TRACK TIME

When you’re flying around a track as fast as you can go, you need decent suspension. Not only does it need to be strong enough to cope with the incessant abuse you’re going to be throwing its way, but it needs to compress and extend just the right amount to avoid putting too much stress on the tyres, and be plush enough that the lumps and bumps which you’ll inevitably hit aren’t going to upset the bike too much.

As a rule, the standard forks and shocks that come on production bikes aren’t designed with track use, and track use only, in mind. They’ve got to be safe with a six-stone rider popping to the shops one moment, and then a 25-stone rider the next, pulling wheelies and scratching up his (or her) local A-roads.

With this in mind it would be unfair to expect too much from the