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This is the continuation of My quest for a perfect Alta Redshift motocross suspension (Part 1).
A couple of years ago, I test rode a 2017 CRF450 that has a suspension revalved by a factory Showa tuner. I have been chasing the feeling of that suspension ever since. Today, I ended up buying this bike, but this is a separate story. What I learned though is that there is almost always a better suspension out there.
This summer, I asked the owner of that CRF450 if he could give me the name and phone number of his suspension tuner. He said that he had a new tuner now and an even better suspension. I said, okay, hook me up. He told me it's Bob Bell from Precision Concepts Racing.
Bob is a great guy. I talked to him on the phone and, like all awesome tuners, he told me about all the pro and amateur races that run his suspension, etc. I asked if he could revalve my WP suspension to work just like the Showa CRF450 that I rode, and he said yes, of course. So I mailed my spare (stock) suspension set to him.
When I got my suspension back, I rode it in my backyard, and it felt very promising. But then I took it to a motocross track and it felt underdamped in both compression and rebound. It was bottoming on jump landings and bouncing back from berms. Turns out Bob thought that I wanted the plushness, which I did, but what I really needed was an improved bottoming resistance. So back to California that suspension flew.
Got the v.2.0 iteration back sometime in October. Rains and vacations, I got a chance to ride it only once on a loamy and beat up choppy track with some jumps. The v.2.0 was a complete opposite of v.1.0. A ton of low-speed and high-speed compression and rebound damping. I thought there was too much of it. I backed out 8 clicks on rebound and 4 clicks on compression, and only then was able to ride it. Still, I thought something was wrong with it, it was not working well, and I didn't like it.
Fast forwarding, I arrived in Arizona a week ago and had my first practice day yesterday. I drained the battery on my one bike, the one with my trusted KTM World suspension, and thought I would call it a day. I dreaded riding the Precision Concepts suspension, thought I would rather mail it back for another revalve rather than ride it again. But the other bike was dead, and I still wanted to ride, so I took it out on the Arizona track exactly like it was set up back in Michigan.
Low and behold, the same suspension felt AMAZING in Arizona on a smoother hardpack track with a lot of jumps and no braking bumps. So much control, steering precision and confidence! I was blown away!
I was able to stand more, brake later into turns, accelerate sooner, overshoot jumps, and occasionally slam into the faces of some whoops that I miss-timed with no ill consequences. I felt like a fast and confident A-rider, it was a step progression!
So, I think I have come to a point where I cannot have one perfect suspension for all tracks. I now have the Precision Concepts v.2.0 suspension for hardpack and supercross, and the KTM World suspension for everything else.
Now I just need to find a setup that works on sand tracks, ughhh...
No special suspension pictures this time, but here are the fork leg stickers that came separately, not yet installed. They are going on the bike soon!
A couple of years ago, I test rode a 2017 CRF450 that has a suspension revalved by a factory Showa tuner. I have been chasing the feeling of that suspension ever since. Today, I ended up buying this bike, but this is a separate story. What I learned though is that there is almost always a better suspension out there.
This summer, I asked the owner of that CRF450 if he could give me the name and phone number of his suspension tuner. He said that he had a new tuner now and an even better suspension. I said, okay, hook me up. He told me it's Bob Bell from Precision Concepts Racing.
Bob is a great guy. I talked to him on the phone and, like all awesome tuners, he told me about all the pro and amateur races that run his suspension, etc. I asked if he could revalve my WP suspension to work just like the Showa CRF450 that I rode, and he said yes, of course. So I mailed my spare (stock) suspension set to him.
When I got my suspension back, I rode it in my backyard, and it felt very promising. But then I took it to a motocross track and it felt underdamped in both compression and rebound. It was bottoming on jump landings and bouncing back from berms. Turns out Bob thought that I wanted the plushness, which I did, but what I really needed was an improved bottoming resistance. So back to California that suspension flew.
Got the v.2.0 iteration back sometime in October. Rains and vacations, I got a chance to ride it only once on a loamy and beat up choppy track with some jumps. The v.2.0 was a complete opposite of v.1.0. A ton of low-speed and high-speed compression and rebound damping. I thought there was too much of it. I backed out 8 clicks on rebound and 4 clicks on compression, and only then was able to ride it. Still, I thought something was wrong with it, it was not working well, and I didn't like it.
Fast forwarding, I arrived in Arizona a week ago and had my first practice day yesterday. I drained the battery on my one bike, the one with my trusted KTM World suspension, and thought I would call it a day. I dreaded riding the Precision Concepts suspension, thought I would rather mail it back for another revalve rather than ride it again. But the other bike was dead, and I still wanted to ride, so I took it out on the Arizona track exactly like it was set up back in Michigan.
Low and behold, the same suspension felt AMAZING in Arizona on a smoother hardpack track with a lot of jumps and no braking bumps. So much control, steering precision and confidence! I was blown away!
I was able to stand more, brake later into turns, accelerate sooner, overshoot jumps, and occasionally slam into the faces of some whoops that I miss-timed with no ill consequences. I felt like a fast and confident A-rider, it was a step progression!
So, I think I have come to a point where I cannot have one perfect suspension for all tracks. I now have the Precision Concepts v.2.0 suspension for hardpack and supercross, and the KTM World suspension for everything else.
Now I just need to find a setup that works on sand tracks, ughhh...
No special suspension pictures this time, but here are the fork leg stickers that came separately, not yet installed. They are going on the bike soon!
