[Roadsters] upside down shocks

[Don Boyd]

A little more. Most street type performance shocks will provide about twice
the damping on rebound as jounce. or at least the shock dyno sheets I get from
koni read that way to me. The real gains in shocks are when you can
independently vary jounce, rebound, and high an low speed damping. You can
also get in LOTS of trouble.
    When I was a lad, I was a pretty good motorcycle racer. I competed in the
northwest desert racing series, and in 1985 bought a shiny new KTM 495 to ride
that year.  The White Power upside down rear shock that came with it was
adjustable for rebound and compression, but in "jouncing" the back end of the
bike by sharply pushing on the seat, I couldn't tell between minimum and
maximum settings. I could somewhat tell on compression, but rebound felt all
the same -- so I thought. So I set the compression on "1" and the rebound on
"1".  And off to the races! The bike was great, I was close to the front by
the "bomb", but during the race it would headshake terribly sometimes. The
handlebars would just become a blur. At 80 or 90 mph, that's going to get your
attention fast. This first race was a team race , so when my teammate was out
on the course, I went over to the dealer who was sponsoring the regional
champion. He had also just bought the same KTM 495, so I explained my problem
and ask for help. He said they just left it at stock settings. Compression "1"
rebound "3" . (out of 10 or 12 steps as I recall) You guessed it. I changed to
rebound "3". Keep in mind this was the REAR shock, the headshake never
happened again. That was an "ahh so grasshopper" revelation. Shock settings do
matter, and rear affects front and vice versa. And you can't tell squat from
the bench. Racing conditions are the only thing that will bring out your
stupid choices! :-)
    Gordon is right about wheels. Spend $$ on them. A NOS set of revolution
real magnesium wheels would be top of my list. One thing boys and girls.  If
you run across a set of old mags, EVEN IF THEY ARE FREE, DON'T DON'T USE THEM.
Magnesium corrodes in such a way as to be visually ok, but structurally
rotten. X-ray is the only way to tell. I not an expert on the hows and whys,
but I do know given the environment wheels live in that old "real" mags can't
be used. I just hang them on the wall to hold air and water hoses.