Rear Shocks

[sonny8l3]

I have a home made trike with a '71 1600cc motor on an IRS. It has stock rear shocks according to the shop mechanic.It has a Yamaho Virago front end. I have the trike about 6 months and put about 1k miles a month on it. I like the trike a bunch,but this thing rides like a buckboard. Riding around locally is ok, but an hour at 70 or so on the Interstate gets a tad rough. I don't figure my budget has room to change the front forks, so I'm thinking the rear shocks might be an answer. I've though about air shocks qand a youngster suggested air bags.Any info. or ideas will be appreciated.
Thanks for your time

 

[bikerbillone]

Someone comes up with a good answer to this that works, ans is good for the long ride, is probably a ingenious of sorts. I don't think it's possible.

 

[DeathBySnuSnu]

My scooter is completely different.
But i will take a guess at it.

I assume you have the std torsion bars.

With the weight of the car body off of it the spring rate would be too high.

You could clock you torsion bars down one tooth. It would not change your spring rate but would keep it from topping out. A top out or hitting the up stops does cause a bucking feeling on rebound.
Good shocks help a lot too.

 

[vw driver]

Recalibrating the torsion bars might help. Since your trike is probably lighter than a stock VW car the stock shocks may be too stiff. Also the shocks might just be worn out. Some are not in agreement with using air shocks but I put them on my trike and they work very well. The air pressure can be adjusted to suit the ride comfort you desire. I've found that 50 PSI works very well with my trike. Different weights of fork oil are available also which will affect the stiffness of the forks.

 

[DeathBySnuSnu]

Do you have huge (wide) tires on it?
I use only as much tire as I need.
My 200 hp scooter has 205 wide on it.

 

[Doug D.]

Mine started out clocked too light. I clocked it up one notch, and installed 18" adjustable coil over rear shocks. The shocks are set at the middle setting. It's a little stiff under certain road conditions, but over all it's pretty comfortable, even on longer rides.

Hope this helps! Peace!