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Suspension guide


tfaith08

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haha ok was just curious as last post you said lonestar DC pro is the only way to go but a few posts back fireball was on your list too. Is there a benefit to going the fireball route to utilize the longer shock length and getting/providing all the measurements to the shock builder as you detailed in this thread or is the geometry on the lonestar arms really superior? My application is for a fulltime duner bike mainly riding the trails. Have a set of stage 3s that Ben Martins redid for me which made a huge difference but i wanna eventually get into a higher end setup to ditch my alba LT arms. 

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haha ok was just curious as last post you said lonestar DC pro is the only way to go but a few posts back fireball was on your list too. Is there a benefit to going the fireball route to utilize the longer shock length and getting/providing all the measurements to the shock builder as you detailed in this thread or is the geometry on the lonestar arms really superior? My application is for a fulltime duner bike mainly riding the trails. Have a set of stage 3s that Ben Martins redid for me which made a huge difference but i wanna eventually get into a higher end setup to ditch my alba LT arms. 

To really get down to it, a longer shock is typically associated with a higher shaft speed. That can make it easier on the shock builder (Ben does good work) but it doesn't always make a huge difference.

To be completely honest, having the arms strong enough and of the right width is 95% of what you want to look for if you’re going to build a top notch setup. Once you get in a good ballpark on leverage ratio, that’s good enough. The geometry of the arms isn’t THAT important. I used to think it is, but it really isn’t.

When people say they’re developing a-arms, they’re really just getting the shocks dialed in for it and building charts. Arms are simple; they just hold the loads introduced into it. If you build a set of lower arms out of .095 chromoly or .125 steel and you know the design is okay, it's gonna last. it just has to be strong enough to handle braking forces (which puts the front tube in tension and the rear in compression) and bending forces. It’s comically easy to do.

To get down to it, the main reason most people don’t develop arms is because of the return on investment as quantity changes. My cost to make a single set of top tier arms is around $950. To make 50 sets drops that price to either $486 or $468, I don’t remember which. Thats $24k of an investment that I’ll sit on for years when I could put that money elsewhere and make even more.

There are a lot of rules of thumb in suspension that I’ve heard over the years that are rooted in general advice and nothing more. 2:1 leverage ratio being perfect is absolutely one of those things.

I very much don’t like Alba, but fireball and Lonestar are good for sure. Just keep in mind that a damper is doing all the work and getting next to no credit. The shocks you get are built off of charts that may be 20 years old.

A good damper on cheap arms will annihilate a bad damper on good arms.


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