Ohlins Semi Active Suspension

shakazulu12 · Mar 29, 2014

I don't think it's so much the weight as it is the fact that it's a reactive system vs an active system. Fine at road speeds, but at race pace they would probably need to sync it with GPS, which is banned in WSBK and GP as far as I know.

JeffD · Mar 30, 2014

shakazulu12 said:
I don't think it's so much the weight as it is the fact that it's a reactive system vs an active system. Fine at road speeds, but at race pace they would probably need to sync it with GPS, which is banned in WSBK and GP as far as I know.

+1
All the credible reviews I've read about the HP4's semi-active suspension is that it is best for road riding. Either the calibration or pure function isn't as conducive to faster lap times as a traditional suspension action.

What shakazulu12 suggests above with GPS-synced suspension is the ideal for the track, and is what GP and WSBK has been doing for years, although without GPS since it was banned. Remember Cal Crutchlow's Desmosedici technical problem at the Losail MotoGP last weekend? His track-mapping setup got out of sync so his throttle maps, TC, braking strategy, etc. were off for every corner and he couldn't even ride it any more.

Qatar MotoGP: Crutchlow?s Ducati 'in a different place' | MotoGP News

shakazulu12 · Mar 30, 2014

Exactly. They calculate it very precisely with time and distance etc. If you have access to Roadracing World back issues, you can find an interview with Shane Turpin when they entered the Boulder Motorsports Ducati in the Miller WSBK race and discussed it quite extensively.

Yamaha did try and use a a fully active suspension on Haga's bike in WSBK in 2008, but it was quickly banned after a few rounds. GP specifically bans active suspension as well I believe. My guess is that tuning an active suspension would probably be more costly than even their engine calibrations. This just based on how F1 banned it as well for cost reasons.

Duck41 · Mar 30, 2014

Stw said:
I was hoping by now to have seen progress on this.....

I would definitely like to see Ducati further develop this system as well. It seems as though the technology would be a welcome addition for road riding.

Brad · Mar 30, 2014

Great for use on a Multi

esmirna8261980 · Mar 30, 2014

I got it on my Mts1200 and it work fine.

Brad · Mar 31, 2014

Outstanding

Kevin1199 · Mar 31, 2014

Personally I would love to see Ducati and Ohlins expand on the semi reactive suspension as the rewards we as riders reap should be awesome. For the average road rider semi reactive should be more than enough, I hope for our sake they develop it, since racing bans it and our bikes are a street legal race bike they may not invest in it since it won't gain then anything on the racing front. I've ridden a HP4 and yes for the street it's like having a perfectly set up bike in every corner, I have not ridden one on the track and I'm sure for most people it works awesome, but the fast ones I'm sure will find the flaws. Any technology like that only benefits us, I just hope we get it.

Buliwyf · Mar 31, 2014

No thanks.

The S adjustable suspension is allready a part waiting to fail. I'll upgrade to higher end mechanically adjustable internals when that day comes.

If spring rate is static, I don't see much use for this tech asuming the upgraded fork has high and low speed adjustments.

Kuroshio · Mar 31, 2014

Couple things about DDC suspension of the HP4

Without an optional set of potentiometers for the front forks, compression and rebound can't be independently controlled
Setting sag can go either easily... Or be a complete pita
If the HP4 isn't sprung correctly for the rider weight, DDC will perform suboptimally

That being said a racer took the HP4 to Isle of Mann and apparently placed pretty well. Also allegedly there is a Race level DDC available for the HP4 which differs from stock.

This isn't about the HP4 however. I'm pointing out the semi-active suspension technology may well be capable of handling a race environment. It will take some getting used to on the rider's part as feedback from the bike is different than a standard suspension. But imo a lot of the feedback regarding DDC specifically may have been colored by improperly / incomplete bike setup and rider expectations. I don't dismiss semi-active suspension as unviable tho

shakazulu12 · Mar 31, 2014

Following along with the racing thing, I know active suspension is specifically banned. However semi-active is not. Which makes me wonder why teams haven't tried it. The only place I've seen it at work was in FIM Superstock, and even then not all of the BMW's were running it.

Ohlins has a semi active shock available for the zx-10, it interfaces with the ECU. At this point the programming isn't adjustable, so it hasn't taken off with serious racers yet, but I've seen some reviews from road and trackday folks that were pretty positive. Who knows, we may get there soon.

Brad · Mar 31, 2014

I'll bet it will require an extra suspension specialist assigned to top level teams to get the best out of it until it becomes more main stream.
Give it 5-10 years for it to fully mature as a viable technology.

We've seen it with cars, as it's been main stream now for the last 5 years or so.
It's all good when it's working correctly. After that it goes badly.
Ultimately it adds another level of complexity with different technology.

With cars, the springs that are actually required to make the technology work, would be absolutely disastrous for a conventional suspension set up. The car would handle like a wet rag.

We will see.

Ohlins Semi Active Suspension

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