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Can someone explain this white spring yellow spring Mille/Falco malarkey?

The springs aren't different colours for different spring rates I take it? And how does the linkage fit in, can you get different ones that increase/decrease travel?

Aopolgies for the noob questions, I guess a Shock 101 class is what I need... either that or is there an FAQ summary somewhere?

(Sorry to hijack!)

Cheers

hornetrider wrote:Can someone explain this white spring yellow spring Mille/Falco malarkey?

The springs aren't different colours for different spring rates I take it? And how does the linkage fit in, can you get different ones that increase/decrease travel?

Aopolgies for the noob questions, I guess a Shock 101 class is what I need... either that or is there an FAQ summary somewhere?

(Sorry to hijack!)

Cheers

Both were designed for the Mille and both are made by Sachs.
They both have remote reservoirs and ride-height adjustment and (as far as I remember) the ability to adjust the same damping attributes.

The white spring was fitted to the earlier ones (up to 2000.5 I seem to remember) and the yellow ones from then on - up until the new shape RSVRs came in.

The Yellow spring shock is designed to have longer travel than the White spring shock (for the same wheel movement). Consequently the spring rates are different and the linkages are different in order to affect the ratio of wheel movement to shock stroke.

The linkages for the White spring shock are identical to the Falco's - so the shock drops straight in. There is sometimes a clearance issue between its schraeder valve and the frame - requiring the schraeder valve to be ground down (or some have replaced with a shorter schraeder valve).

The Yellow spring shock is also easy to fit but the linkage must change too (to the one that was designed to go with it). Some people forget this when buying the shock and then struggle to find linkages.

This all works as although the Falco and Mille use different shaped swingers, the important characteristics of their geometry are the same.

.... that's my understanding anyhow.

Cheers.



Wey Hey!
Post no 500 is now clocked up.
Wonder what I would have become had I been on the same career path as every one else and started out as a Pizza Delivery Rider. Begs the question, is this moderator lark a dead-end job!

I've just split this from it's 'host thread' to give it its own place on the forum .... just in case you wondered.

Cool, nice one, and cheers for the reply too!

Would agree totally with everything D-R has said, some people doubt the linkages make any difference, but my understanding is the same as his. The two springs are rated slightly differently and the different leverages on the linkages evens it back up, but not sure why.
As for the shrader valve "may need grinding", I needed three goes. Got a nearly new white spring so decided to try it without a rebuild first and grind the valve down myself. Used a Dremel rotary cutter in a normal viable speed drill and eventually cut three slices off the valve then cut the pin to suit and still had minimal clearance without a cap, but once fitted the unit has performed very well, (a cheap and very worthwhile swap). If you decide to have one rebuilt, get a recessed valve fitted at the same time, to save on hassle.

When did the new shape RSVR come in. Or to put it another way, when looking for a sachs yellow spring, what is the latest year that can be used?

gazuk wrote:When did the new shape RSVR come in. Or to put it another way, when looking for a sachs yellow spring, what is the latest year that can be used?

Up to and including 2003 is OK.

Tuonos changed later - think they changed in 2005 if I remember correctly.