Key engineering advances #8: Monoshock

Modern monoshock suspension layouts derive from this '75 YZ 250. The shock was not mounted vertically between the rear wheel and the motor, as most now are. It was nearly horizontal, extending into the area under fuel tank.

The fabulous Vincent Black Shadow featured a prescient rear swingarm and shock design, but it came and went. The modern single-shock rear end however, came to sport bikes from motocross. It traces its lineage back to the 1975 Yamaha YZ motocrossers. Those bikes were updated in ’77 and carried Bob Hannah to the first of many AMA motocross and supercross titles.