Just to clarify. A linkage doesn't make a shock stiffer or lighter. It changes shock shaft speed relative to wheel position. I'll use whole numbers to make the math simple. Say your shock has a three inch stroke. And the wheel potential stroke is 12 ". With a "rising rate" linkage, as your wheel travels through the first 6" of travel, the shock moves 1" in its stroke. During the final 6" of wheel travel, the shock moves 2". Thus, you can see how the shock shaft speed increases as the wheel goes through its stroke. Manufacturers are constantly tweaking the rate curve and the shock valving in an attempt to find the "magic setting".
Im 100% with you on this valve and spring thing, I call this a happy rear, that's how I explain it. I like my rear happy (moving around a lot) I control rebound with body weighting, I love very light reb settings and just get my big tall tank arse over the rear fender. last weekend ride buddy with viddy cam commented on how my rear was really pitching, upon insistence he put 3 clicks into my reb.....after a few minutes I had him take one out,,,, yesterday I took another back out----so I ended up with 1 click of reb and as the day ended I really think I was going to go back to the start point again. I will check on next ride.
Yes "PDS" does stand for "Progressive Dampening System". Or it did, last time I checked. The shorter the distance traveled at the shock relative to actual wheel travel. The harder it is going to be for shock manufactures to get the valving correct for that little amount of movement at the shock to control that amount of wheel travel. Think about it. The PDS shock mount on my BMW G450X is approximately 9" inches rearward of the swingarms pivot point. It is like I said, in a lay down or cantilever position with all the forces directed through the backbone of the frame to the steering head area in a fairly straight line. The progressive rate spring works well to make the system progressive itself similar to what the "rising rate linkage" would do but the shock is moving farther for every say, 3" inches movement at the wheel itself. This makes the internal valving actually work. The shock itself on this bike is long at 17-7/8" center to center length between the upper and lower mounts. It has a stroke of nearly 4 3/4" to 5". The rear wheel travel is 12.6" It isn't that hard to adjust both the high and low speed compression and the rebound dampening to get the shocks valving action to work correctly. The shock has to move a bit first for any valving to work, right? Not saying PDS is better. It just is for what I do. I'm not Mr. Motocrosser by any means, so a linkage is just going to get bashed in doing what I do, by just riding the rocks and ditches where I'm at.
you may get a hit or two on that link but they is no way itll get BASHED in.... risng rate is just that... rising.... because of the linkage the farther the wheel moves the linkage helps moving the shock farther.....
On the other hand a longer shock stoke means more heat, more part and oil breakdown, more valve shim flex and more stack needed. Probably weighs more too. Then add all the fancy valving stuff to make it progressive and... All that said I have ridden excellent, and crap examples of both. I loved the stock suspension on the FE390 funky motor berg I did an extended weekend on. Stock PDS and simple open chambered WP forks. Just worked. Browns bike is cool.
Yes sir, that is a trick bike. I like it too. The fact some of the top tier riders use these shocks speaks volumes by itself. I'm sure whether they are given these shocks by their sponsors or they paid full price there is a reason for them to be using the Trax shock over the other alternatives.. Would like to hear the opinions of these actual pros or any actual users here or maybe suspension experts words of wisdom on the shock itself. After all that's what the thread was started by "ray_ray" for and about. I just tried to explain my personal experience with the use of this shock. I shouldn't have gotten into what it was mounted on. I certainly didn't mean to derail the thread or turn the thread into a debate over PDS and linkage discussion. Sorry ray_ray. Again it's best to stick to the use of PMs or emails to avoid this.
The coolest part is that most everything on this factory bike can be bought by us. Not saying it's affordable for most but available can even send the motor to ktm factory services and have it set up
That's the truth about most all the Factory Sponsored Entries nowadays. They started with a production based model we could all have bought ourselves and parts that are available to all of us as well. Not like the old days (70s - 80s) when the works bikes were works bikes. I can remember nearly none of the removable components on them were available to the everyday average riders. Especially the European built Factory bikes like Husqvarna, Maico, CZ, etc.
