Does anyone out there know if you can use bike coilovers as opposed to proper car ones?
I did see a post with some on but not sure how well they would work.

would you have to offset the linkage to get the same bending moment?

several people have used them. Main problem is that the spring rate is much higher (leverage on the bikes swing arm) and travel is quite low, so you need to ratio them, either with a rocker or a push/pull rod. I believe sgraber used them, so there should be details on his website.

I had a collection of r1 and r6 shockers which i sold recently, i still have one left if you want one to model.

For our first car, we used bike shocks with car springs. They lasted a year and dumped their oil all over Stoneleigh!
Replaced with Gaz - no more problems. They were the most expensive parts of the car at £250, but money well spent IMO.

With car springs, id expect the shocker to move a lot more (edit, more than the available travel), and probably be over damped. The rear wheel of a bike probably sees 150kgs with a fatty riding it, so that would make them ideal for a 600kgs car. Just the leverage issue then.

Here's steves car, the pull rods are visible at the front:



La Bala rolling chassis May 1, 2003

[Edited on 14/2/07 by JoelP]

quote:

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Originally posted by JoelP
I had a collection of r1 and r6 shockers which i sold recently, i still have one left if you want one to model.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Marcus
For our first car, we used bike shocks with car springs. They lasted a year and dumped their oil all over Stoneleigh!
Replaced with Gaz - no more problems. They were the most expensive parts of the car at £250, but money well spent IMO.

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I like the idea of a push rod will have to start reading up for the calc's. the coilover you have left over is it a piggy back type?
How much would you want for it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-R1-5PY-Rear-Shock_W0QQitemZ180084370895QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10490QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/yamaha-R1-shock_W0QQitemZ130078399503QQihZ003QQcategoryZ10490QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

its like the second of these. They're not rare though, a month of browsing ebay would yield a set fo £75. Dont assume they are any lighter than car shocks, the only benefits i can think of is cheap, adjustable (maybe 2 way adjustable, im not sure) plus you can run them horizontal. Also with a few holes in your rocker pivot you can change the ratio quickly.

Ive just sold it actually, but they arent hard to find.

key words are r1/r6/shock/shocker

[Edited on 14/2/07 by JoelP]