Guest khep Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Does anyone have experience with these shocks on the VFR? Opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Never heard of them. Without a spring, if/when the seal ever goes and you lose all your air, the bike would drop and you'd be dragging your tail all the way home. Linkage: http://www.fournales.fr/site_ang/page_moto...nsion_moto.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie1dog Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Does anyone have experience with these shocks on the VFR? Opinions? NOPE never heard of them , but thanks for posting up about them. Looks interesting...Air Ride Suspension. :salesman: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer skuuter Posted April 8, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted April 8, 2007 Popular shock with the "scooter" crowd and stunters......can adjust ride heights, weight changes real well and the ride stays consistant. Only rode them on a 600 Silver Wing scooter (friend that lived here and moved to Colorado) and a 650 Burgman scooter (still here in Tullahoma). Impressive shocks (IMO) on the large "Maxi-scooters". Air Force buddy (in Germany) has one on his Hornet (European 599). All I can contribute.....they do ride/ handle great on the scooters I've ridden........... :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Fournales Air shocks were used by some custom bike makers of the 80s. (Mostly French) I think a lot of them found their way on the rear ends of Custom V-Maxes. Look at most books from the 80's on custom bikes, and you will most likely see at least one example sporting these air shocks. Air has been regarded as the perfect progressive type spring, but for some reason it is not perfect, or we'd be all riding on air charged shocks. Must be a problem with cavitation of damping fluids or leaks. I think Fournales has been pretty much filed way by most as suspension systems from the past by bike designers. I haven't seen the brand on any new custom bikes in a long time. And as Skuuter mentions, now maybe condentrate mostly on scooter applications. Beck 95 VFR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tok tokkie Posted April 8, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted April 8, 2007 Tony Foale in 'Motorcycle Handling & Chassis Design - the art and science' discusses gas suspension struts and includes a cutaway picture of the Fournales shock. He says the problem comes when you want to adjust the ride (assuming you had a good starting position but now increase bike load or want to run on better/worse roads). It sounds simple - just subtract air for softer spring but all that does is reduce ride height as exactly the same air pressure is required to support the same weight. In the other case (increased load) add air which will lift the rear of the bike under the increased load but now the spring will be stiffer - oftentimes too stiff (remember that air springs are highly progressive & we have now moved along the curve). Foales made many 'specials' & used these shocks on some of them. He writes "In my experience, most of the complaints levelled at the after-market gas shocks are due to the rider's expectations of the adjustability benifits being raised excessively by the manufacturer's advertising hype. Once a suitable unit is matched to a particular application, then the ability to perfectly compensate for load differences by changing the pressure is a valuable benifit, although, unless the unit also has adjustable damping, that cannot be optimum throughout the full range of load conditions. Do not expect to match any gas shock to your bike by changing the pressure, it doesn't work like that.' I certainly had thought that a gas shock would be the universal panecea for adjustable shocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERSTEPH Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I have three of these things sitting in my garage or basement They are way lighter than coil over shocks - umm, that's it with the benefits That said, when they were fresh and I did not adjust the pressure they were pretty amazing on my BMW K12RS, but I would spend the money on proven shocks, i.e. Penske, Elka, Ohlins YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enzed_viffer Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Ummm.. I REALLY liked the air valves the suspension on my VF500 had - it was so easy to adjust the suspension when carrying a pillion. I liked the compression damper too; made it easy to do stoppies - just set the dial to "0". :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JZH Posted June 8, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted June 8, 2007 Last I heard, Fournalles had a "two-stage" adjustment thingy--one setting for sport and the other for touring, I suppose. I was seriously considering buying one at one point for one of my bikes when I heard that, but was told the extra parts required for the adjustability option meant it would no longer fit that bike. This was maybe three years ago? I assume the company is still ticking over somewhere in SW France. A friend of mine also had a good experience with them doing an emergency fitment on his Goldwing; nice people, apparently. Ciao, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie1dog Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I have three of these things