I commented previously how happy I was at the MX track w/ the new Works struts & rebuilt rear by PEP but unfortunately, I havn't been on a long, hard ride at Marienville since last year for a real comparison until this past weekend. Let me stress that this combination works EXCELLENT if you like to go fast in rough stuff. The rougher it gets the faster I go. Previously I got blow away from almost a stock machine worth mentioning, in the rough stuff since I was bouncing too much, too hard to control so I had to slow way down. The engine was fast but the suspension REALLY limited me. Now I really do accelerate in the rough stuff just to push it to the limit which I haven't reached yet on the trail & I have it wide open too. My spine used to actually be sore after 50+ miles of hard riding, not any soreness this time out. I purposely hit holes, jumps, bumps etc just for a comparison to stock & it's a night & day difference especially when accelerating w/ your weight back. The Works have allot of sag to them so the first inch or so of travel, from the fully extended limit, cant even be felt when you hit something, there after, it's a progressive valving dampning so it works the way you would think a great shock/stut should work. Very plush ride. I can also sit where I used to have to stand. I'll be 40 next year so I look for the combination that gives my body the least amt of abuse & by the way the steering damner also REALLY helps out. My friend went also w/ his Banshee which probably goes close to 90mph, really, so in a drag race he'll eventually blow me away but he still has stock suspension. I absolutly could run circles around him in the rough parts of the trial & I would have to slow WAY down when I'd catch him in the woods. I know he passed me going at least 15 mph faster before in drag races we did last year & that was when he used a smaller front sprocket & he didn't have his pipes & new Pro Circuit cool head on. That thing now is a top speed rocket but he also now realizes the importance of good suspension & learned bad suspension limits everything.
Jim Maloney 98 400 Scrambler
http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/jim400scram

 

Jim,

I was wondering if you, or anyone you know of, has any experience with the Hot Seat dual rate spring kit for the front struts. On a recent outing I noticed that my Sport was sitting really high. So much that if I wanted to, I could have probably crawled underneath it with out touching the bottom of the quad. You know me, I'm a pretty thick around the mid section too. I now have the back shock set to it's lowest position (preload) and there's plenty of sack there, but I was wondering about the front. I do want to keep the suspension travel I have, but I would like it to be kind of like a ZPS (Zero Preload Suspension) system where the suspension is about half way through the travel while sitting still. The theory behind this is to allow the quad to sit low enough for the corners, while still allowing full travel for the jumps. The ZPS basically uses compression dampening (rather than the springs) to soak up the big jumps for the first few inches of travel. As the suspension get compressed past the point that it is at rest, the stronger springs help out to cushon the landing. This is what I'm trying to accomplish with the front struts. I dearly love the extra travel and ride with the Works struts, but it tends to get a little top heavy at times.

You mentioned in the past something about playing with the gas pressure in the front struts, would this help?

Thanks!

 

Jim,
So you have had the stock Fox Rear Shock Rebuilt by PEP Along with works front struts? Was the rebuild cheaper than buying the Works rear shock? With the works struts did they come with dual rate spring or did you use the stock spring?

 

Mike, you can adjust the struts between 10 & 50psi in it but they recommend that you keep 2" of sag w/ the rider on board. It was designed to work w/ the stock springs. You only go to heavier springs w/ these struts if you weight allot since the only function of the spring is to bring the strut back to normal ride height not to cusion the blows or soak them up. It has 3 stage internal valving so on a hard impact it will gradually slow down the impact & give you the soft pillow ride we love. If you dont have enough sag then maybe go back & try your stock springs again & if it sags too much then bump up the pressure form the 30psi which is what they ship all stuts out at, up to maybe 40psi until you get the 2" sag like they recommend. Adjust your height w/ the strut not the spring. I probably have at least an inch of sag w/o a rider on mine. I just use stock springs & it works GREAT. I weigh 200lbs & w/ gear maybe 250.
TTTAYOR,the rear shock rebuild was~$250 which is way cheaper than a new shock. I think w/ shipping & new spring it came to about $300 but WELL worth it.

 

Jim,

The pep unit you used for the rear.....was it a remanufactured unit offered by pep, or did you send in your stock unit for them to rebuild? Thanks.

 

Jim,

The bad part about it is that I can't go back to the stock springs. When I put the long travel suspension on I saw that the stock springs were too short. I'm getting two inches of sack with the quad sitting on the ground, I want to get more sack to level the machine out a bit. When I sit on the quad the struts don't compress that much. I would like for the springs to, like you said, return the strut to it's normal ride height. It's just that I want the ride height a little shorter. I'd like about five inches of travel while the quad is at rest with the rider on it. Then when going off of a jump, the front suspension would allow it's full 9" of travel. I know I might have to sacrifice some ride plushness on the small bumps, but I can live with it. Looks like I'll have to try the HSP dual rate spring kit to try and get the front end's ride height down.

 

Mike;
Contact Daryl at HPD and inquire as to what he's doing for Ron's bike. Ron's having his ride height lowered for flat tracking. Also; rumor has it that Daryl is talking with Fox about making the "Clickers" again. Good Luck!

 

Mike

It sounds like you are trying to do the same thing as I am. I just ordered the hot seat spring kit. I read the instruction sheet on it and it sounds like you can do what you want. If you read the instruction sheet on hot seats site you'll see how to set it up. Their 2 spring system has to be better than the stock springs.

 

Fasterthangas,

I just called HPD and they said that Ron's bike has almost no suspension travel. I guess he's just racing it on dirt track. To make the front end the way I want it, (triple rate springs and strut revalving) it would cost around $900. Way too rich for my blood.

bubba 1005,

I just called HSP and ordered the springs. I'll give them a try and see if they work. Chalk up more experimentation experience for me. We do know they work with the Fox struts, let's see how well they work with the Works struts.

Oh Well.....

 

I'm running into the same issues with my Scrambler. I just bought the works shocks, which did seem to help out. I plan on contacting PEP about rebuilding my rear shock. My question goes a bit deaper. I race my bike in Hare scrambles and have done a few GNCC events this year. My biggest gripe is I can't steer the thing after a bit of racing. It feels like it needs power steering!!!!! I am running the HPD steering stabilizer, so that eliminates that! I had been running the preload on the rear shock very high. Today I turned the shock preload all the way down hoping this may help to take some weight off the front end!!!!! Any suggestions???? Does the PEP rebuild really work that well???