Illustration of how motorcycle suspension works together

[Motofool]

Watch how each contact patch is loaded and unloaded as weight is transferred back and forth due to inertia and acceleration:

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Snake]

That's a very cool look at how the suspension works.

[csmith12]

Thanks for the video Motofool, your timing is great. I have been working up a article about "riding through bumps". It's applicable to this thread and I was going to make a similar video next weekend at Mid-Ohio.

Here is a snip.

For those who have purchased a new car or a lightly used car do you remember this. "Man... I look down at the speedo and didn't realize how fast I was going." "It's really easy to speed in this thing." Why was that? The car was new, quiet, strong, tight and silky smooth. What was making it so smooth? 4 main things;

Quiet = just like your helmet should be, the cabin is quiet
Tight = just like your steering skills should be, tight, quick and accurate. (tight in this context means to respond instantly)
Suspension = just like your bike's suspension should be, fresh, adjusted and working as it should
Tires = quiet, properly inflated and grippy

First and foremost, you should set your bike up like this for the sake of safety. But getting that setup will also give you 2 other bonus items that when put together equal a serious boost in speed.

A machine that can absorb a much wider range of surface imperfections without the rider even feeling them.
Confidence, that your bike will respond in a predictable manner to the inputs you as the rider give to the machine.

This is strongly linked to dulling the senses and when combined with being very loose on the bars (sr #2), equals a faster lap time or a safer, more confident street ride.