When was the last time you envied your friend’s YAMAHA FZ and its monocross suspension? I bet it was just yesterday and the truth is that you should be, as because of that red color nitrox charge single shock setup the bike looks awesome. Besides the other article on BikesMedia titled “Monoshock suspension vs dual shocks” this one is just going to be all about the amazing cool dude personality the monoshock has and how it changes the way a bike performs on the road. So let’s get started.
The monoshock suspension can be found at the center of the bike’s chassis. At one end of the suspension is the swing arm and at its other end the chassis. During the early days, when Yamaha first used the monoshock suspension, it was directly connected to the swing arm, but nowadays it’s connected to the swing arm via linkages. This enabled us to use small shock absorber with less travel.
Advantages Of Monoshock:
Today's Scenario:
As the Indian motorcycle industry is evolving it is clear that more and more people are going to choose monoshock over dual shock suspension. According to the recently leaked pictures of supposed TVS Apache RTR 160 manufacturers like TVS have already realized the importance of mono suspensions and have started updating even their smaller capacity Apaches with a monoshock setup. Not just the motorcycles but the riders too are evolving from a commuter focused squid to performance focused riders. People say don’t judge a book by its cover but in this case we did it and boy oh boy we can’t be any more pleased.
By: Yetnesh Dubey
The monoshock suspension can be found at the center of the bike’s chassis. At one end of the suspension is the swing arm and at its other end the chassis. During the early days, when Yamaha first used the monoshock suspension, it was directly connected to the swing arm, but nowadays it’s connected to the swing arm via linkages. This enabled us to use small shock absorber with less travel.Advantages Of Monoshock:
• The monoshock setup helps the bike in maneuverability; it improves the handling of the motorbike while going over potholes or bad roads as all the force is focused at one point load. This is also the same reason why bikes having a monoshock suspension are more stable at higher speeds than dual shocks.
• Just because of its position the mono-suspension has a serious advantage, it is placed ahead of the rear axle at the center of the bike, the movement of the swing arm in this case is not directly transferred to the suspension this allows a more stable ride experience, let us understand it through an example- If the bike goes over a pothole and there is a 100mm deflection in swing arm, then that same amount of upward stroke will be felt on the dual shock setup but since the monoshock suspension is placed away from rear axle, it will face lesser deflection. As a result the lifeline of the oil in the suspension unit automatically increases and even after a lot of hard riding the suspension will remain responsive.
• With the chance of unstable riding experience chances of suspension’s alignment mismatch also goes outside the window and also the main reason why all of us fell in love with the monoshock even before knowing it has so much brain as well is of course because of its beauty. The sheer awesome look of a small suspension just peeking out from the center of the bike had us all hooked from its first sight. That freed up space over the fat tire of FZ made every kid feel like they too can have a superbike experience.
• Just because of its position the mono-suspension has a serious advantage, it is placed ahead of the rear axle at the center of the bike, the movement of the swing arm in this case is not directly transferred to the suspension this allows a more stable ride experience, let us understand it through an example- If the bike goes over a pothole and there is a 100mm deflection in swing arm, then that same amount of upward stroke will be felt on the dual shock setup but since the monoshock suspension is placed away from rear axle, it will face lesser deflection. As a result the lifeline of the oil in the suspension unit automatically increases and even after a lot of hard riding the suspension will remain responsive.
• With the chance of unstable riding experience chances of suspension’s alignment mismatch also goes outside the window and also the main reason why all of us fell in love with the monoshock even before knowing it has so much brain as well is of course because of its beauty. The sheer awesome look of a small suspension just peeking out from the center of the bike had us all hooked from its first sight. That freed up space over the fat tire of FZ made every kid feel like they too can have a superbike experience.
Today's Scenario:As the Indian motorcycle industry is evolving it is clear that more and more people are going to choose monoshock over dual shock suspension. According to the recently leaked pictures of supposed TVS Apache RTR 160 manufacturers like TVS have already realized the importance of mono suspensions and have started updating even their smaller capacity Apaches with a monoshock setup. Not just the motorcycles but the riders too are evolving from a commuter focused squid to performance focused riders. People say don’t judge a book by its cover but in this case we did it and boy oh boy we can’t be any more pleased.
By: Yetnesh Dubey