Progressive rate springs are extremely expensive to manufacture, and given the small production runs and numerous rates required for a mountain bike application I can see why we don't have any.
However, I don't understand why we don't have more than one spring rate on a fork or shock, like one might find if building a rock crawler or buggy. It's a common setup to run two spring rates, with a slider that moves along the shock body that allows one rate for high shaft speed impacts and one for small bump sensitivity, or also to tune ride height (sag).
(ignore the triple rate setup on the right in the picture, a tender spring is a whole different thing altogether)
Nov. 14, 2017, 4:10 p.m. - mrbrett
Progressive rate springs are extremely expensive to manufacture, and given the small production runs and numerous rates required for a mountain bike application I can see why we don't have any. However, I don't understand why we don't have more than one spring rate on a fork or shock, like one might find if building a rock crawler or buggy. It's a common setup to run two spring rates, with a slider that moves along the shock body that allows one rate for high shaft speed impacts and one for small bump sensitivity, or also to tune ride height (sag). (ignore the triple rate setup on the right in the picture, a tender spring is a whole different thing altogether)