Suspension

A mopeds suspension is puts through its paces on a regular basis and helps to keep your mopeds wheels in contact with the ground over bumps and rough road surfaces. It also helps to minimise the impact you will feel every time you go over a bump. So you can quickly see why a mopeds suspension system is critical to a smooth and stable riding performance.

Manufacturers have worked hard to develop suspension systems over the years and today you will typically find three types of suspension on a moped. These include leading ink suspension, trailing link suspension and telescopic style suspension folks. These will be explained in more detail in the subsequent sections of this page.

Telescopic Suspension Folks

Without even realising most people will have come across these at one point or another. Most modern push bikes have this type of suspension and comprises of a pair of legs and a connecting tube which is known as a slider. In most cases the legs are at the top and push into the tubes/sliders. The sliders on a moped are connected to the wheels which sit at the bottom of the sliders. The pair of legs each contain a spring or springs which in turn provide the cushion effect when riding over an object. Some springs are better than others and the coils should remain even. It is also worth noting that there are several types of springs that could be employed on your suspension folks.

Trailing Link Suspension

Trailing link suspension makes use of a set of arms (hence the name) which are located ahead of the wheels to support the unsprung mass. In basic the form the wheel here trails the suspension links and were first introduced by the Indian Motorcycle Company.

Leading Link Suspension

This type of suspension suspends the wheel on a link using a pivot point after the aft of wheel axle.

The types mentioned above are all front level suspension types however mopeds do also have rear suspension. They rely on shock observers to take most of the weight and much harder to maintain. There are many forces at play here and getting your levels wrong can greatly alter the performance of your moped.