Factory Suspension vs. Stock Suspension | Dirt Bike Shootout
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- čas přidán 21. 12. 2022
- We test top of the line after market suspension against bog standard stuff to see if it's really worth the money. Is a-kit suspension really the best dirt bike upgrade you can buy? Will it make you faster? Max and Sean are on the case....Let's find out!
If you are interested in finding out more about the WP Suspension gear check out this link: www.wp-suspension.com/xact-pro/ - Sport
This track looks awfully smooth for a suspension test! haha..great vid guys!
I’m a C level rider with a 6500 fork and Trax shock. As far as being faster, it’s not a huge difference, but I do notice that I am far less fatigued and sore after a day at the track with the upgraded stuff vs the stock suspension.
thats EXACTLY WHAT I WAS GONNA COMMENT DUDE... suspension dont make anyone "faster". its to be able to make the bike comfortable to you (whatever those settings may be) for you to LAST on the bike.. imagine tryina hold down a 450 already with its power an then u got some bouncy suspension you keep fighting over every turn.. you aint gonna last youll be fatigued to the point of GOING SLOWER. fighting n dying just to hold on and finish.
I had bad stock suspension and a factory connection revalve just gave me confidence and less fatigue and that's what made me faster in the race
Testing suspension on a super smooth track! True testing would be on a rough track surely.
Improving your suspension is allways a worthwhile investment. Did the Gold Valve system on my '96 CR500.
Will do next-gen Gold Valve on my '97 KX500, and I dont know what Im going to do on my '83 YZ490...
If I had the $$$$, I'd go full Ohlins on everything.
We were running WP suspension 25 years ago at Road and Circuit racing and the difference is like night and day .
Just bought my second set of cone valves and trax shock, don’t want to try anything else anymore. Just a stock gasgas 350 with this suspension and a triple clamp. It gives confidence, more speed and keeps you safer. That stuff saved my ass on many misses from me a a rider. It’s expensive but you take it to the next bike. Brilliant stuff ❤
Great video Max, big thank you to you and Shawn for busting myths on more power vs better suspension , as you said and shown better suspension equals ,more speed, confidence, easier to ride faster for longer. Have a Merry MX Xmas and looking forwards to more excellent videos in the new year, great drone work mate.
Thanks Kevin, Have a good Xmas :)
And MERRY CHRISTMAS to you! What kind of suspension does Santa's sleigh have?
Would be interested in seeing a tyre test on this channel. I’d like to know the lap time difference between a worn rear tyre and a fresh one. It is probably the best value for money upgrade for a weekend warrior.
What was very telling was Sean's frustration on the stock Kawaski & the resulting loss of focus leading to him basically giving-up on the lap. With the improved fork he was able to remain undistracted. The importance of being comfortable enough to maintain concentration cannot be exaggerated; and the longer the race, the more the advantage will manifest.
If the cost of top-spec suspension is too high, find the money elsewhere..buy a cheaper van or find a mate to share expenses, wear last year's kit, find a rich gf :). Nothing is more frustrating than being passed by someone less talented on better equipment.
Amen. Well articulated, this phenomenon of comfort. Sometime back, KTM’s boss expressed his opinion on the Kawasaki people being most in line with that if the KTM ethos. It would be interesting to see what the Husqvarna-experiment approach would wrought if say KTM carved the motorcycle division out of Kawasaki Heavy Industriè.
Great video guys. You put a lot of effort into this.
What a quality video Max, I've always wondered if better suspension would improve a clubman rider and now I know, plus that wasn't a gnarly track that has been rutted up too so imagine how much different it would be on a heavily used track!! Don't think I've ever seen a goid comparison video on suspension like this before.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate your comment.
The KX looks wild af with the WP on it
I would have liked to see it up against revalved and sprung suspension
I still do enjoy the laps on my 2009 RM250 (two stroke) with some decent suspension work, and doing OK against the people with brand new $15K bikes with almost every part replaced to double their cost. Back in the day I went to a motocross school hosted by Jim Pomeroy and when asked what was the best mod for someone to do he responded "burn more gas". While I'd love to have a 2023 bike with factory everything, I don't think it would make me much faster (outside of the pits).
I wonder how much of a difference it would make to put the pro kit on the same KTM, did you try that?
Awesome video my friend 😊👍
Thank you 👍
In general, I've always wondered what the cost difference is, for the manufacturers, to put so-so stock suspension on their bikes, versus a better suspension? Like how much more money are the internals, really? To me, all bikes could come with improved suspension, without a lot of extra cost, due to the economy of the large number of units? Show, KYB and WP could have better (raise the bar) on OEM suspension. However, I understand that they want to upsell better suspension, so they will always want to have "better suspension." Good idea for a video, thank you. That track does not seem to represent real life race conditions, IMHO (it's too smooth).
7 seconds is MASSIVE! 😵
I got a $400 OEM revalve on my 22 Xact Forks. Night and day difference in the ride. The one thing I love about the air vs the spring is the bottoming resistance. Im a C rider and don’t always have the best timing. I can trust the forks to take a hit if I over jump a bit.
