[jp8484]

Originally Posted by DannoXYZ

The rear suspension on new-gen is much improved over last generation due to some changes:

1. shock with stiffer spring and damping along with preload-adjustment

2. revised leverage-ratios with knuckle!!! This alone probably accounts for 80% of improvements. New knuckle moves shock more for same amount of wheel-travel. This increases leverage shock has on swingarm and same shock would have stronger "push" on swingarm.

When I upgraded my pre-gen to new-gen rear-suspension with entire swingarm assembly, for giggles, I re-installed original pre-gen shock. Wow, it actually worked better!!! So rear-end on new-gen bikes don't need as much upgrading as shock.

For fork-springs, other brands like Progressive or Bitubo can be had for less on eBay. No-cost option is to cut off 4" of spring and replace with PVC spacer. Back in '80s, when aftermarket products wasn't as abundant, this was pretty standard procedure.

Does the PVC mod actually help? without changing the stock spring.. wouldn't it be just as squishy as before? I've heard of this before but wasn't too sure if it actually worked