At the present time the products of PT Showa Indonesia Mfg are traded as Genuine Part by each Trademark Holder Sole Agent such as PT. Astra Honda Motor, PT. Honda Prospect Motor, PT. Indomobil Suzuki International, PT. Astra Daihatsu Motor, PT. Toyota Astra Motor, PT. Kramayudha Tiga Berlian, etc so that they can be obtained from the authorized dealers of the Trademark Holder Sole Agent.

2. What is the function of the Shock Absorber in a vehicle?

There are two basic functions of the Shock Absorber:

• Comfort, i.e. to reduce vibration and motion of the body, engine and passengers (Sprung Mass)
• Safety, i.e. to keep the vibration of the wheels, the rims of wheels, brakes and shock absorber itself at the minimum level (Unsprung Mass)

3. What are the main parts of a shock absorber?

Basically there are two main parts:

• Spring which functions to support the weight of the vehicle and gives the suspension the elasticity function
• Damper, functioning to reduce the upward force of the spring and to increase the spring function (for double action construction)

4. What types of shock absorbers are used for the motorcycles distributed in Indonesia?

• For the Front Fork, there are two types:
  • Normal telescopic type
  • Up Side Down → for CBU motorcycles
• For the Rear Cushion there are:
  • Single Tube, generally used for Cub motorcycles such as Honda Supra, Suzuki Smash, Kawazaki Edge
  • Double Tube, generally used for sports motorcycles such as Honda MegaPro, Honda Tiger, etc.

5. Can the Rear Cushion of a sports motorcycle be used in a Cub motorcycle and vise versa?

The Rear Cushion of a sports motorcycle is not recommended for use in a Cub motorcycle as it does not fit the initial design, but technically it can be used with the result that the height of the rear part of the motorcycle is different.

The Rear Cushion of a Cub motorcycle is strongly not recommended for use in a sports motorcycle as it does not fit the initial design and sports motorcycle is heavier than a Cub motorcycle so that it will affect the function and strength of the shock absorber itself.

6. Why is the Rear Cushion of a sports motorcycle more comfortable than the Rear Cushion of a Cub motorcycle?

The Rear Cushion of a sports motorcycle of the touring type such as MegaPro, Honda Tiger is in fact more comfortable compared with that of a Cub motorcycle. This is affected by the sprung mass reduced by the shock. For the shock using the double tube construction, it is possible to design suspension with a soft spring and its performance is assisted by a damper in supporting the weight of a vehicle (compression) and in reducing again the upward force of a spring (rebound).

Meanwhile, in the Rear Cushion of some Cub motorcycles with a single tube single action design, the damper does not assist the work of the spring upon compression so that a harder spring is required to support the weight of the vehicle. For this type the damper only plays a role upon rebound.

7. Why is the distance in the spring of the shock rear cushion either tight or loose?

There are two types of tight distance or loose distance in a spring known as the Pitch:

• Conventional Type, where there is only one pitch causing the hardness of the spring only for one condition: tight for the soft one and loose for hard one.
• Progressive Type, where there are two pitches: tight and loose. This makes the shock give a soft effect and a hard effect depending on the weight condition. For example, when there is only one person in the vehicle, it will feel soft but does not reach the end and when there are two persons, it will give a hard effect to support the weight.

9. What about the shock absorber in the four-wheeled vehicle?

The shock absorber construction generally uses a double tube double action, whereas based on its suspension system, the type of shock absorber used is:

• Strut type, used in Independent McPherson and Double Wishbone systems
• Damper Unit, used in Rigid Axle and Torsion Spring and Torsion Beam systems For medium and luxurious vehicles the medium used in the shock absorber, in addition to the lubricant oil, is nitrogen gas which serves to increase the speed of the reduction reaction so that it is able to support the complex valve composition system progressive) to enable the vehicle to be used on winding roads and be stable on free ways.

10. For Gear, in which part of the car does Hypoid Gear function?

• Hypoid Gear, which functions to transfer the power of the engine at the angle of 90 degrees to the propeller shaft, is located in the Transfer Gear
• Hypoid Gear is also located in the differential Gear, which functions to channel the power from the propeller shaft to each of right and left wheels.