Kuba suspension linkage for the T4.

[drader]

Here's my evaluation of the stock T4 suspension: Garbage. It's a gimmick. It has no damping, it has a whopping 21mm of travel on a crap shock. Mine blew out on the first ride. Begode clearly doesn't understand motion ratios... or maybe I'm being too harsh on them and it works fine for a smaller person, but it does not work with a 250lb rider. I discovered the Torque Pads Kuba linkage, designed by an actual motorcycle shop. Not cheap. They state you'd want a 190x51 or 200x57 shock. I found a sweet deal on a 200x51 Rockshox Monarch . It is not ideal, but if you take out the lower bumpers you still have decent travel. A 190x51 puts the motion in the sweet spot of the arc. Will fit the Master as both wheels use the same base hardware, but I believe the T4 has improved linkage from the Master. I read the motion ratio is 1.4:1 for the Kuba, compared to 3.4:1 for stock. This means the shock's 51mm X 1.4 = 71.4mm of total suspension travel. Now let's take stock: 21mm X 3.4 - 71.4mm, so they are the same. The Kuba is interesting in the way it taxes the shock progressively - the further you are into the travel, the more it moves your shock. This helps prevent bottom-outs. So how does it feel? It totally transformed the ride. It feels fantastic, like the suspension is actually doing something useful. It feels expensive. Going off curbs is much easier on the pedals. The Monarch is highly adjustable and the compression and rebound control is impressive. It does not feel super-cush or float over small bumps. It is like most air shocks in that the stiction is used as damping. I have not bottomed out or heard any weird clunking. I'm not sure if a coil setup will fit - the spring might be too wide... but I think I saw some folks trying, and I may experiment with that in the future.

 

Here's my advice for any larger riders (or anyone really): find yourself a 190x51 or 200x57 Rockshox or Fox Float, use a soda can to shim the mounting hole and start there. It might be enough. Begode released some linkage files with better ratios, so you could have a waterjet cut them out for probably an affordable price. These two things would probably transform the ride for most people. The Kuba is really nice, and probably a necessity for larger riders. There are a couple other similar options worth looking at. I hope Begode learns from the aftermarket and offers better suspension out of the box in the future.