Works Performance Suspension ============================ ------------------------- Written by: Robyn Landers rblanders@math.uwaterloo.ca Last revised: September 1994 (expanded fork tuning section) Copyright: may be freely copied as long as you include this header. ------------------------- This article consists of product reviews and experience with the Works Performance suspension products for the Honda V45 Sabre. Works Performance Ultrasport Rear Shock ======================================= I have an "aluminum Ultrasport with finned reservoir" model installed in my 1983 Honda V45 Sabre. It is a gigantic improvement over stock. It cost $450 US at the time I bought it, but as of 1993 I think it's about $535 -- see ads in back of the magazines. The Ultrasport features oil and nitrogen gas separated in the reservoir. This is called a DeCarbon design, and is superior to the emulsion type shocks where the oil and gas are mixed. It is adjustable for spring preload via threaded collars on the shock body (a pain to adjust), and has 18-position rebound damping adjustment via a hex-bolt in the lower shock body (easy to adjust with the included wrench). There is no compression damping adjustment because it is continuously variable/self-adjusting. The point of the remote reservoir is to have a larger volume of damping oil, and to improve cooling, so as to avoid shock fade. The Ultrasport is assembled specifically to suit your bike, your riding style, and you. When you place your order, Works will ask you how much you weigh, what your riding style is, whether you do mostly solo or 2-up with luggage, what accessories are on your bike, and so on. This means that spring rate and damping behaviour are specifically tailored for you, so if you're an unusual person in terms of weight for example, the Works shock is a good idea as opposed to "generic" shocks by Fox or Ohlins. (This is certainly not to suggest that Fox and Ohlins are not good products!) Because of this personally-tailored setup, the spring preload and rebound damping are set just about right from the factory, so in practice I adjust the damping just a click or two either way. The shock is completely rebuildable. Works suggested a rebuild interval of 15,000 miles or so depending on use. It's made of aluminum and is much lighter than the stock shock. When you do have it rebuilt, don't panic when you see the black oil come out. Works uses Kalgard oil which is black even when new. All the good aftermarket shocks are rebuildable. This just means they can be easily disassembled, cleaned, inspected, recalibrated, and recharged with clean oil and nitrogen. The damping mechanism in this shock is allegedly dynamically self-adjusting to road conditions because of its system of valving. Most shocks (e.g. Fox, Ohlins) use shim stacks for the damping, but Works uses a bunch of little balls, which is more of a dirt-bike design. I think their approach works, but I'm no expert. I can say with confidence that it greatly improves both comfort and handling over the stock shock. It is more compliant and better damped. The stock shock is generally worn out at about 8000 miles and is not rebuildable. I wish I had bought the Works shock a lot sooner. Like every other aftermarket toy I've tried, it was not without its problems. At the time I ordered it, they were short-staffed so it took about 8 weeks before it arrived. Then the braided steel hose to the reservoir leaked oil profusely on the first test ride, so I sent it back. They fixed it promptly. This time the hose abraded slowly and leaked because the bottom of the bike's saddle deflects with a rider aboard, and pressed on the finned 12volt rectifier heat-sink, which, being mounted on the top of the plastic tool box, also deflected and rubbed against the hose. I sent it back with a description of the situation. I spoke with a tech guy and we came up with a simple modification which allowed the hose to be routed out of harm's way. Again the fix was prompt and free. But these problems shouldn't be happening in the first place. If I were to order one again, I would probably skip the remote reservoir, a $50 option. For street use it is probably overkill, and the shock body is really easy to remove and install without it, but a bit of a pain with it. On the other hand, it may be the case that the oil and nitrogen gas are separated only if there's a remote reservoir, and would be an emulsion in the shock body otherwise, in which case I'd probably stay with the reservoir. The reservoir gets mounted to the aluminum edging of the body work just behind your right shin. The other Ultrasport options are: -aluminum with smooth reservoir, instead of finned -aluminum with no reservoir -steel body for greater durability between rebuilds (I was advised not to go for the steel one at the time because of early production problems) Works Performance Fork Springs ============================== Progressive Suspension seems the obvious way to go, but I heard that PS springs are on the stiff side, or at least they assume you weigh about 160 lbs, and given that I weigh a mere 120 lbs., I thought this might not be so great. The Works springs, like the rear shocks, are tailored to you and your bike. Works springs are not progressively wound. There's a short spring of lighter spring rate, a long spring of stiffer rate, and an adjustable crossover mechanism which comes preset to suit you. They also include preload spacers when they think it is necessary. If the setup ends up being too soft or too hard you can adjust the crossover mechanism to taste. It just forces the stiffer spring to be used at a certain point, instead of allowing the softer spring to continue compressing. Again, things were not trouble-free for me. Even the stock set-up did not match shop manual specs, so it was all confusing. I found that the stock springs plus stock preload spacers were 3/4" longer overall than shop manual specifications! With the fork fully extended, the springs+spacers stuck out past the end of the fork tube. The fork caps themselves are 3/4" long, so this results in 1.5" of preload overall. Normally, one would expect the springs+spacers to be flush with the extended fork, so that just the cap applies preload. Perhaps this apparently excessive preload partly explains why the fork seemed so harsh to me in stock form. I usually ran with 0 PSI to soften things up. I was expecting the Works springs to either be the same length as shop manual specs, or to come with a spacer to make up the difference. In fact, the Works springs were 3/4" shorter