I need a little help understanding terminology when it comes to spring rates on forks and shocks. It seems to me there is a lot of shortened numbers and misplaced decimal points, so it confuses the crap out of me. The way I understand spring rates is this- Kg/mm, which is saying that a spring will move 1mm for every kilogram of force applied to it. Fork springs are typically .85 kg/mm to 1.3 kg/mm Shock springs are typically 8.0 kg/mm to 15.0 kg/mm So if someone says “I am running a set of 105s upfront”, do they mean 1.05 kg/mm springs? Or, if someone says “I am running a 130 in the rear” they mean a 13.0 spring? Am I getting this right or are people talking newtons? Does anybody talk newtons.
Actually, the rate is defined as (force)/(distance). Force can be in newtons (N), or 'kilograms' (kgf). Newtons is preferred. 9.81 N per kgf A '.95' fork spring is .95 kgf/mm A '9.5' fork spring is 9.5 N/mm They areclose.....but not the same. hth, vince
