Monoshock vs Dual shock

Today, in every performance oriented motorbikes, we can able to see monoshock gas charged suspension. There is something to look after why sports bike use monoshocks where the street commuters use twin shock absorbers. Conventional twin setup is evolved and transformed into single monoshock in the 80s. Even now, we can able to see dual shock absorbers in commuters and in mid range performance oriented motorbikes. Have you ever thought why daily commuters and mid range motorbikes have dual shocks and high power sports bike have mono shock? Let's see...

In layman's term, we all know that the monoshock is better and best than the conventional dual shocks. Even though, manufacturers still use twin shocks in their motorbikes. The reason is cost and we'll discuss about that later in this post. The good example to consider here is TVS's Apache series and Bajaj's Pulsar series. These bikes also have good economy and performance. Why aren't fitted with monoshock?

Twin shock absorbers

Dual shocks in a motorbike absorbs bumps better and make the ride less bouncy and comfortable. These type of shock absorbers are easy to manufacture and cost effective compared to the monoshock. Here, the shocks are connected in between the frame and the swingarm on both sides. Both are synchronized in the same way to balance perfectly. Simply saying, it does the better job of hauling more load. Even though, handling of the bike in uneven terrain become less stable and create discomfort. In tracks, uneven damping cause stability issues while cornering where the both shocks fails to synchronize and act equally. As i said, this conventional twin shocks were easy to manufacture and cost effective and that's why manufacturers are using it still now. The main aim of the commuter segment is to handle it easily in the traffic conditions and to ride within the city limits. So, manufacturers use this arrangement in commuters and in mid range sports bikes which is enough. To make even more effective, manufacturers have introduced the gas charged suspension system with adjustable mechanism which is more comfortable.

Pros
• Less cost
• Handles better in high load
• Cheaper and easy to maintain

Cons
• Low cornering stability
• Not comfortable for long ride

Monoshocks

To neglect all the issues raised in twin shocks, monoshocks were invented. Instead of twin shocks holding the swingarm, a single damper with spring is installed in middle of the swingarm, bolted to the frame. In hauling the load, twin setup is good. But the problem occurs when load bearing and suspension travel is not synced correctly. In light weight sports bike, dual shocks is pretty much useless by not giving the required stability. That's why monoshocks were designed and developed. Monoshock is stiffer compared to the twin setup and easily they can able to handle corners without any stability issue. As it is fixed on center of the bike, it can able to withstand the force from any direction and distribute it evenly thus making the bike to perform well on the corners. It allow us to ride at high speeds with more stability on highways. The pressure will be exerted equally inside the monoshock unlike dual shock. To accommodate this, bigger size piston will be used inside this monoshock setup. It is very expensive to manufacture and most often not designed to withstand high loads. The spring used here is progressive type and it is very much useful in increasing the ride comfort for long travel.

Pros
• Good cornering stability
• Allows more swingarm and suspension travel
• Better handling
• Adjusting stiffness to our need

Cons
• High cost
• Cannot carry more load