The one thing I hate is the I energy it takes to initially get the forks to move, especially in corners. The front end tends to flutter in turns Bike setup and balance comes more into play with air forks. Getting a bit more weight on the front helps. A little higher sag 95-98mm and moving my bars forward on the clamps has helped a bit.
More weight on the front is the worst possible factor to kill handling ...and adjusting sag to 98mm is costing you 1/3 of your suspension the is not being used at all making your entire comment total bull shit . As you have no argument and no debate ..not one of your mods will ever improve the suspension or handling of anything ever built ...but will make everything worse than the cheapest made junk ...proving beyond a doubt you have no experience , or facts and a low i.q.
No surprise with the Kayaba on the KXF,I always found Showa plusher,but hey I'm old,I only raced mx for 2 years top level,then 2 or 3 years club level before dual sport was more versatile,so starting 125cc 43 years ago haha,no I was mostly talking about my XR600s,particularly a 628 1990 model changing from non cartridge to the CR like cartridge conventional forks with Scott Summers exact oil height,spring settings from Daisy Hi-Torque Dirt Bike interview specs,that made the front end so incredibly progressive,especially when compared to a friends harsh as Kayaba upsidedown forked 1992 KX500 on an outdoor mx track,btw this is a great vid.
As Australians we are always amazed at how UK production teams make your tiny little islands/huge population look so country like as if your main landmass is mostly ripe for great outdoor mx tracks like this one,are you confused yet? I'm not lol.
What would be nice to see is stock suspension vs reworked suspension from MOTO33 or one of the other company’s that are rebound for custom work , as I think there are plenty of people using moto33 ect and the cost is heaps less than the factory stuff from what I no , love the vids and keep up the good work 👌🏻
It is scam from slaves(you know what i mean)
Where is your riding version of this test Max?
They did not compare the KTM 250 with the suspension kit. This test is incomplete. Best regards from guadalajara mexico.
first man ever to say kyb sss is junk!
Good WP advert 😅🤣
Think the big comparison missing is an upgraded stock suspension compared to A kit suspension. For most that will be way more than enough if not better
Suspension is geometry ...if you dont have the numbers you dont have a comparison ..in geometry you have to know two given factors to find the solution ...and for the last 20 years + or - the most critical factor is never mentioned ...that by leaving it out of the formula all you have is guess work bull shit with no value at all ..what im talking about is what we call unsprung weight ....if you dont know or have this information , you have no comparison of anything of the equipment being tested ...thats why no one in the comments agree about anything in the entire video ..not even the test riders can make a positive statement of any of the equipment .....proving beyond any doubt know one in the comments or in this video knows anything at all about suspension facts and how they work or dont work and not one comment of what the rebound damping compressing damping spring rate preload ride height , suspension sag with and without a rider .. not one mention of all these factors make this entire video useless as you did not learn anything that is factual information period but only guess work bull shit ...why ? There is no mention of the unsprung weight differences of the equipment ....this factor alone cancels everything else said
What is missing is facts and numbers that make this entire video nonfactual totally useless
I can’t find your nasty reply to me on here for some reason, but I’m sorry I upset you. I bet you’re a hoot to be around.
good to know
The fact that he rides for WP makes the test not that good😅
Just buy a YZ it comes standard with the best suspension.
So the entry level spring kit is supposed to be better than the stock air forks the ktms come with?
LAZERRRR
So Kawi with PRO WP was still slower than KTM with standard WP...
Were any set-up changes made at all to the Kawasaki on standard kit? The title “as received from showroom” seems to suggest that nothing was touched… sag, clickers etc? Surely a proper test would be at least to get the best out of each set up before comparing.
I just find it difficult to believe that the universally liked KYB set up on the KX couldn’t have been tuned very quickly and easily to at least let him put a proper lap in, and allow a proper test. I know it’s a WP test, but come on…
Baby smooth groomed track.
Factory susoension is for pros and super fast guys.
What's factory susspension made of gold .
It's a thread same as oils and tires.... What and for which use.... Because suspensions are not make with rocket science and pure gold inside. I mean brands could easily deliver same "said to be top" suspensions ( or ask their suppliers to do it ) without a significantly costly bike... But 99% of riders are no racers , they don't even go super fast on trails. Their main need is a set with low speed plush comfort and resist to bottoming on hard hits and some jumps. Again, why would some prepare shops would succeed to do ti with some shims, some valving and factories don't do it ? Enlight me....
on honda?
It is scam from slaves(you know what i mean)
Top🇧🇷
It is scam from slaves(you know what i mean)
Not really an accurate test, you didn’t have a super “good” rider to do the test, the track wasn’t rough at all. The 6500 is essentially the same as the cone valve and the trax shock is exceptionally better then the bladder conversion kit. The best bang for buck set up would be 6500 kit with a trax shock. Unless you have support from someone who can help with price on the cone valve.
Entry lvl had fastest time, over a second faster..........so save doe, get Entry lvl suspension + a pipe and be golden
Just tune the stock suspension and don't be a dweeb
Only because Kawi suspension sucks.