What is the actual consequence or effect of running an Lt500 with the cushion lever cam 180 degrees off. I know it makes the rear end look like its got 15" of travel but what does it really do to the handeling?
1. it will put a lot more weight on the front and you'll spin a lot more.
B. Ride a lot stiffer
$. Suspension is not getting full travel and likely binding.
4. You'll look like a dumbass on the trails and dune's.
7. Why
Why? I saw some post here with pictures of others rides and some members made the comment that the rear was high looking and that the cushion cam may be off 180 degrees.
And many years ago when I put some pep revalved rear shock back on I had it 180 off and it was pointed out to me before I rode it so I corrected it. But I was just curious what would have happend had I ridden it that way.
Thanks
many years ago when I put some pep revalved rear shock back on I had it 180 off and it was pointed out to me before I rode it so I corrected it. But I was just curious what would have happend had I ridden it that way.
Thanks
Quite a few people have made that mistake
I dont think it would hurt anything other than your back.
It does basically the same as putting coil spring spacers on a truck for a little more lift.
Coil spacers are cheap alternatives to buying coil springs, but there's a reason you don't see a whole lot of guys using them...they don't actually give you many benefits, or there's a lot of tradeoffs involved, or it wears stuff out and does weird things to the suspension.
On the 500, it rides a little stiffer, full compression on the swingarm is lower than stock, full extension is farther...to the point that you might be binding up something else in the rear suspension.
The farther away from full compression (stock) you get, the looser the chain gets since the sprocket and swingarm pivot don't share the same axis of rotation.
In other words, since you're getting more extension by having the cam 180 off, your chain will get even more slack when it droops after a jump.
Without a chain tensioner, you might lose a chain, or you might tighten the chain a little more (since it's extended farther from the frame, the chain will have more slack to take out) which means you could break it when you land a jump and bottom out.
You also have the issue of stability and weight distribution.
Since it's sitting higher in the rear, center of gravity is higher (so all of those bad traits that go with a high CG) and rear brakes are less effective.
Wheelbase is shortened somewhat, so straight line acceleration won't be as controllable (ok, probably not a measurable effect, but it's there nonetheless).
I don't agree with badmoon on the loss of traction though, if anything your traction will increase somewhat.
But just like going with a shorter swingarm, along with the potential extra traction there will be a negative habit of the increased tendency to wheelie, so you get less usable traction.
There's a lot of reasons to not run it upside down, but there aren't any for running it upside down.
Nothing terrible will happen (plenty of guys that have been running it upside down for a long time, and we all have a laugh), it's just that you won't get any benefits from running it like that.