Honda's Motocross Experiment

HONDA'S MOTOCROSS EXPERIMENT

Everywhere you look these days there are experimental suspension systems. Suzuki has tried a multi-linkage front fork assembly on Grand Prix motocross bikes and Kawasaki is successfully campaigning the Uinitrak rear suspensions.

Now Honda, which has hitherto stuck to conventional suspensions. is trying out new ways of controlling wheel travel. Honda is experimenting with a springtravel multiplier on the rear end of the four-speed AlE-H 400cc works bike rid den by Warren Reid and Steve Wise in the Trans-USA series. The bottom end of the shock is mounted on a small lever that pivots on the swing arm. The other end of the lever is linked to the frame.

As the wheel moves up. the linkage swings the bottom of the shock out. into a wider arc. thus multiplying the movement of the shock.

Fine so far. There is a school of thought that says the more shock movement you have, the more closely you can control fluid flow and thus damping. But a diagram of the distance the linkage lets the shock travel indicates a gain of about 15 percent. That doesn't seem as if it's enough to make the extra complexity worthwhile. And it looks as if you could achieve the same thing simply by having the lower shock mount farther back on the swing arm. And Kawasaki's Uni-Trak is based on the idea that having less shock travel is good w hile Honda is going to all this trouble to get more travel.

Or perhaps there are things being tried here not visible to the non-factory eye. Maybe next year the team’s RC-type motocrossers will have this system. And maybe the shock travel multiplier will never be seen again.