sitting in my garage or basementThey are way lighter than coil over shocks - umm, that's it with the benefits That said, when they were fresh and I did not adjust the pressure they were pretty amazing on my BMW K12RS, but I would spend the money on proven shocks, i.e. Penske, Elka, Ohlins YMMV What bikes do they fit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERSTEPH Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I have three of these things sitting in my garage or basementThey are way lighter than coil over shocks - umm, that's it with the benefits That said, when they were fresh and I did not adjust the pressure they were pretty amazing on my BMW K12RS, but I would spend the money on proven shocks, i.e. Penske, Elka, Ohlins YMMV What bikes do they fit? Sorry Hobie - don't check in here too often If I recall correctly I have one rear BMW R1100GS shock, and a front and rear for a BMW K1200RS and the nigh pressure bicycle pump too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie1dog Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 I have three of these things sitting in my garage or basementThey are way lighter than coil over shocks - umm, that's it with the benefits That said, when they were fresh and I did not adjust the pressure they were pretty amazing on my BMW K12RS, but I would spend the money on proven shocks, i.e. Penske, Elka, Ohlins YMMV What bikes do they fit? Sorry Hobie - don't check in here too often If I recall correctly I have one rear BMW R1100GS shock, and a front and rear for a BMW K1200RS and the nigh pressure bicycle pump too I was hoping you were going to tell me you had one for a viffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERSTEPH Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 I have three of these things sitting in my garage or basementThey are way lighter than coil over shocks - umm, that's it with the benefits That said, when they were fresh and I did not adjust the pressure they were pretty amazing on my BMW K12RS, but I would spend the money on proven shocks, i.e. Penske, Elka, Ohlins YMMV What bikes do they fit? Sorry Hobie - don't check in here too often If I recall correctly I have one rear BMW R1100GS shock, and a front and rear for a BMW K1200RS and the nigh pressure bicycle pump too I was hoping you were going to tell me you had one for a viffer. Trust me Hobie - if I had one that was for a Viffer I would have already tried it, though that said, one never knows - a project to check on...... anyone have a picture of a 90-93 Viffer shock to see if it's even worth checking out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JZH Posted June 16, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted June 16, 2007 This is a pic of my FL-FP Ohlins: Ciao, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERSTEPH Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 This is a pic of my FL-FP Ohlins: Ciao, NICE eye candy OK -I'll have to dig out the shocks I have and take some measurements and then check the Haynes..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie1dog Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 That's like this Fox Racing Shock that is on Ebay now. But the guy lists all the measurements for it but doesn't know what it goes on. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FOX-SHOCK-G...1QQcmdZViewItem Looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vfrrider Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 VFR P shock is 345mm long, has eye top mount and clevis bottom, R-V shock is 324mm long has eye top and bottom. The Fox shock listed in the Ebay auction SAYS its 335mm long, with eye top and clevis bottom, neither fish nor fowl. That having been said, I want it, because I have a use for it. My 97 frame, with a 93 swingarm. it would add 10mm to the shock length, OK by me. IS EVERYONE LISTENING, so I don't have to fight anyone here for it. Larry VFRrider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie1dog Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 The Fox shock listed in the Ebay auction SAYS its 335mm long, with eye top and clevis bottom, neither fish nor fowl. That having been said, I want it, because I have a use for it. My 97 frame, with a 93 swingarm. it would add 10mm to the shock length, OK by me. IS EVERYONE LISTENING, so I don't have to fight anyone here for it. Larry: You should see that there are two listed back to back on Ebay.....I assume that they are both by the same seller, I didn't click on the other one to see if it was different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vfrrider Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Just when I think I find just what I need at a decent price, someone rains on my parade. You're probably right. JZH, Want to make a deal on that Ohlins? Oops, won't work for me. :beer: Larry VFRrider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JZH Posted June 17, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted June 17, 2007 JZH, Want to make a deal on that Ohlins? Oops, won't work for me. :beer: No, it won't, cuz it's on my bike! Surely a good Ohlins shop could make you exactly the shock you needed? Penske certainly would (they made one for my NC30), and my ST1300's is essentially a custom jobbie. All it takes is money! Good luck. Ciao, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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