LF> Comparison of rear shocks  By  lain (Read 728 times)

After tearing down the body to see what kind of attachment the rear shock has at the top I found there is no spot on the frame for a second rear shock, the caliper for the rear disc brake and the muffler would be in the way if there WAS a spot on the frame... so to install a second rear shock doesn't seem to be in the picture for this scoot.

Its a lot of work since you most times need to weld in a second mount on the frame and convert everything to support the second swing arm. The single shock 150 is limited by what the frame and engine mounts can take for an offsided load. At best your only going to gain the ability to turn a preload collar on a similar spring to what you already have for a small gain. Typically on a single shock 150 you are talking about a 220 lbs rider capacity while on a twin shock you can be getting almost double at 390. You do not get fully double to account for the heavier frame and the weight of the second swing arm, spring and shock. With an adjustable single shock you are not going to push that to 300+ lbs capacity safely and reliably but would probably be looking at maybe 250 lbs. The single shock bikes are for two 110 lb passengers riding double or maybe a full grown adult and a child.

I looked into it but being a 250 lb Gorilla already 30 lbs over the capacity of the Lance it was never going to let me safely take a passenger without serious modification to make it a 2 rear shock bike.

Wouldn't a "performance" single shock be a stronger option than an OEM shock?   

You need to get one with a progressive spring and a preload adjuster to allow more weight capacity or the air adjustable shock but then it can be cheaper to just sell the scoot and purchase a twin shock bike. The performance shocks usually are for adjusting the stiffness of the rebound/dampening or add bidirectional dampening and do little to add capacity. A higher capacity progressive spring is required to add weight (cargo/passenger) capacity. Single shock is basically a 50cc frame which they sometimes put a 150 into however it still has only 50cc weight capacity.

I took a passenger a few times on my Lance and it was bottoming out on every little deviation in the road. It would not clear a speed bump without dragging the frame for the center stand. I have the ability to weld up the frame reinforcements and make the bike capable of supporting two riders safely but after counting the cost it was just simpler and cheaper to vet out the right bike for the job and save up for it instead of pouring money into the Lance. I actually found out in the process of vetting things out that I did not have to save up and could afford the Aprilia right then and there with the incentives they were offering the day I walked into their dealership.