Author Topic: Suspension school? (Read 6842 times)

fearlessfred · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2013, 10:48:58 PM »

[Your valving is DIRECTLY related to spring rate which is DIRECTLY related to leverage ratio!] you said a lot in one sentence,I can see why everyone speaks so highly of you.

Burns363R · « **Reply #16 on:** November 23, 2013, 10:49:56 PM »

^^^ The MAN^^^^... This guy knows his stuff. Love his vids. The guy that has been doing my shocks in the past went to Andy's school. Very thorough.

Cant wait to work with Andy on a closer level.

fearlessfred · « **Reply #17 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:02:50 PM »

Quote from: Burns363R;18210

^^^ The MAN^^^^... This guy knows his stuff. Love his vids. The guy that has been doing my shocks in the past went to Andy's school. Very thorough.

Cant wait to work with Andy on a closer level.

hey kyle ,you and I agree on something,its a good day

Burns363R · « **Reply #18 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:05:40 PM »

Ya see.. IM not all bad..ha

fearlessfred · « **Reply #19 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:20:16 PM »

Quote from: Burns363R;18214

Ya see.. IM not all bad..ha

you ride a 250r ,you cant be bad,besides if everyone all ways agreed,we would all still think the world was flat.

Burns363R · « **Reply #20 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:22:09 PM »

True that.

fearlessfred · « **Reply #21 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:44:06 PM »

Quote from: spiritaces;18218

the world's not flat? WTF

It could be ,I just disagree with that theory,you know me never on the same page

rablack21 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 25, 2013, 08:38:57 AM »

Quote from: andy@maultechatv;18185

Well here is my story. I can't speak for any of the other shops but this is how I learned what I know.

I raced MX and wanted my local shop that I was buying parts from to do my shocks (works at the time) and he always had an excuse why he couldn't. I knew suspension (bike setup wasn't even considered back then) was where I needed to improve to go faster. So I called Custom Axis in California (when Mike Hallock still ran it) and setup a trip to learn what I could. All that I learned out there was how to service a shock and put new seals in it. The guy put a shock on the dyno but he had no clue what he was doing.

I began dealing through GT Thunder (around 12 years ago) and started asking questions about suspension. I knew from talking to him that he was the go to guy. He told me a lot over the phone and started using his valving stack setups. I also began changing my suspension and customers bikes too. I started to see how important linkages were and understanding what they did along with correcting the up and down travel of the suspension. It took a lot of thinking and trying different setups to see what I thought worked best. You really have to put your head down and just dive in.

I then drove to PA to Penske (custom axis) with a friend who was wanting to start his own shop for another class with Andy Lambert. I was hoping to pick up something but it was really more of a rebuild class again but I did get introduced to different piston designs and how they function differently.

I was fortunate enough to have a couple of really good riders close to me that I worked with and still do to this day for testing and feedback too. Two of which run in the pro class now. One of which completely understands just about every aspect of suspension setup (which is a rarity with pro riders).

Laz at GT began offering classes so I was one of the first to sign up. I didn't really learn anything from this because it was a beginner class but everyone else in the class had their heads spinning by the end of day 1 of 3.

The new fox shox came out so I tore a set apart and figured them out but I couldn't buy parts so off to California I went for a 3 day class. I learned absolutely nothing out there and the guy teaching me saw that there was no need for the 2nd and 3rd day so I pretty much roamed the place and hung out in the bike setup/mockup room. Definitely by far the largest manufacturer in the ATV industry I've been too.

Laz offered more classes so I went out and took the 2nd and 3rd classes. To my surprise there was only 1 other guy in the 2nd and I was the only one in the 3rd. So it was one on one for 3 days and I can say I learned more in those 3 days than I had the past 6 years. Finally got to put my theories to use and learned all about a shock dyno along with building a shock linkage from scratch. I actually purchased a shock dyno while I was in Ohio. Everything started to make sense from all the past years. I began building programs to calculate so many things from spring rate per rider input to progression rates etc.

With the dyno I can now change internal valving and actually see what I'm doing without riding the bike. As long as I'm supplied with the "correct" measurements I ask for I can make your bike work just as good as our best setup. Everything is just a leverage ratio and can be calculated on paper (or in a program). Your valving is DIRECTLY related to spring rate which is DIRECTLY related to leverage ratio!

I like to give information out so I can limit phone calls due to being way too busy in the shop so I started offering classes of my own. I've had classes at the shop and at the track. Most of the classes at the shop were people starting their own suspension business. We have a Beginner and Advanced School that are 3 days each. I've been very happy to work with them and talk with most on a weekly basis. The classes at the track were intertwined with some of my pro riders with riding tips and their setups. Mostly TT racing.

I unfortunately have been WAY too busy in my shop to teach another class lately. I would like to host another one this spring but there is no guarantee. If you're interested please send me an email and I have a folder I drop your name and contact info in so if I am going to host a class I know where to find your info. If I don't respond to your email you may have been automatically sent to my junk mail and I might not see it. So please call me so I can keep an eye out for it. There should be a class syllabus on our website if you're interested in seeing what we offer.

I guess in closing - you get out of it what you put into it! There's only so much someone can show you but hard work and dedication will eventually pay off. Hope this helps

Best explanation I have heard to date. Thanks for sharing that info, Andy. Sometimes, ya just gotta do a little research and education for yourself.

JoePA · « **Reply #23 on:** November 25, 2013, 09:05:32 AM »

Andy,
So glad that you chimed in. That pretty much summed up what I need to do. I've spoke with several shops and it was never explained that way other than Seth at SF Racing but we were discussing a different problem I was having with a set of PEP's I had. Glad Andy explained that and shared his knowledge with us as well as little bit of his background. Looking forward to what you can do to my shocks Andy!!

rablack21 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 25, 2013, 09:19:57 AM »

I would very much love to go to his suspension school, but would be a pretty major investment for me between airplane ticket/driving up there from TN, hotel stay, cost of class, not to mention actually trying to bring my quad up there. May have to one day figure something out.

andy@maultechatv · « **Reply #25 on:** June 10, 2014, 07:55:45 AM »

Just making sure you guys saw this and didn't miss out: http://trx250r.org/threads/3634-2014-Suspension-School