Rear suspension Q: Who tried removing the linkage?

[knothead]

It seems like, a while back, someone had tried to modify their rear suspension to get rid of the linkage and use a shock mounted directly to the swingarm. IIRC, it didn't work. I can't find the thread about it now. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
The reason I ask it now that I have my TDM back on the road, the Lifan is going under the knife. I might be getting some suspension goodies from a Kawasaki MX bike and before I start cutting I want to have as much info as possible.



EDIT: I still can't spell....

[red2003]

That was SamM. He played around with his after I m odded mine. If you are gonna run the MX shock you WILL need the linkage. It's the only way to get the correct geometry to have long travel, but not too soft a suspension. If you could find a shock off an MX bike like a KTM that doesn't have the linkage stock, that shock would work, but you'd have to chop up the China frame as the shock would be too long.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by red2003

That was SamM. He played around with his after I m odded mine. If you are gonna run the MX shock you WILL need the linkage. It's the only way to get the correct geometry to have long travel, but not too soft a suspension. If you could find a shock off an MX bike like a KTM that doesn't have the linkage stock, that shock would work, but you'd have to chop up the China frame as the shock would be too long.

Sam... OK, I was thinking you were the one who tried it and searched your posts. ... might be a good explanation as to why I couldn't find anything...


Yeah, you're right. I just went over to Bike Bandit and looked up the rear suspension of the KX and KDX... the both have the linkage setup.. Don't know if I want to get into that or not, mounting directly would be much more simple. I'm wanting to drop the swingarm mounting down and don't want to think about how that change would affect the link setup.

I know the suspension parts off of my TDM would work with minimal changes, I've already dropped them in (swingarm, shock and wheel...just playing around), but I'm not going to sacrifice my Yamaha for the Lifan!
<BTW> The TDM's shock is a direct mount, but it's not overly long and would fit in the Lifan just by relocating the top mount to just under the seat pan. Swingarm length is the same between the bikes as well, but the spring rate would be too much as the TDM tips the scales at 550lbs dry.

[elroyjetsn]

I think the shock on my Viva was designed to manage 2 on board wo too much sag.

But, even adjusted at lowest setting it's really STIFF!! The spring looks like it came off a boxcar.

Wonder if there's a way to replace just the spring with a softer spring??? :?

[pumpkin]

SamM's concern was that his viva was way to stiff .whitch it was i weigh 250lbs and when i sat on it it didn't move at all. so sam tried to mod his suspinsion. we think (meaning sam and i) that if he would have put a stock lifan rear shock on it would have been fine. there is a noticable differance in the gy-5 and viva stock rear shocks. we tried the viva shock on my lifan and had the same problim as the viva, my fat butt couldn't budge the shock.

[CRidin]

Makes me think I need to find someone with a viva to swap with.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by pumpkin

SamM's concern was that his viva was way to stiff .whitch it was i weigh 250lbs and when i sat on it it didn't move at all. so sam tried to mod his suspinsion. we think (meaning sam and i) that if he would have put a stock lifan rear shock on it would have been fine. there is a noticable differance in the gy-5 and viva stock rear shocks. we tried the viva shock on my lifan and had the same problim as the viva, my fat butt couldn't budge the shock.

That's the same issue I'm looking at. The rear is way too stiff. If I ride the bike REALLY hard, it does fine. But I can't push it that hard all the time. There's one section of road in particular, a really tight double S turn, the surface is patched and rough. I can't carry enough speed to keep the rear suspension settled and wind up skipping to the outside (that's on a good day, usually the rear wants to come out while the front stays planted). I have the sag adjusted correctly, but the suspension is just crap the way it is. Right now, I can take the road faster on my Yamaha, but if the Lifan was set up right it would be much faster due to the weight difference.

[Beavis]

The suspension on my DB-07 was connected directly to the swingarm, no linkage. The shock had about 1.5" of travel, which only related to about 3" at the tire. I swapped this out with a R1 shock I got off Ebay for $21 shipped. I had to move the bracket approx 1" back because the shock was longer. I have the spring and the compression and rebound settings all set stiff and it turned out very nice for me. I'm 6ft tall and my feet just touch the ground when I'm sitting on it. The ride is a lot softer than stock and bottom line is, I'm happy. Welds not pretty, but they haven't broke yet, and it's not a beauty contest anyway. (Scars build character.)