Motorcycle Suspension Mid-Speed Valve Springs

All rebuildable suspensions need some basic shared parts - fasteners such as locknuts to hold damping pistons to base towers, teflon lined shaft collars or acetal rod bushes to hold sliding tubes concentric without too much friction, tiny Mid-Speed Valve (also called refill or non-return) springs to help tune your shim stack, rubber o-rings to keep oil and gas pressure sealed from each other. Motorbike front fork & rear shock absorbers both need these when servicing or tuning, and here is where you'll find them.

These small MSV check springs keeps sections of shims separate for oil flow until pressurized - and although these non return springs are usually little wire coils, they can be anything that compresses under force, like wave washers (basically a bent shim) or o-rings. This refill spring helps give your damping a more progressive character - starting soft & plush on small bumps while staying strong & controlled for big jumps - so upgrading them can be very important for offroad adventure or MX race bikes. If you don't have a dyno on hand to try this DIY, see our fork valving sets.

Other shared components that are in both forks and shocks are shims & washers - but Teknik Motorsport have so many that we have our own Valving Shims section - including complete bulk kits, ring shims, check shims, cup washers and valve stop washers. If you need to swap damping shims please see our Shim Factor Calculator - a 0.30mm shim is NOT the same as two 0.15mm shims.

If you are a bike workshop or a DIY suspension tuner you should stock up on these essential wear parts - they are in everything and should be replaced every rebuild. We also have technical articles that can give you an edge: learn more about those lock nuts and fasteners or become an expert on oils with our suspension fluid weights table.