Post by Jake on Apr 6, 2006 21:09:26 GMT -5
The best way to understand the two kits is to look straight at the front of the bike, so you can imagine the suspension cycling up and down. It's easiest to look at the front suspension, from a position in front of the bike, but when viewed from the side, the rear has the same principal behind it.
The Highlifter kit will raise the shock mount in a perfectly straight line along the current axis of the shock. Pretty straight forward. No major changes in the overall geometry relating to the shock absorber action versus the wheel motion as it travels over bumps.
The Perfex kit does NOT raise the shock mounting point at all. It simply moves it inboard some. If you look at the bike from the front, you'll see that if you were to remove the lower shock bolt, and swing it inward, it would require a lower mounting point to keep the same ride height. Because it does not do this, the bike is "inadvertantly" raised up.
The reason this benefits the ride, is not about vertical anything. That's a trademark of another company, but totally irrelevent. The change is because it changes the mechanical advantage that the wheel has (via the control arm) against the shock absorber portion of the shock, as well as the spring portion. The control arm is a lever. With the shock outboard and angled as it is, it moves (roughly) half of an inch for each inch the wheel is raised and lowered. By moving the lower mounting point inward, you change that amount, gaining mechanical advantage. You could imagine moving the shock further and further inward, until it mounted at the control arm bolts, in which case, all the wheel travel in the world would result in zero shock absorber movement. The placement along the control arm is progressive. With the kit in the maximum "cushy" position, the perfex kit will reduce that amount to more like four tenths of an inch per inch of wheel movement. In suspension geometry terms, that is a massive change in the overall ride and handling characteristics.
Why do people mix and match (Usually opting only for the rear part of the Perfex kit)?
First, the front portion of the Perfex kit is junk. Ok, not really, but it's thin metal, and doesn't really seem reassuring when you install it. It does seem to stand up to the test of use however, with the exception of some older kits that to my knowledge are long out of circulation.
Second, 80 percent of the "lumberwagon" ride of the Foreman comes from a swingarm rear suspension, with a utility valved shock. Softening the rear suspension makes the whole bike ride in a much more trail friendly manner. The front however, with a winch, a front rack full of gear, and especially with an agressive rider, can almost become "too soft", where it wants to dive a lot going into corners, bottoms out very easily, and becomes overkill. (Do note that I am not saying that every rider finds it to be too squishy. Some do, some do not. Your desires to powerslide and do donuts with 70 pounds on the front rack will be a deciding factor for your preference.
Third, the rear part of the kit is taller than a High Lifter kit. That's all that counts to some people. Not great IMO, as the rear universal joint starts to become overloaded more easily, but still within the range of what I would call "servicable", where you needn't be scared to start the motor in the morning for fear of breaking something.
I personally started with the Highlifter lift, and it served me well for a long time.
I then replaced the (signifigantly worn out) factory springs for the Highlifter Lift springs. (Now I think they call them heavy duty springs?). Definately makes it a tank, but still I've ridden worse... though I can't remember when.
I tried the Perfex kit on the front and rear. (still the lift springs). The ride is vastly improved, but the back (IMO) is higher than I want it, and the front dives too much.
I then put the stock springs back in the rear. That settled it out more to my liking, but bottoms out way too easily. You have to pay attention to what you're driving over and how fast you're driving over it.
The front still dives, so I put the High Lifter front lift back in. I was dumbfounded as to how much of the ride improvement comes from the rear part of the Perfex kit, BUT there is still a compromise in ride without the front. So far, this is the close runner up for my favorite setup.
As it sits now, I have the full Perfex kit installed. The front is in the cushy position, and the rear is in the intermediate position, and all four lift springs are installed, and I watch out for the "high performance manuvers" that cause the front to dive. I think I like it this way best? One thing I will say is that removing the rear part of the Perfex kit is probably not going to happen.
