New Yamaha rear Suspension? Right under our noses!

[Superman]

Don't know if this means anything and maybe someone allready spotted this but here are a couple of pics off of the Phazer FX gallery. Notice anything funny in that red pic. Proto-type or something? Don't know why someone would mock up something like that if they weren't trying it out. Maybe its nothing but its definately something different. Its not a current Mono-shock. (the pic from the std phazer page shows the stock rear skid.)

 

[Mighty]

Someone else brought this up when the 07's were first unveiled and I remember viper34 commenting on it.

 

[Superman]

Looks like that upper arm doesn't swivel so maybe it was just for photo's.......

 

[maxdlx]

It looks almost identical to the mono shock skid they used in the sxr based race sleds

 

[Jack_Shaft]

It looks almost identical to the mono shock skid they used in the sxr based race sleds

I didn't realize that they raced a monoshock rear skid in snocross, I thought it was just a beefed up version of the ProAction.

If that's the case, I can't why anybody was surprised when the MonoShock RA rear skid hit the market in 05.

 

[Sno-Xr]

It looks almost identical to the mono shock skid they used in the sxr based race sleds

I didn't realize that they raced a monoshock rear skid in snocross, I thought it was just a beefed up version of the ProAction.

If that's the case, I can't why anybody was surprised when the MonoShock RA rear skid hit the market in 05.

Yes , it was in the Open sled. When the Mono RA was introduced , one of the magazines did a write up on the development and how different it is compared to the Race version.

 

[ReX]

The red one has the Phazer monoshock suspension (that didn't make it to production).

I can't remember where it was, but I recall looking at one Phazer with a new monoshock skid and another one with a tweaked Pro-active skid.

 

[ReX]

I posted this last spring:

http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php?t=25195

The monoshock (not released to production) is on the left. The production skid is on the right.

 

[sicilien]

humm i wonder if it would be possible to put the swivel from the rear arm on a regular proactive (05 vector) ??? :ORC

 

[Bakemono]

It looks almost identical to the mono shock skid they used in the sxr based race sleds

I didn't realize that they raced a monoshock rear skid in snocross, I thought it was just a beefed up version of the ProAction.

If that's the case, I can't why anybody was surprised when the MonoShock RA rear skid hit the market in 05.

Heres the whole story: http://www.yamaha-motor.ca/technology/t ... p=S&tech=A

Yamaha's Mono-Shock RA Suspension
The True Development Story

The story of the new Mono-Shock RA rear suspension is the stuff of Hollywood. There is a cast of engineers who believed in the project, there are uncontrollable forces of nature, adrenaline-charged racing action and ultimate success in the face of near elimination.

Back in the mid-1990s, Yamaha's snowmobile development team was putting the finishing touches on its entry into the long travel suspension segment, the ProAction. By 1995, Mr. Masao Furusawa, the Snowmobile General Engineering Manager, was looking at his ProAction design and examining ways to make its stroke longer and make it lighter overall. He devised and patented a new design to achieve those goals by using only one shock absorber and a single linkage between front and rear arms.

Mr. Furusawa took his concepts to suspension designers. They worked with Furusawa's design parameters and ultimately fabricated the first prototype pieces for pre-testing. As the long stroke, single-shock design showed real potential it was given the green light for further refinement and development.

In 1998 the concept was solidified and needed a way to test its capabilities. The answer came in the form of the emerging popularity of snocross racing in North America.

The Testing Ground: Snocross
Yamaha re-entered Snocross racing at the factory level in 1997. This season was highlighted by Chris Vincent's Pro 600 class title. Racing engineering development fell under the guidance of Mr. Thomas Imamura. Imamura is a young snowmobile enthusiast that has been involved with snowmobile engineering for many years. The first goal was to take the Mono-Shock suspension concept and develop it to meet the rigors of Snocross racing. He refined and re-engineered the Mono-Shock system into a highly tuned racing suspension. That season Nathan Titus piloted the Mono-Shock mod sled to a 2nd place overall points championship.

Behind the glitz and flash of snocross racing, Imamura had taken ownership of the suspension development program. "We wanted to test the Mono-Shock suspension in all forms of use," Imamura said. "We tested it in snocross and then we tested it on the trail."

Trail testing showed some problems. "The Mono-Shock system had become a finicky suspension as it became more and more race specific. Ride quality and handling would change on different snow conditions." remembered Jim Kedinger, Yamaha Testing Engineer. "We stopped development since the suspension didn't have the weight transfer and confidence needed on the trail." Without an official green light for his project, Yamaha was forced to make a crucial decision.

Flying Under the Radar
Yamaha assigned Imamura to a completely different project, but unofficially, he was secretly developing a consumer version of the original Mono-Shock design. He stayed after business hours and worked on weekends to develop the suspension. "My first goal was to increase the Mono-Shock's trail capability by making the suspension easy for the customer to set up and adjust." Imamura recalled. "But the greatest challenge was to lessen the natural internal stresses placed on a Mono-Shock link system and greatly reduce the weight."

Imamura secretly ran hundreds of computer simulations before finding the perfect geometry that matched the trail application. Now he was confident to bring his project back to life.

Testing Becomes Reality
Based on Imamura's new design, the first prototype pieces were fabricated and cleared for pre-testing in January of 2002.

The Mono-Shock RAâ„¢ design was put through more rigorous testing than any design Yamaha had worked on previously. With the knowledge gained through snocross, and the private testing Imamura had done, the test team was able to quickly fine tune the suspension for the 2005 RX-1.

"We had test sleds running for 3 years," explained Jim Kedinger. "This allowed us to put thousands and thousands of additional miles on the Mono-Shock, than perhaps we would have from a normal development cycle." In the end, the Imamura's design achieved all of the original design goals from 1995.

The suspension is lightweight, thanks to using fewer parts and a Mono-Shock design. In fact, the Mono-Shock RAâ„¢ is 14 pounds lighter than the previous suspension. "Plus, it is extremely easy to adjust for individual riders and varied terrain. That makes it hundreds of times better for a trail sled application than the Race suspension ever was," added Imamura.

The Final Chapter
In the face of official cancellation, Mr. Imamura refused to let the project languish on the shelf. He took his own time and resources to not only keep it alive but to bring it to market. If not for Imamura's love of snowmobiling and his personal belief in the Mono-Shock concept, we would not be getting ready to ride it this winter. And that is the True Development Story for Yamaha's new Mono-Shock RAâ„¢ rear suspension system.

Some other cool things about the Phazer's rear suspension is that it has a link that keeps the track tension constant. On most sleds the track acts like a drivechain on an ATV or dirtbike in that as the suspension compresses and rebounds, the track tension tightens and loosens. Its a pretty cool setup.