These "bicycle airshocks" certainly got very extensive settings, in air pressure to your sag setting at about 1/3 of travel
extension damping
compression damping
oil fill grades as you want them
oil fill amount for more progressive pressure in jumps
Don´t imagine these shocks might be primitive, no actually all I know about motorbike dampers like from Hagon, Koni or AVO are apples to oranges, with airshocks being the oranges. Downhill racers know best what works and what is suitable to different tracks and I recently watched a YT clip comparing a coil-over plus an airshock on same offroad tracks - in the end there was minimum difference. So it is often a thing of individual likings and riding style - and we are talking about money in the 300.- 700.- €€€ range. The SR Suntour is in fact a low price offer from a huge company and a lot more tech inside that may justify the money compared to what you get from Hagon and all.
The real challenges for shocks appear to be these downhill race types with lots of extreme loads on them, very unlike to motorcycle road machines or road racing, no potholes and high jumps to be expected on race courses. So it is quite unlikely to find anything comparable on cheaper mc shocks.
Below I have added a PDF manual, hope it works, for a look into the range of settings. Yes, you may find a cheap primitive small motorbike coil shock but then you are stuck to what you found, not much option for optimised damping, total length and spring forces. No desire for me to go all the hassles for arriving at something useful for my needs after many trials on springs , lengths etcetera.
Certainly when having one of the SR Suntour airshocks on the Vincent it looks as they will foul the huge blackbox of the Exide, when you want 250mm total plus 75mm travel. But who would want the blackbox on his bike when the alternative is a coilover - a lot less original and out of place than the two airshocks below. So your choice what to keep and what to accept for a great ride which is easily adjustable at home, no need to have a company willing to do that job - with variable and limited success often. You bet the downhill racers would not accept that hassle or like the idea to send an airshock to the manufacturer for servicing. They do these jobs at home at minimum costs and can tune settings on the track, including air pumping the shock at the track, no troubles.
I had some time thinking about load capacities of the SR airshocks at 300 psi max. Still the piston dia. is unknown but looking at the place on the bike with linkage to the rear wheel one single airshock will no doubt take 200-300 kg load . So for the Vincent rear shocks no problem at all with two at original place. Travel is 75mm , a tad less than my specials with 80mm, ca. 77mm and o-ring as bump stop. All with 250mm between centers, perfect.
I cannot tell about chances to have one of them on the girdraulic due to the extra container at the side with valves. The possible load carrying may be allright with them, just no place for the small container, front or rear mounted. Not a lot of airshocks available with 250mm and 75mm travel - at lower prices like € 300.- , they can be more than € 700.- for cool brands.
One plus with airshocks is the progressive character of air fill that no coil type can do. So you can have almost 100 percent of travel as no bump stop is required and no coil binding limits from preload settings can happen. That is why I asked for real usable travel from some coilover types. Another reason why I stopped looking for mc shocks with 250mm between centers as with them travel is miserable, no competition then. So far I cannot see any other types that offer same universal tuning features for most types of Vincents, provided they can be mounted there. As to girdraulics and airshocks: The types without extra side container are shorter, 230 or 225 mm length. Would that be desirable like limiting extension of the fork , so not to have the tank slapper geometry from excessive extension ? I can imagine a shorter damper at 230 mm could do nicely, you´d set sag just 10-20 percent of travel and that may be nice on the road, no harsh action like with overdamped Konis and all. Still the remaining 65 or 75mm travel can be fully used ?? What did the AVOs really show with bump stop and coil preload on the girdraulics ?
Anyway, your choice to try one, just the discussion about all aspects of having all features on (somewhat poor) AVO alternatives onyl confirm my way to skip coiled shocks from an early start, way too limited for arriving at a great ride in no time .
Remember: All that money just hurts maybe some weeks, but then you will be quite happy to have had the right decision ever after.
I think it is worth a try, the known offerings up to now were unsatisfactory in most cases, no matter what brand, for various properties that the owner cannot optimise.
