Good info Ridley, thanks. I think I read that in the racing forum when I was researching what I wanted and it steered me in the right direction - to have 2 setups [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Ridley, you hit it right on the head, I've been waiting for someone to come and help explain the "mystery" that is long travel. If you have 12" of travel on an mx course you are right there as long as the shocks are set up correct. Like you said "longer travel" setups are best applied in Baja style races where you are hitting unknown terrain at very high speeds. Look at motocross, they don't talk about having "LT" setups on the top pro bikes, they may only have a slight travel increase over a stocker, the difference is the shocks and the way they are set up for each type of terrain. That IS the difference.

 

yup ...when i made my switch from stock to Elka's. it took me awhile to make the adjustment in jumping. With the Elka's i had to charge the jump alot faster to get the same lift as stock. with Dual rates or triple rates you need more speed to help compress the shock for preload on take off.

but the landings...thats where the big diffrence is. ive landed some jumps that would have killed me on the stockers.

 

When I watch Doug Eichner, Kory Ellis or any of the other pro's that practice at our local track (Even McGrath showed up once on a CR250) the biggest difference between them jumping and most others is they can catch air if they want but mostly they clear the same jumps at about 2/3 the elevation, thus covering terrain much faster. Their bikes soak up the jump enough to help maintain their pace. The higher you go, the slower you go, and yes there have been times where on a landing my stock boingers whould have done me in.

 

I have to jump into the heim joint debate here......I personally prefer ball joints over hiems for many reasons. I have seen some heim joints from a popular company's a-arms after only two months that were tweaked and looked like they were going to pop out......I have also had personal experience with the rather pricey hiem-jointed tie rod set from ASR....and they were junk. The hiem joints wore themselves down very quickly to the point where the joint itself was in danger of popping out. These tie rods were tossed for a cheaper, more reliable set of ball-joint tie rods.

I have had personal experience with Ricky Stator A-arms - that is what I used for racing MX on my 440 ex....I had the +3+1's and they were fantastic for me!!! I crashed hard a couple of times and was amazed that nothing even so much as got tweaked in those crashes! I got a killer deal on them from Ricky, and I have nothing but good things to say about those a-arms. I was racing almost every weekend, and practicing at least once a week - so they went through their share of abuse. I would consider those again in a second!!!! The ball joints they use are very beefy - and their tie rods are the Honda design, so if you are on a Rappy, you don't have to deal with Yamaha's spindley tie rod end design.

I am a firm believer that you don't have to buy the popular brands to get a good product. Many smaller companies are stepping up and creating some killer products that won't kill your bank account. You might be taking a small risk in trying them out, but so far I have been more than pleased with all of the products I have taken a chance on!

BTW - this is a great thread - I have learned some great stuff about long travel!!!! Thanks everyone!!!

 

I have to admit that while not a big fan of Ricky, his ball joints are tough. His arms work well because they are a simple design and as long as you keep an eye on the upper mounting point of the shock, make sure it stays tight you should have no problems. I know the guy who designed them for Ricky and he has built many styles of arms so they aren't junk. My only real problem is how the lower shock mount is designed. For most it's ok, but I prefer more beef than the single tube setup.IMO. But if you are on a budget they are a good choice. The biggest thing with heims is maintainence, the ones TBR has made for them are self lubricating and heat treated. The heim cups are then refrigerated before they are put in so they will shrink a little and then are pressed in and kept with a c-clip. This gives it a perfect fit and as long as the cup is good you can replace the joint quick. This setup also eliminates the shear point many (not all) ball joint setups have.
This is a great thread, when my TRX450r finally arrives a set of +3 arms, Red/Chrome and a set of 17" TCS will be installed with a reworked rear so I can get the travel up to 11-12 inch range. Perfect for most desert conditions.....and I will post pics!

 

this thread is almost like school, only I enjoy learning this[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. So, I guess that I am back to my original setup of +2 ricky stator a-arms and maybe some ohlins shocks from thomez. About those shocks, I don't think that I want shocks that have been used before. I just don't think that I could trust the people that owned them before me and I would like to be the original owner of the shocks so if something goes wrong, I will be able to tell them everything that has happened to the shock. The price of the shocks plus getting them setup up to my riding style is going to cost about how much? I can get a set of TCS triple rate, zps shocks for $690. Thanks to everyone who has posted. This information will greatly help me in purchasing my front end setup. Any suggestions for brake lines?

 

Would those +2s be for long travel or standard? That is either a Blaze Ohlin or a Moto Ohlin. As soon as I know which I can start looking for a new set. That deal on the TCS is pretty hard to beat though it seems, if they are already setup for you etc. Let me know which you need and I'll try and find some or someone with them. Thanks - Zack

 

I think I am going to go with standard travel +2 a-arms and standard travel shocks. If long travel doesn't really make that much of a difference, I don't see why I should add pounds and pay more.

 

OK, I'll look around. I just shipped a set of Blaze Ohlins today - you coulda had those but you are about a day late .... Got em in today at 12:30 had them repacked and shipped by 1:15 ... ya can't beat that. The Blaze Ohlins are kinda harder to come by but I'll start looking.

About the long travel - it all depends who you ask. A different crowd around and you might not even consider standard. Lots of opinions on the differences and advantages/disadvantages. I'll have both shocks for me so .... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]