than shop manual spec (and thus 1.5" shorter than actual stock springs) and came with no spacers. So, clearly, even with the stock spacers, the forks extended longer than the Works springs. I called them up, and the fellow suggested making my own spacers from PVC tubing, using a 3/4" length to make the system equivalent to shop manual specs. Therefore there is 3/4" less overall length now, and this resulted in the overall Works springs plus stock spacers plus extra spacers being flush with the extended fork, as one would expect in general. This left me with 3/4" preload from the fork caps. (Gee, there are an awful lot of 3/4" factors here, aren' there!) I also replaced the ATF in the fork with 7.5 weight fork oil (in stock amounts), so that complicated subsequent performance observations. (Works suggested reducing oil level a certain amount because of space used up by the crossover adjusting mechanism.) If I had been patient and scientific, I would have changed only one thing at a time and done some test-riding between each change. Oh yes, the Works techie told me their formula for computing the "correct" crossover setting. I confirmed that that they had adjusted it accordingly according to their formula. With the Works springs plus stock spacer plus 3/4" spacer plus new fork oil, the feel and handling were noticeably different. The short spring is softer, so there's more sag in the front end. The bike sits lower, and the steering was quickened by the geometry change, but stability was also reduced a bit. With 0 PSI, the bike weaved in high-speed sweepers. I decided this was not the rear shock's fault as it would usually be, and put 4 PSI in the fork, which cured the weave. But I'd rather use 0 PSI to avoid the stiction caused by air pressure. Comfort was greatly improved because of the reduced spring rate. Bumps that used to pound me were now absorbed by the suspension more like they should be. I think things were perhaps a bit too soft at this point though. Although the bike cornered much quicker, which is very enjoyable, it seemed less stable than before. Perhaps more preload or slightly heavier fork oil would cure this... So, that's what I did! First I measured the front end sag. This is the percentage of fork travel that is used up by just the weight of the bike and rider. It should be 25% for street use. With 0 psi, and the stock spacer plus 3/4" additional spacer, which you'll recall resulted in having only the 3/4" fork cap length for preload, I was ending up with 36% sag. This is way too much, and likely explains the weave in high-speed corners. Need more preload! I replaced the additional spacer with ones that are 1 centimetre longer, and also went from 7.5 weight fluid to 15 weight fluid as an attempt to improve low-speed rebound damping. (That's fork movement speed, not vehicle speed.) With 0 psi the bike was weaving slowly when leaned way over in fast smooth sweepers, which indicates that more damping was needed. With the additional 1 cm of preload, the sag was reduced to 27% with 0 psi, and I was happy with this because a few psi of air would bring it down to 25% if I needed it while leaving out the air would give the slightly gentler feel. The result is that the bike no longer wants to fall into corners as much at low speeds, and is much more stable in high-speed sweepers. It just goes to show that proper suspension adjustment is critical to good handling. No surprise there. As far as comfort is concerned, it is limited overall by the rather severe compression damping of the fork, and there's nothing that can be done about this without the fairly serious measures of drilling more holes in the damping rod and doing lots of experimenting. There is one really annoying behaviour of the Works springs. When the crossover adjuster bottoms out to force the switch to the stiffer spring, it often does so with a very sharp thump. If I turn into a parking lot or driveway with a bit of a lip, it always happens. If the front brakes are on hard and I hit a bump, it happens. In general riding it doesn't seem to, so it either crosses over more smoothly or it doesn't ever reach the crossover point. Another netter, Jim Graham I believe, backed out the adjusting bolt in his Works springs so they are never forced to cross over except when the short soft spring is fully compressed, and is quite happy with that arrangement. I did try this, and yes, it works fine. I think that if I were of more average weight, I would buy the cheaper hassle free Progressive Suspension springs. I went with Works because they choose spring rates to suit my weight and my bike. Having essentially disabled the cross-over mechanism also seems to largely defeat the purpose of the Works approach. The standard Works spring kit is $70 US, while the heavy duty kit is $90 I think and includes a second set of the shorter springs, in a different rate, for increased flexibility. (These prices have probably gone up a fair bit since I bought mine many years ago.) Aside from the annoying slamming of the crossover adjuster, which I've now avoided by backing out the adjuster, I'm happy with the performance of the Works springs. CONCLUSION ========== Having sunk so much money into premium suspension components, Metzeler tires, and a Corbin seat for my bike, it is reasonable to expect great results. I'm satisifed. The bike is so much more comfortable and better handling than stock that I wish I had spent the money all at once shortly after I got the bike so I could have enjoyed it more all those years. As it is, I've extended the lifetime of my bike by revitalizing it from time to time. The flaws in its handling at this point are now the fault of major design factors such as skinny forks, weak frame, etc, about which it is completely impractical to do anything. My bike definitely does not handle nearly as well as current sport bikes or even sport bikes of the mid to late 80s, but it is nevertheless greatly improved over stock. For the miles and years I've had this bike, I have no regret at all about buying these products. DISCLAIMER ========== I have no experience with other suspension products such as Fox, Ohlins, Progressive Suspension, etc. So maybe they'd be lots better than Works Performance, I dunno. But in the research I did for the rear shock, the Works system came with highest recommendations. References available. HOW TO CONTACT THEM =================== Works Performance (818) 701-1010 8730 Shirley Ave. Northridge, California USA 91324 Nope, they have now moved to 21045 Osborne St. Canoga Park, CA 91304 Same phone number.