Vic
SR Suntour manual:
Maybe for the girdraulic some shorter Suntours will do, no extra container at the side:
225mm Suntour
230mm SR airshock
extension damping
compression damping
oil fill grades as you want them
oil fill amount for more progressive pressure in jumps
Don´t imagine these shocks might be primitive, no actually all I know about motorbike dampers like from Hagon, Koni or AVO are apples to oranges, with airshocks being the oranges. Downhill racers know best what works and what is suitable to different tracks and I recently watched a YT clip comparing a coil-over plus an airshock on same offroad tracks - in the end there was minimum difference. So it is often a thing of individual likings and riding style - and we are talking about money in the 300.- 700.- €€€ range. The SR Suntour is in fact a low price offer from a huge company and a lot more tech inside that may justify the money compared to what you get from Hagon and all.
The real challenges for shocks appear to be these downhill race types with lots of extreme loads on them, very unlike to motorcycle road machines or road racing, no potholes and high jumps to be expected on race courses. So it is quite unlikely to find anything comparable on cheaper mc shocks.
Below I have added a PDF manual, hope it works, for a look into the range of settings. Yes, you may find a cheap primitive small motorbike coil shock but then you are stuck to what you found, not much option for optimised damping, total length and spring forces. No desire for me to go all the hassles for arriving at something useful for my needs after many trials on springs , lengths etcetera.
Certainly when having one of the SR Suntour airshocks on the Vincent it looks as they will foul the huge blackbox of the Exide, when you want 250mm total plus 75mm travel. But who would want the blackbox on his bike when the alternative is a coilover - a lot less original and out of place than the two airshocks below. So your choice what to keep and what to accept for a great ride which is easily adjustable at home, no need to have a company willing to do that job - with variable and limited success often. You bet the downhill racers would not accept that hassle or like the idea to send an airshock to the manufacturer for servicing. They do these jobs at home at minimum costs and can tune settings on the track, including air pumping the shock at the track, no troubles.
I had some time thinking about load capacities of the SR airshocks at 300 psi max. Still the piston dia. is unknown but looking at the place on the bike with linkage to the rear wheel one single airshock will no doubt take 200-300 kg load . So for the Vincent rear shocks no problem at all with two at original place. Travel is 75mm , a tad less than my specials with 80mm, ca. 77mm and o-ring as bump stop. All with 250mm between centers, perfect.
I cannot tell about chances to have one of them on the girdraulic due to the extra container at the side with valves. The possible load carrying may be allright with them, just no place for the small container, front or rear mounted. Not a lot of airshocks available with 250mm and 75mm travel - at lower prices like € 300.- , they can be more than € 700.- for cool brands.
One plus with airshocks is the progressive character of air fill that no coil type can do. So you can have almost 100 percent of travel as no bump stop is required and no coil binding limits from preload settings can happen. That is why I asked for real usable travel from some coilover types. Another reason why I stopped looking for mc shocks with 250mm between centers as with them travel is miserable, no competition then. So far I cannot see any other types that offer same universal tuning features for most types of Vincents, provided they can be mounted there. As to girdraulics and airshocks: The types without extra side container are shorter, 230 or 225 mm length. Would that be desirable like limiting extension of the fork , so not to have the tank slapper geometry from excessive extension ? I can imagine a shorter damper at 230 mm could do nicely, you´d set sag just 10-20 percent of travel and that may be nice on the road, no harsh action like with overdamped Konis and all. Still the remaining 65 or 75mm travel can be fully used ?? What did the AVOs really show with bump stop and coil preload on the girdraulics ?
Anyway, your choice to try one, just the discussion about all aspects of having all features on (somewhat poor) AVO alternatives onyl confirm my way to skip coiled shocks from an early start, way too limited for arriving at a great ride in no time .
Remember: All that money just hurts maybe some weeks, but then you will be quite happy to have had the right decision ever after.
I think it is worth a try, the known offerings up to now were unsatisfactory in most cases, no matter what brand, for various properties that the owner cannot optimise.
Vic
SR Suntour manual:
Maybe for the girdraulic some shorter Suntours will do, no extra container at the side:
225mm Suntour
230mm SR airshock
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