Thom Coppersmith heads the U.S. research and development effort for Ohlins  factory suspension components. Ohlins’ Swedish-designed and -built forks and  shocks work on some unique concepts, and the company prides itself on closer  tolerances and greater adjustability than what comes stock on most bikes. I  recently got a chance to ride on Ohlins suspension on a truly epic  day.

The track was the Budds Creek Motocross of Nations course less than 24 hours  after the final international moto had finished. The track by design was filled  with tricky off-cambers, big jumps, steep drops and well-tilled loam. The  international racers weren’t kind to it, and it was suitably hammered with  wicked braking bumps, brutal acceleration chop, tricky ruts and combed jump  faces. It was perfect as far as I was concerned-real motocross with a track so  destroyed that all supercross-type launches were taken out of the  equation.

The black and blue plastic-disguised 250F functions as an “anonymous” test  platform for Coppersmith to dial in settings without getting labeled as a  specialist to any particular brand. After some intense investigative journalism  (I asked twice), I discovered that the bike was a KX250F, selected because of  the testing Grant “Moose” Covas and Thom had done with Christophe Pourcel when  he won his World MX2 title on a green bike.

Coppersmith/Ohlins has valving settings to cover everything from off-road to  supercross. The stuff I was riding was factory equipment, set at TTX-4 with a  slight mod to soften the high-speed compression. The springs were two rates too  stiff for me, which kept the bike too high in the stroke and made turning less  than ideal, but everyone was struggling that day on that beat track and I felt  surprisingly good.

The thing that struck me most about the suspension, and this is difficult to  explain, is that it seemed to perform differently than any Showa or KYB  suspension in the point of transition from compression to rebound. It felt like  the suspension would soak down to a point, then get a good, cushiony, somewhat  “dead” or “dense rubber” feel before beginning the rebound stroke. The bike was  extremely controllable-no bucking or loose feeling at all, just a “suction” to  the track with no jarring.

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