Suspension Maintenance and Customising Professional Service and Suspension Set Up
Reactive Suspension's workshop is fitted out with the very latest tools and equipment necessary to carry out fork, shock and steering damper servicing to an extremely high standard.
We offer a range of low friction coatings for fork stanchions and shock shafts including Titanium Nitriding, and DLC coating.
We also offer a range of renovation and customising services such as Hard Chrome Plating, Powder Coating, Zinc Plating and Anodising.
Please Contact Us for full details of our services; if it involves suspension we do it.
Motorcycle Suspension Set-Up
We offer a ride-in motorcycle set up service to adjust the suspension and geometry of your bike to suit you and your riding style. We measure the bike to set the static and rider sag, then work with you to establish the optimum damper settings that best suit your riding style. Please contact us to make an appointment.
Fork & Shock Servicing
During a service the suspension units are fully disassembled, thoroughly cleaned and inspected for wear, fork stanchions and shock shafts are polished to remove any pitting which could damage seals, and reduce stiction. If necessary shock bodies and cartridge tubes are honed to improve sealing. The components are measured for correct tolerances and the units assembled using the finest lubricants available.
Suspension performance deteriorates gradually over time, you often don't notice how bad it's got until there is a significant drop in performance. Regular maintenance ensures that the suspension components are working at their optimum.
The reciprocating motion of suspension units causes parts to wear adding minute particles of debris to the oil, the oil holds some of the debris in solution so it constantly flows through the pistons and shims. The shims work at very low lift values so any debris passing between the shims and piston can get wedged holding the shims open, disabling the damping. Debris also sticks to the surfaces inside the units coating them in a sticky paste, sediment also collects in areas where the oil settles.
The oil itself deteriorates with use, there is only a small volume doing a large amount of work, oxidation, shearing and contamination all breakdown the performance of the oil effecting the viscosity and operation of the suspension.
Manufacturers workshop manuals only recommend changing the fork oil, if only the oil is changed a lot of the gunge will remain inside, clean oil will wash off some of the gunge contaminating the clean oil within a few miles, any debris held in the damping components will remain there, the only way to ensure the correct fork action is to strip and clean all the parts.
The forks should be serviced at least once mid-season for racing and annually for road use.
Standard shocks use a much smaller volume of oil than most aftermarket units, the oil works a lot harder, leading to higher temperatures and faster break down of the fluid. Even from new a lot of standard shocks have air in the fluid which lowers the viscosity of the oil, even new shocks can benefit from a service.
Shocks should be serviced mid season for racing and annually for road use.
Coatings
We offer a range of low friction coatings that can be applied to steel motorcycle fork tubes and shock shafts to reduce stiction and improve their wear characteristics. These coatings are extremely thin (2.5 microns) and need to be applied to a good surface finish, being a thin coating they won't repair any corrosion, scores or stone chips. Damaged or corroded tubes would need to be replaced or re-chromed first before they could be coated, for some bikes it's possible to buy coated replacement tubes for less than the cost of having both processes carried out.
Standard factory applied coatings have proven to be less durable than they should be, the costs involved in re-coating the tubes makes it a more viable option to replace them, please contact us for details.
Unfortunately we don't have any coating that can be applied to Aluminium Mountain Bike fork stanchions.
Titanium Nitride Coating
Titanium Nitride Coating is a very hard (2500 HV), low friction gold coating that can be applied to fork stanchions and shock shafts.
It has a higher hardness rating than hard chrome giving a greater wear resistance and is a self lubricating, non-stick surface with a coefficient of friction of 0.65, it will reduce the stiction in the suspension components leading to a faster response time.
Diamond Like Coating
Diamond Like Coating is an extremely hard (3500HV) black coating that can be applied to fork stanchions and shock shafts that is harder still than Titanium Nitride.
With a coefficient of friction of 0.1 it is the lowest friction coating available improving suspension action considerably.
Renovation Services
Replacement Fork Stanchions
We supply high quality replacement fork tubes for a wide range of motorcycles which usually offer a great saving over the cost of standard original equipment items.
Tubes for some models are available pre-coated with Ti Nitride or DLC, this can be the most cost effective solution where tubes are damaged and need coating.
Fork Chroming Hard Chrome Plating
If you have badly corroded fork or badly worn stanchions we prefer where possible to replace the tubes, as there can be issues that are not addressed by re-chroming, for some bikes though it is the only option.
We have been through a comprehensive selection procedure to find the right process that matches our exacting standards for chrome quality, adhesion and surface finish.
All tubes are polished and go through a thorough cleaning process to remove all traces of stopping agents used to mask the tube internals.
Shock Body Plating
The zinc plating used on many steel shock bodies is sacrificial, i.e. it corrodes first preventing the shock body from corroding.
We can re-plate the bodies to restore your shock to an as new condition preventing further damage to the shock body and greatly improving the appearance of the shock.
Powder Coating
Whilst your suspension is being serviced we can powder coat the shock spring to make your shock look like new, the sliders on conventional forks can be coated, as can the feet on upside down forks to improve the bikes appearance.
Anodising
Anodising protects aluminium, giving it a hard wearing, weather resistant surface, it can be coloured by adding dyes which fill the microscopic pores in the anodised surface. Anodising can transform tired looking forks and gives a vast array of options for customising your bike.
The results achieved through anodising are dependant upon the material and the surface finish, it is a very thin coating that doesn't cover damage so parts may need polishing beforehand.
Please contact us for details.
Rider Coaching
Whilst we can help with your motorcycle suspension there are limitations to what a great handling bike can achieve, as much improvement again can be found through the rider.
With a considerable amount of racing experience and multiple championship titles Mike Edwards offers a coaching service to racers, trackday riders and road riders who can all benefit from his vast experience. Mike is one of the smoothest riders out there, the smoother your riding style the less you upset the handling of the bike.
Mike can help you with braking technique, throttle application and the line through a turn to raise your skills to a higher level.
Go to http://www.v2pro.info/index.htm for more information.