2. What goes up must come down (suspension)

An ATV’s suspension is arguably the most important aspect of a race bike, because all the power in the world is useless if the suspension won’t let you use it. Our stock suspension was leaving us behind on the track and needed some serious attention. We needed to be wider, longer and lower if we wanted to get around the track quicker. Like usual, we wanted the best products available that would last forever, look great, and perform. After talking to Nate at Walsh Race Craft we knew we needed to look no further. Walsh Race Craft is located over 2000 miles away from us in central Florida, but there customer service made me feel like they were just down the street.

We opted for their new “Flow,” A-arms that would widen our front stance a near 6” and allow us to run over a 20” Shock! The rear would also see some attention with the Walsh +1 ½” Swing arm with “Savior” link that will allow for a long travel rear shock. The build quality certainly meets the tough standards that we demand on this project sporting deep penetrating tig welds and precise mill work. A thick Black powder coating finish tops these parts off to match our frame and give us the look we’re after.

As you can see in this picture we also swiped our credit card for a +1” anti-vibration steering stem and billet bar clamp. This steering stem is much stronger than stock and will help reduce rider fatigue by reducing vibration and lifting the bars into a more comfortable position. On top of that, the turning stops are fully adjustable so you can dial in your ride for your track.

Throwing just any shocks into our new suspension components just wouldn’t do. We needed the best available product from a reputable brand that would offer us endless adjustability to dial in this beast. After reading endless product reviews and talking to reps for what seemed like a life time the answer was clear. Fox Racing Shox was the clear winner do to their extreme quality and unbelievable adjustability. A pair of “Float X Evols,” for the front and the “Podium X,” for the rear would fit our needs perfectly. All shocks were tricked out with Fox’s new DSC system that allows separate adjustments for both slow and high speed motions. This will allow us to keep our bike soft enough for the rough terrain and still solid enough for the roughest landing.

Unlike most conventional shocks the Float X Evol system utilizes adjustable air chambers instead of a coil spring. With a coil spring setup, you would need to remove the shocks and dismantle them and replace the coils themselves, but with the Float X Evols you just need to adjust the air pressure with the pump included. This setup is ideal for quick adjustments between laps or on the side of a trail. The “Podium X,” finishes off the rear with great attention to detail. A remote reservoir that mounts to the sub frame adjacent from the exhaust keeps it protected from roost and away from hot engine parts. We just can’t say enough good things about these shocks and can’t wait to start beating on them.

Getting our project back on its own feet was the next step and choosing couldn’t be easier. This is because there is only one axle out there that is worth buying and that axle is from Team RPM. We chose to run their “Dominator 2,” Axle w/Race Hub that will kick our rear end out 4” and stand up to anything that we can throw at it. This axle tested as the strongest, is very reasonably priced, and was a no brainer for us when it came to buying. If you were able to bend it, trust me, a bent axle would be the least of your problems, and even then they are backed by a lifetime warranty. The customer service at RPM is like none other. We talked to Brad on the phone and I must say that he is one of the most knowledgeable guys I have ever met in the industry. He was a delight to deal with and we will certainly being going back to him before this project is done.

Another easy decision for us was choosing sprockets and a chain. We needed ultra performance for this beast and didn’t want to be changing out sprockets every other week so we went to the experts at Krouse Racing. Krouse makes the legendary Sidewinder Sprockets that can be found on pretty much any high performance chain driven toy out there. We wanted extreme durability so we opted for their Ti-Moly Sprocket/chain setup that actually utilizes Titanium-Chromoly for unsurpassed strength. Krouse makes a chain for almost any application and after talking to their reps for a while we decided to run there “Smart-Ring, “chain that has all the benefits of a sealed O-ring chain, but doesn’t create all the friction that most do. In other words this chain is going to last forever and perform! On top of that, it was easy to setup and they can even provide the tools you will need to do it yourself.

Stay with us, as we have only just scratched the surface on Project Black!