In the years since its development, racers have learned how to optimize the regressive damping style in the following ways:
Choosing the right shoe
The right footwear can help keep your feet healthy, make your physical activity easier and help keep your body safe from injury .
You will be more comfortable being active if you choose a shoe that fits you well, suits your activity type, is appropriate for any problems with your feet, and helps protect your feet, legs and joints.
What the right shoe can do for you
- cushions the foot – the midsole is the main part of the shoe that provides cushioning. Surprisingly, shoes don’t reduce the force that goes through the body all that much. But they do increase the time taken for that force to apply, so the body has time to adapt
- supports the foot – your shoe should aid the alignment of your foot when it touches the ground
- feels comfortable – your shoe should feel immediately comfortable from the first wear
- fits well – make sure you have at least 1‒1.5cm at the end of the shoe. It should be wide enough and long enough to fit your feet. The shoe should feel snug but not tight.
Try to buy your athletic shoes from a specialty store. The staff may advise you on the type of shoe you need for your activity or sport. And they can properly fit the shoes so you end up with the right size.
- Shop for shoes after exercise or at the end of the day. This will help make sure that shoes feel comfortable when your feet are at their largest.
- Try the shoes wearing the same type of sock that you will wear for the activity.
- Have the shop assistant measure your feet every time you buy shoes, because your feet may become larger and wider as you age. It’s also common for one foot to be slightly bigger than the other.
- Check that you can wiggle all your toes when wearing the shoes. Remember, you need room for your foot to move within the shoe as you walk or run.
- The shoes should be comfortable as soon as you try them on. Don’t rely on ‘breaking them in’.
- Walk or run a few steps in your shoes, to check they are comfortable.
- Make sure the shoes grip your heel. Your heel should not slip in the shoes when you move.
- Think about width as well as length. If the ball of your foot feels squashed, ask if the shoe comes in a wider size. Shoes that are a half-size larger — but not wider — may not help.
- Feel the inside of the shoes to check for tags, seams, or other material that might irritate your foot.
- Examine the soles. Are they sturdy enough to protect against harmful objects? Do they provide appropriate grip? Try to walk on both carpet and hard surfaces.
If you play a sport, it’s a good idea to wear shoes designed for that sport. There are specific shoes designed for tennis, golf, soccer, football, netball, running, cycling and other sports. Each has a different design, material and weight to best protect feet against the stresses of the particular activity.
A good tip when buying shoes is to take a tracing of your foot with you. If a shoe is narrower or shorter than the tracing, don’t even try it on.
Walking versus running
If you need shoes for walking , look for a lightweight shoe and extra shock absorption in the heel and under the ball of your foot. These features may help reduce heel pain, and burning or tenderness in the ball of your foot. Some walkers prefer a rounded or rocker bottom on the shoe so they can easily shift weight from heel to toe.
If you need shoes for running, and prefer a traditionally styled shoe, look for overall shock absorption and good torsional strength (meaning the shoe shouldn’t twist easily). These features may help protect against shin splints, tendonitis, heel pain, stress fractures and other overuse injuries.
Alternatively, you may prefer a barefoot (minimalist) shoe. These shoes allow your foot to land on the ground almost as if you were running barefoot: they do little more than provide grip and protect you against harmful objects on the ground. Some are designed to help you transition from heel-first running to barefoot style running (where the midfoot or forefoot strikes the ground first).
Valve Stacks and Shock Absorbers: Parts and Interactions
Over decades of development and competition among shock manufacturers, damping curves have come a long way. Before we delve into the details of the different valving setups and their uses, let’s first talk about valve stacks and suspension tuning .
What components make up a proper stack? Generally speaking, your stack will consist of various shims in a multitude of diameters. The shims making up your stack will each carry out a different role in your stack’s construction. These shims include:
- Support shims
- Cover shims
- Bypass shims
- Bleed shims
- Preload shims
Your valve stack interacts with your shocks by controlling the pressure differentials created by the cycling of hydraulic fluid through your shock absorber. Shims on one stack will block oil flow through the piston, while the shims on the other stack allow oil to flow through. You can control the damping forces by increasing or decreasing the shims in each stack.
Armed with this refresher course on valve stacks, let’s dive into your options for valving setups. Keep in mind that the setup that works like a dream on washboards won’t be the best fit for whoops. Your perfect damping curve will require you to make tradeoffs that ultimately result in the best performance for your vehicle, driving style, and events.
Ensuring a well-tuned damper setup can translate to significant performance gains on track. If you are unsure of where to begin the tuning process, this is a great starting point. Maximize the results of your shock adjustments with our free damper tuning guide download.
Linear Shock Valving
In the early days, most racing shocks had simple designs and damping curves. Linear damping curves were the norm at that time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re entirely outdated.
Linear damping curves are designed like a spring curve: A linear rate controls the spring rate. The damping force increases at a constant rate as the velocity increases, giving us a linear damping curve.
Today’s popular use-cases for linear shock valving include streetcar applications, motorcycles, and even bicycles.
For other types of racing, you may still choose to use this damping style. A preference for linear shock valving depends on the driver’s feel, tire wear, race track surface, and the overall setup.
Progressive Shock Valving
At first glance, you might think a progressive-style damping curve looks most like a linear-style curve. However, delving into why this type of shock valve was developed, it’s easy to see that’s not the case.
As the name suggests, your setup starts out soft in a progressive setup and gets progressively stiffer as piston speed increases. This damping curve aims to have a higher rate of force gain in high-speed damping vs. low-speed damping. As a result, this damping curve is often associated with a smoother ride.
You can create this setup by modifying your shim stack or adding a bleed to the shock. This setup might be a good fit for you if you know you will encounter significant displacements or high velocities on your ride.
Some common applications for progressive shock valving are in off-road racing or riding environments. If you push on the rear of a dirt bike, you can feel it is very soft and moves freely, but when you hit a jump, the higher velocity is much stiffer damping.
Naturally, you would want a soft or compliant low-speed damping to allow the suspension to absorb bumps as easily as possible. Still, when you encounter larger bumps and displacements, you need to increase your damping, so your suspension doesn’t bottom out.
