Dialing In Shocks With Race Tech

Team Nick

• June 19 2009
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• 2 comments

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A few months back we gathered the four MX ready 450s for a shootout. If you read it or have ridden them yourselves you would probably agree that the Can Am 450 MXR was way off the podium in the suspension department. While the Can Am shocks did not perform to our liking they are actually fully adjustable high quality shocks. We were pretty sure that with the right valving and spring combination the Can Am could handle every bit as well as the rest of its class.

After having Race Tech perform a complete Gold Valve suspension conversion on our DS450 MXR, we met them at Glen Helen Raceway for a morning practice/test session. Race Tech sent out a tech and a box van ready to complete any valving changes we might need.

After setting the ride height, we went out and put in some laps for an initial impression. Right from the start, the Can Am was leaps and bounds better than stock. The body roll and tendency to dive in the corners was reduced to a manageable level. After a few compression and rebound adjustments the bike began to truly handle like the MX quad it was designed to be. We determined that Race Tech’s initial spring rates and internal valving were spot on and within a few hours of playing with external adjustments we had a bike that handled to both our likings.