Adjustable Rear Suspension-a Must On Elio

[Greycat]

With such a light vehicle, increasing the "cargo" by 200# is the equivalent of me putting about 1,300# in the bed of my truck. It'll be doubly tough as there is only one tire back there holding up the weight.

This is exactly my concern.

 

[Zipper]

Self adjusting shocks aren't a part of simple stability control though. With such a light vehicle, increasing the "cargo" by 200# is the equivalent of me putting about 1,300# in the bed of my truck. It'll be doubly tough as there is only one tire back there holding up the weight.

Given the current state of spring/shock technology, the overall length of the vehicle and the fact that the combined weight of the cargo and passenger will be somewhat forward of the rear axle, I'm certain that there's an acceptable engineering solution to the potential issue. FWIW, I know a guy who regularly carries a 200+ pound passenger with him on his 450 pound motorcycle without significant issue. The weight of the passenger in that case is actually slightly to the rear of the rear axle. That loading scenario has to be near the absolutely worst possible case and certainly not nearly as extreme as our case will be with the Elio.

 

[Greycat]

There are at least a couple of manufacturers that are more than capable of producing a spring/shock combo that will meet the everyday needs of the Elio. Several approaches are available. Either progressively sprung or manually adjustable pre-load are both relatively inexpensive.

I agree with you, the solutions are fairly simple and relatively inexpensive. It would be nice if Elio already thought of this and build it in to the rear suspension.

 

[Zipper]

Perhaps it's already been addressed. I just realized that when I saw the Elio in person, there wasn't any noticeable squat when a person plopped down in the rear seat. Of course it settled some, but not by an amount that caused concern. I'll see it again at Birmingham, AL next month and will investigate further.

 

[briish]

i suppose there are various upgrades that can be done, the mind is a terrible thing to waste

 

[Ty]

A progressive spring shouldn't be too difficult - it would compress partway with driver and then hit a stiffer portion to prevent bottoming out when you have a passenger.

 

[Thomas Turner]

Harley Davidson has had air adjustable shocks for years. It shouldnt be too difficult to add a similiar system to the Elio

 

[rmcelroy]

Perhaps it's already been addressed. I just realized that when I saw the Elio in person, there wasn't any noticeable squat when a person plopped down in the rear seat. Of course it settled some, but not by an amount that caused concern. I'll see it again at Birmingham, AL next month and will investigate further.

See you here Zipper

 

[olddog1946]

I've noticed the front shocks were High Quality adjustable shocks. I don't think a manually adjustable rear shock would be of much use. There is no way I'd take the back cowl off to adjust the shock just to pick up a passenger.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

The adjustable shocks are only for experimentation on the prototype, on the final version they'll just be an option not standard.