Road test-Part II
This time I started the test with the lever arms and then the tube
shocks. Each ride was
1 ˝ hours long over varying road conditions.
My impressions remained the same as first road test. The lever arms
provide a somewhat bouncier ride with more body lean in the corners,
while the tubes jostle more and are much flatter in the corners.
Consequently the levers provide an understeer feel while the tubes seem
like more of an oversteer feel. The levers provide a more comfortable
ride while the tubes are somewhat harsher, though not uncomfortably so.
Rear end squat on take off is more perceptible with the levers than the
tubes. One very significant difference, though it took a lot of driving
on both systems to really understand it, is what I call recovery. A
good example of what I mean is when you go over a highway bridge at high
speed and hit those expansion joints which have been patched up a few
times. With the tubes, you just go right through them, but with the
levers, that little bit of bouncing is unnerving and gives me a feel of
being slightly out of control for a moment. Rough road on tight curves
is the same sensation of the car being ever so slightly out of control
for a brief moment while it settles back down. Overall, I felt
noticeably more secure at hight speeds and in spirited driving on back
roads with the tubes.
The oversteer feel takes some getting use to as these cars naturally
understeer, especially before doing any suspension upgrades. On the
second go around with the tubes, I thought I was prefering the levers
because of the seemingly more controlled feel of understeer. So I pushed
it harder in the curves with the tubes to see if my sensation of
"sliding" was real, but the car just pushed right around the corner and
I think it is capable of doing more than I dare to. I feel I would hit
the limits of the levers sooner. I came away sensing that this tube
set-up in this car would outperform these levers in a slolam. But on a
long tour, I think my old bones would be more comfortable with the
levers.
I think overall I prefer the modern feel of the tubes and my only
hesitation has to do with potential damage to other frame or suspension
parts if the car really does bottom out hard without bump stop
protection. I think all other risks are mitigated or non-issues at this
point.
Decision, decisions…
I think I am going to be " stuck" with the tubes, because I have scored
them up a bit with so many changeovers and they might no longer be in
good enough condition to return and resell. OTOH returning the levers
will only make me $100 less poor and I am stuck with the links and link
bushings anyways which are not returnable. Keep both? Alter egos?
Hmmmm….
Hope this was helpful.
Finally,
Keith Ehrlich ( whew!)
74 TR6
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