new ATK a-arms?

[465stroker]

QUOTE

Originally posted by trav
hi everyone.
this is trav at ATK, i'm doing a survey and some R&D on a-arms. we're designing new arms for all models. what are you guys mostly interested in if your looking for replacements, or for production on new units?

with the 18 3/4" shocks, long travel arms, wheel travel is estimated around 14" of travel. this can be with +1 or +2 arms. also we'll probably be useing hiem joints and heavy duty ball joints, caster and camber adjustability on ALL.   thanks,  trav

Your best bet would be to find a good shock company that can guide you thru the process in your A-arms design. There are so many variables with leverage ratios, compressed & extended shock length, etc. 14" of travel may be good for desert but is way to much for MX or XC...

Or..

Why reinvent the wheel? Your best bet and most well spent money would be to find the best MX and XC frontend on the market already produced for the cannondale and use there engineering knowhow and make some slight improvements to make them you own.

[465stroker]

Also - One other thing to keep in mind is that the design of the cdale rearend is the biggest factor in how much travel you can put in the front end. If you build a front end with too much travel as compaired to the rear you'll get a very unballanced and unstable quad.

[JeffQuadShop]

very good points Rick!

[jacobw]

so if you put a long travle suspension in the front how would you get the suspension balanced or make it long travel in the rear Jeff maybe you can answer this? Jeff do you have a long travel suspension on your atk? I just want to know if a good elka standard travel suspension suffice for x country racing?

[JeffQuadShop]

I run stock swingarm with an Elka shock. Going with an Elka rear shock will get you more travel in the rear but its not considered a long travel setup. I think Rick was saying that going with an extreme travel front end like 14" would throw it out of ballance.

[Exodus]

So if my math is correct, then a +2 with 1 inch offset rims would make you almost 50. Sounds like we need a +2 long travel. That would make a good all around trail, MX, rec quad..

[Derno24]

Not really. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Moto's used +2.5 with 3-2 offset. This made the quad 50". If you went +2 and lost 2 more on the offset you would be around 48" a little less than that.

[jacobw]

So if I went with a 16in elka shock and a elka in the back would that give me enough travel for a x country setup and maybe some mild mx

[JeffQuadShop]

QUOTE

Originally posted by jacobw
So if I went with a 16in elka shock and a elka in the back would that give me enough travel for a x country setup and maybe some mild mx

It will give you enought for XC and even hardcore MX.

[jacobw]

jeff since you are an atk dealer what would the cost of blaze shocks be for the front and rear compared to getting a set of triple rate compression adj front elkas and a rear dual rate comp/rebound adj elka. I thought if I could save a little I would get the ohlins