So, I've seen it a bunch of ways. Here's my recommendation:
Start with the Perfex kit. Odds are that will do the job for you. Had I done it that way first, I might not have had <quite> so much extra stuff to play with.
The Highlifter kit will raise the shock mount in a perfectly straight line along the current axis of the shock. Pretty straight forward. No major changes in the overall geometry relating to the shock absorber action versus the wheel motion as it travels over bumps.
The Perfex kit does NOT raise the shock mounting point at all. It simply moves it inboard some. If you look at the bike from the front, you'll see that if you were to remove the lower shock bolt, and swing it inward, it would require a lower mounting point to keep the same ride height. Because it does not do this, the bike is "inadvertantly" raised up.
The reason this benefits the ride, is not about vertical anything. That's a trademark of another company, but totally irrelevent. The change is because it changes the mechanical advantage that the wheel has (via the control arm) against the shock absorber portion of the shock, as well as the spring portion. The control arm is a lever. With the shock outboard and angled as it is, it moves (roughly) half of an inch for each inch the wheel is raised and lowered. By moving the lower mounting point inward, you change that amount, gaining mechanical advantage. You could imagine moving the shock further and further inward, until it mounted at the control arm bolts, in which case, all the wheel travel in the world would result in zero shock absorber movement. The placement along the control arm is progressive. With the kit in the maximum "cushy" position, the perfex kit will reduce that amount to more like four tenths of an inch per inch of wheel movement. In suspension geometry terms, that is a massive change in the overall ride and handling characteristics.
Why do people mix and match (Usually opting only for the rear part of the Perfex kit)?
First, the front portion of the Perfex kit is junk. Ok, not really, but it's thin metal, and doesn't really seem reassuring when you install it. It does seem to stand up to the test of use however, with the exception of some older kits that to my knowledge are long out of circulation.
Second, 80 percent of the "lumberwagon" ride of the Foreman comes from a swingarm rear suspension, with a utility valved shock. Softening the rear suspension makes the whole bike ride in a much more trail friendly manner. The front however, with a winch, a front rack full of gear, and especially with an agressive rider, can almost become "too soft", where it wants to dive a lot going into corners, bottoms out very easily, and becomes overkill. (Do note that I am not saying that every rider finds it to be too squishy. Some do, some do not. Your desires to powerslide and do donuts with 70 pounds on the front rack will be a deciding factor for your preference.
Third, the rear part of the kit is taller than a High Lifter kit. That's all that counts to some people. Not great IMO, as the rear universal joint starts to become overloaded more easily, but still within the range of what I would call "servicable", where you needn't be scared to start the motor in the morning for fear of breaking something.
I personally started with the Highlifter lift, and it served me well for a long time.
I then replaced the (signifigantly worn out) factory springs for the Highlifter Lift springs. (Now I think they call them heavy duty springs?). Definately makes it a tank, but still I've ridden worse... though I can't remember when.
I tried the Perfex kit on the front and rear. (still the lift springs). The ride is vastly improved, but the back (IMO) is higher than I want it, and the front dives too much.
I then put the stock springs back in the rear. That settled it out more to my liking, but bottoms out way too easily. You have to pay attention to what you're driving over and how fast you're driving over it.
The front still dives, so I put the High Lifter front lift back in. I was dumbfounded as to how much of the ride improvement comes from the rear part of the Perfex kit, BUT there is still a compromise in ride without the front. So far, this is the close runner up for my favorite setup.
As it sits now, I have the full Perfex kit installed. The front is in the cushy position, and the rear is in the intermediate position, and all four lift springs are installed, and I watch out for the "high performance manuvers" that cause the front to dive. I think I like it this way best? One thing I will say is that removing the rear part of the Perfex kit is probably not going to happen.
So, I've seen it a bunch of ways. Here's my recommendation:
Start with the Perfex kit. Odds are that will do the job for you. Had I done it that way first, I might not have had <quite> so much extra stuff to play with.