Monday, October 24, 2016

The importance of XC racing shocks

The different types of shocks
When it comes to racing XC on a quad you really rely on your suspension to take much of the blow for you, when you have a poor suspension set up your body takes the toll. With all of the options on the market it is very hard to decide what best will work for you. The first question you have to ask yourself is what is my budget? Do I want to buy a used set and rebuild them, or do i want to buy a brand new set. You have so many different options available to you on the market just a few of the big name ones are elka, axis and fox. From here you have to decided what style of shock do you want, air or spring; does the one you want fit with your current a-arm set up?

Difference between air and spring
You have two major different types currently the air and spring shock, once is based on your standard spring that compresses and rebound when you hit. The other type is a shock that is set by the amount of air you decide to base in the chambers. They are both completely different and each person has a different standard of what they want to run. When it comes to air shocks they are much easier to change the pressure to your preference because you have an air pump. When it comes to spring shocks you need a special wrench to adjust them.  Below are a couple different YouTube videos of the setup of air shock and spring shocks.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE-sLi2Dxo4

What the pros ride-
Many of the pro riders have been switching to air shocks in the previous years, before that everyone was big into the axis spring shock.
How does FOX contribute to your success? My FOX shocks get me to the podium every race. They are so smooth and deliver great, consistent performance that without them I do not think I would be as fast as I am with them.- Quote from Chris Bithell an XC1 pro-rider; (Got from the ride fox website).  In the last year 5 championships were won on the fox shocks alone.
My preference
I ride elka shocks on my race quad, I like them because I was originally on stock suspension and it was a huge change. I haven’t really given the air shocks a chance, due to their price. The elkas have great rebound, and are set up perfectly thanks to Bart Thomas at Shock works.  

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