Does ride quality vary from brand to brand?  By  Deleted (Read 1,940 times)

My Vog suspension also sucks on anything but smooth roads. My front shocks bottom out on everything, and I'm essentially riding on fully compressed springs on the rear as soon as I sit down. In fact, my highway use is limited not be speed but by knowing my roads - I don't consider it a safe ride on many of the "older" highways here.

I was thinking of picking up some better quality used adjustable motorcycle rear shocks on ebay.

I have a Chinese Q6 3 wheeler and it has dual shocks in front , the ride seems pretty good from my experience ,these shocks can be adjusted but up to now I am satisfied with the ride.My only complaint is the plastic is a little noisy ,outside of that it is a good machine .

Speaking of head shake or Tank Slap, there is a good article here:
www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/tank-slappers-and-the-way-to-avoid-them/167234.article

I wasn't aware that it was much of an occurance in the scooter arena till I did a net search of scooter tank slap.

After 10k, ever consider new shocks?

That article was just the beginning 11 years ago.

Basically what happens is that if the front tire is slightly under-inflated for your weight and riding style the tread blocks squirm under heavy braking and the leading edges start to get worn away faster then the trailing edges leaving alternating gaps in the tires contact patch with the roadway. With alternately diagonally siped tread patterns or when a tire with matched diagonal siping is run favoring turns predominantly to one side, such as is common on a race course, this causes only one side of the tire to alternately have predominant contact with the road which grabs and pulls the handle bars to that side while at the same time that tread block starts to squirm excessivly and then springs back. At certain speeds depending on the road texture, tire diameter and tread pattern this gets more pronounced with the most common being while coasting to a stop below 35 mph or during panic braking at high speed. Upping the inflation just enough to reduce the tread squirm minimizes the wear and speeds at which the harmonic become apparent greatly reducing the intensity and frequency at which these events occur.

That is how the lead Aprilia Factory Trained Mechanic at the local dealership expained it to me when I asked him about tank slap and such.

Mine as the OEM front tire approched 6,000 miles was starting to slap while slowing to a stop using just engine braking and after I increased the tire pressure 1 psi at a time I found that increasing my front tire pressure from the recommended 29 psi to 32 psi eliminated 99% of the tank slap and now that I have put a new tire on it has eliminated it altogether as I now have 18,000 miles on the bike and 6,000 miles on the new front tire with no tendency toward slapping using the same model OEM tire.

There are also situations where the bikes front geometry can be off from hitting something, pothole damage, wear or poor design however many times it is just a combination of moderate underflation and tire wear.

What if you'd remove one shock, and use a bolt that's long enough to go through both shock mounts on the seat?

I'm sure it'll be ok if you're lightweight, but taking off one shock, if you're over 180LBS is not advised. I think I might actually try this one day on my EVO.