I want to replace my shocks piston reservoir with a bladder. Why do you guys recommend against that?

The bladder does not change the mechanical properties of the shock. You are still compressing the same number of Nitrogen molecules with the same diameter of reservoir. In fact, quite often the bladder reduces the nitrogen volume, technically making the shock more sensitive to temperature change and increasing stiffness. Finally, the bladder is not nearly as reliable as a piston. The bladder over time will leak, causing the shock to fade and burn the oil.

What sub tank system do you guys recommend? Why don’t you like check valves in sub tanks?

 We only recommend the Enzo Subtank system. The Enzo tanks are the original, and only properly designed tank. They don’t use a check valve and this allows them to function correctly as a buffer to the air spring. 

MX-TECH often recommends extensive midvalve medications. Does that not cause midstroke harshness?

No, just the opposite. A well configured midvalve will increase compression damping rates relative to travel use under “throttle-on” impacts and jump landings, reducing the use of travel. This in turn will prevent the forks from packing, which is the cause of mid-stroke harshness.

I have broken a pair of my ICS pistons on my Yamaha; do you know why this happened?

There are several theories as to why the KYB ICS pistons break. We feel that several factors contribute to the issue. The favorite explanation revolves around the idea of pressure in the main fork cylinder, and an issue known as pressure balancing. We believe that under certain hard bottoming situations with very high forces the forks literally crunch the piston as the fork stops functioning normally and dumps. This sudden wave of pressure inside the cartridge slams the piston open and cracks it. Some tuners recommend drilling holes in the fork, and this is a solution that seems to work. We don’t believe that oil behind the piston is a contributor. If oil did get behind the piston and had no exit, then this would seem plausible. We have not seen data where oil is behind the piston in stock configuration, until after the piston fails. We feel the correct solution is correct pressure balancing of the fork valving system. To this end we do not recomend that the ICS pistons be drilled.

I need more bottoming control on my shock why can’t I use a heavy fluid (10wt) to make the shock stiffer?

Changing your shock or fork oil to something thicker would not be a good idea. It would make your clickers a little stiffer for a given setting, but it will not affect much outside of the bleed threshold. (The point where the needle valve of your clicker is effective.) Once the shims break open the valving will absorb any changes in fluid thickness and will not yield a significant change in damping rates. That’s not so bad? Well maybe not, but how about the effective change in VI? Heavier fluids tend to fade more. So that means that if you set your shock up with a good felling pre ride your going to be dealing with a major change as the shock comes up to temperature. A real Jeckle and Hyde. Not good.