SUSPENSION EX There's not a single item on the modern MX motorcycle that's receiving more attention these days than rear suspensions. Yamaha seems to think that if two shocks are good, one is better. Let's look at their Monoshock and find out why. $0 MOIORCYCLST/JULY 1976ONS alice Is one really better than two? Well, x {Yamaha and Misler Tilkens think so, “Who's Tikens? Oh, he's a Belgium guy ‘who has the patents for a single shock absorber mounted under the gas tenk You know, the new Yamaha Mono- shack system. It's curious that Tilkens developed this idea on a Husky, tried to sell it to Suzuki, and it ended up on Yamanas What's more, we'll probably te secing Monoshock Zs as part of the "75 ine from Yamaha, Somewhere along the line certain European professionals felt if they had ‘as much wheel travel on the back as they did up front they could ride faster Prooiem is you only get about 4 incres Of travel cut of @ '3-inch long shock Normal practice was to mount the shocks close to the axle where their work would be minimized, use 70- pound fated springs, ard ride with 4 Inches o! rear wheel movement. Then, in the beginning of the ‘73 malo-cross season, tactory Maicos were seen with Bilstein shocks mount- ed mid-way up the swing arm. (Bil sleins are a cas-operated shock com- mon on race cars and are not affected by neat the way normal units that rely on hydraulic fluids are.) These Maicos had 5% to 6 inches of travel at the axle, nearly equalling thelr 7 inches of front fork travel. They were smooth and fast just as log as the Bilsteins held out usually less than one race. We don't know why, we only know the gas shock dicn't viork. Shorty there- after Konis were being used in the same position as the Bilsteins, only these were Koni inners slipped (nto, finned aluminun alloy housings that of- fored greater lluid capacity in addition to cooling With the shocks moved up the sxing arm they are required to control over & inches 01 wheel travel instead of the 4 they were designed for. This energy from the bouncing wheel is converted into heat by the shock which, when ‘overworked, turns the hydraulic fluid into a waterlice consistency. Lubries- tion and dameing goes away. ‘The sand moto-cfass courses in Bal glum and Holland are the most punssh- ing for both rider and bike. It not only fakes lots of horsepowar to force a bike through wet sand, but suspension is constanily worked to its limits on the Undulating track too. And if the rider is Tot up te this type of workout, forget it ‘Yamaha's Monoshock had its first ‘success with Hakan Ancersson at the Belgium G.P. where he scores a sec ‘ond and first for the day. The following Iwo races, one in Czechoslovakia, the other In Poland, Andersson won four consecutive races. During the '73 G.P. season the Yamaha ace won 11 of the 22 races—a record. oTORCYCLST/JULY 197681Hakan's Monostock nad two things cing for it, 69 inches of well-con- ftoled travel at the rear axle and al- ‘most total reliability. Even so, there are Negatives to this scheme. Due to their coristruction, the swing arm and shock Unit are heavier than conventionally sprung ‘crossers, and the shock is mounted above the engine, detracting from 2 ‘ow center of gravity. But don’t tel Haken; he won the World Cham- pBionship going away. You have to chenge your riding style fo adast to S:plus inches of travel at the rear axle On the normal racer an ‘The manoshock unit tseit ‘s well hfagen within tne Yamena triengulated remo. Stesring heed ares hed to be reinforced to withstand loads. s0@c0d) 000 =o {Al those bite and pisces properiy fited together will make one com plete monosheck, top of thoto. Long-trave! unit Js designed to contol the rear whee! under severest of mote-cross racing cordltions. ston uses Oxring for seal, wafer ‘pring end washer locate dn shou. ‘br. Ho's In Soave 's uid route 52 MOTOROYOUST/JULY 1974 Nut holds piston in place, allows ‘clearance for washar and wafer soring Which act as one-way valve inch of vertical movement at the axle ‘changes the fork angle approximately ‘one degies. The professionals are sen- sitive to alt 2 degree change in steer- ing head angle so you can imagine what six woud do to you or me. This, Is why you see the pres slice up on the gas tanks to turn, it effectively gives them a steeper angla They say the Monoshock keeps the back wheel on the grounc 25 percent more of the time than normally sus- pended ‘acers. If true, this fas to be where the advantage lies; you can go harder and stop better when the whee! ‘About 50¢2 P nydraulio uid are poured into Cylinder before piston slides comeletaly in, This is 20u Lubritech fork ol Footvalve fits into hous- ing half betore oylinder is screwed into place. Oving precedes valve acting as seal between ‘casting and cylinder.is en the ground. Watch 2 mono- shocked Yammie accelerate down a bumpy straight only the driving wheel is following the ground, while the front is half a {oot in the air. The rider isn't bouncing around and he's not shutting off, and the whole thing Is going straight and fast. Other ‘orossers wth similar travel do noarly the sarro thirg: it's all in having equal movement at both ends of the motorbike. What is ‘monoshock? We'll put one together lor you so you'll learn what we found out while aigging out ou story. Bui tist, a litle dialogue. ‘A single moreshock unt is = couple pounds heavier than a pair of shocks (on the back of your bike, Both shocks have to have a place to store the ry- Graulic fluid that is displaced by te piston and shait as it snks nto he shock body. Common shocks have an air cavity that allows compression of air 25 the hydraulic fluid 's moved into ‘A when the shock compresses, Some shocks, particularly those that have not been filled properly, will end up with an ai-oil mixture, foam. The monostock doesn’t have this problem because it has a reoprene daphram ‘that separates cisplaced hydraulic fluic from compressanie nitrogen gas As the shatt fils the shock