in a non reservoir shock either costs shaft travel or increases overall length

[ghostdancing]

yes tony your point sounds correct, but we are talking about 15 - 17 inches shocks..

so the question can be: does the decarbon system  (separate gas\oil) be mandatory to have a good shocsk (probably my english here is crashing..hope it's anyway understandable..)

and for walter: RZ362 YSS (no reservoir) are decarbon or emulsion?

[ghostdancing]

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