Suspension Dyno - what is it good for?

[stopintime]

My suspension guru is getting a Dyno "machine" thing'y. How cool is that

No, I actually mean to ask: how cool is that?

He seemed excited and told me about the software and how this would enable racers to pick a few set ups for testing, instead of maybe twenty.
I cheered him on to show my support, but I have only a vague idea of the purposes.

Education/discussion anyone?

[Speeddog]

It can check to see how the damping varies with shaft speed, and see how effective the damping adjustments are.

Wish I had one.
IMO, very useful if you've got a known good performing fork or shock to provide a baseline.

Also good for diagnosing issues that aren't externally visible, like debris stuck in a valve and such.

[mmakay]

Dynos are also very good to determine the quality of damping.  An Ohlins will be very consistent and repeatable.   A cheaper shock might have lots of friction that's unpredictable.  This shows up very clearly on a dyno.  It will also help you see the effect of adjustments, and how much one adjustment effects another.  High- and low-speed adjustments are rarely truly seperate.

I helped develop the suspension for a university race team (Formula SAE ... not bikes) and spent lots of time playing on the shock dyno.

[brad black]

just another really cool toy that ultimately will probably teach him a whole lot more and let him act in ideas much quicker and clarify previous results he couldn't completely and make it easier to show people exactly what he's doing for them and he'll learn more again from all that and he'll just be so happy he bough it.

basically, if he has a scientific mind it will take all the guesswork and feedback from people who don't know what they're talking about out of the equation and he'll be able to deal with fact.  i just love fact.

i'm excited for him.  it's really that cool.  he'll probably start talking to it.  i would if i had one and was into suspension.

[stopintime]

just another really cool toy that ultimately will probably teach him a whole lot more and let him act in ideas much quicker and clarify previous results he couldn't completely and make it easier to show people exactly what he's doing for them and he'll learn more again from all that and he'll just be so happy he bough it.

basically, if he has a scientific mind it will take all the guesswork and feedback from people who don't know what they're talking about out of the equation and he'll be able to deal with fact.  i just love fact.

i'm excited for him.  it's really that cool.  he'll probably start talking to it.  i would if i had one and was into suspension.

I think that's excactly how he is and how it will work for him. Lucky me to be his customer