housing curing Left: Suspension roally gets a work- ‘out on the moto-cross track Here Karsmakors takes 9 svaight line through the holes to pess. Above left: Cynder screws into lower half cf housing bottoming against footvelve and Rear of monoshock hes a sieel sleeve ‘Ouing, jam nut sooures joint. Above right: Remainder of fluid goes into shook with pie- fitted into alumiaurs casting. Upper ton fully extended. Diaphragm mates i groove in housing, displacing air and excess fluid. portion of swing arm is fastened by. lightweight tianiurn bol. There's a ¥#" preload on main pring) aluminum retainor, donut ard washer make up cushion, holding spring in Pressure regulator Is essential In supclying the place. Machined fiat on shaft required amount of nitrogen to the manosheck. stampings specially designed for is s0 you can get @ wrench on i Hollow noedle penetrates a neoprene valve. ‘monoshock suspension system. MOTOADYCLIST/JULY 1974 53Yamaha may have the answer, but here are 16 alternatives. 1-4, Four Maicos appear to be the came. Closer examination reveals each to be very different, gusseting on swing arms are most varied. Shocks appear to bo Korie sliped into a number of dit- ferent outer housings. Chain guises are 2 must with this much wheel travel 5:1. Upsige-down shocks are aso being tried. Large-diamoter pair on Kaw- ‘asaki are Cerlani while Bul and Penton re fitted with Bilstein ges operaied Unis. Bent arm on Penton was made that way at factory, rote Boxed gus- ‘selng and original shock mounting holes. The game is sill in ts in- farcy with people trying averything. 8, Strangest of al current oxperimente is tis three-legged Can-Am racer belonging to Gary Jones. Forward mount- fed Konis have additional benefit of single shack less spring mounted on this side only. 8. Honda Elsinore usse heavily gus- ‘Seled aluminum swing arm with unique sturdy axle slot Konis are mid- ‘mounted, fender upped for clearance. 10, These are Boge shocks mounted at an exaggerated angle. Swing arm does ft requite adcitional gussets but loading on shocks during compression becomes strange. Ths design does nor fer traval some of tne others heve. 11. Another Honda E'sinore, only this ‘one utilizes the stancard upper shock ‘mount brackets. Kon has been moved ‘mid-way up swing arm for additional wheel travel but reverse slant wil ‘ause shock to work against ise 12 Normal YZ Yamaha has Profab swing arm installed and Kenis in place of Yammy's overweight standard shocks. ‘Ann {8 chrome moly, gene aus gusseting. 418, When you gain an extra 2 Inches of travel it generally means an extra inch down as well as up. Chain tension- ‘or holps keap sloppy chain on tracks bur this ie ridiculous. Extreme argie of Koni shock should create problems, 14 Clean Bul s using flnnad Konis, robably 110-pound springs. Chrome Imely swing arm is standard, gussets adied. Brake rod Is airerait cable 15, Another forward sloping Yamaha. Sagging chains are just ore of the problems faced by those who aro hhanging their shocks up front Notice 4 other shock mounting holes, evdence of this tuner working his way up to the swing arm pivot 16. Even the basic old CZ is not immune to the fleaier’s whims. Mid:mounted Konis is he cleanest of all tha examples we've presented here, 4 MoTORCYCUST/JULY 1974‘a normal compression stroke, excess fluid is shoved inte a cavity that is led with nitrogen. There is absolutely ‘no air within the monoshock ‘The manoshock piston has 170mm of travel, allowing the rear wheel 1% that’s nearly a 1 to 1 ratio, Current Procuction 250CR Huskys have 33 inches of shock travel ard 5.5 at the rear axle, putting nearly twice the werk load on the shock and spring. (Having two doesn't alleviate the situation b2- cause the shocks were intended to ‘work in pairs In the iirst place.) Anomn- er advantage of the single unit is it doesn't have to match up with the one ‘on the other side of the rear fork Full hycraulic control of the giston in both directions with @ progressive fy- draulc resistance at the two extremes Of the stroke is common shock prac- tice. Yamaha pulls it off well, allowing the single spring to coil bind just be- fore the shock reaches full compres sion It's a heavy spring and is in stalled with about ¥ inch of pre-load. During the development of the _mon- ‘oshock by Yamaha various ovificirg similar to carburetor main jets were Used in two places te control flud flow. Once they artived al the desirabe. combination, these two metered sizes became a part of the shock: they're nol adjustable anymore. One controlled the ‘low of fluid on compression, the other in rebound, ‘A more senslive damping varation is sill possible with the monoshock sim- ply by using various aitragen gae pros sures in the housing. Normal setting is 280 psi, and they have varied this as Much as 50 pounds in either direction with noticeable results. ‘A monoshock lives a Jot longer than normal shocks that have been reposi- tioned up the swing arm in order to the same long travel. Karsmakers’ unit is said to have gone the whole Trans- ‘Ama series without failure. This is not to say the part is foolproof. Anything mechanical can fail. Yamaha has had a wafer sprng in the foot valve crack, probably damaged in assembly or the fesull of poor heat treatment in making. They've also ruptured a coupe of diaphrams. But ths was during de- velopment, Track record for the production units still remains to te established. The high mounting position of the shock mates it necessary ‘or the swing arm to be of triangular censtruction. It ‘weighs more than your conventional arm. The front of the frame has also been redesigned, not only to mount the shock but also 10 fake the loads trans- ferred from the back wnee! Where all the other bikes have been ‘chopping and fitting in an effort to po- jon shocks for greater travel, Yama- ha designed 2 whole new chessis io accommodate theirs. Now 1 ask you, isn't this a step in the right direction? « MoTORC/CLIST/JULY 1974 55