Better motion ratio?

[mikethebike]

I believe Formula type cars use cantilever setups to increase spring/shock travel, rather than to reduce it. With their stiff suspensions, these cars have very little wheel travel.

I'm not an expert on this, but I can imagine that precise shock absorbtion becomes difficult to achieve with very little travel and high damping forces. Increasing the travel with a cantilever increases shock travel and reduces the necessary damping forces for a certain amount of wheel travel.

Another advantage is that the shocks can be mounted inboard in the nose section, rather than outside, where it upsets aerodynamics, among other things.

The freedom of the mounting position is probably also a reason for the use of a cantilever system on bikes. Additionally, only one (bigger) shock/spring is needed, which is lighter than two smaller ones.

Cantilever suspensions are ALL about rising-rate design. The inboard position is an aerodynamic advantage but that is just a freebee. As far as your theory on the single shock...BMW used a single-sided swing-arm with one shock mounted in the conventional location as early as 1985 or 86, so that kind of kills that idea.
You really need to look at a cantilever set-up on a bike before you make those statements and maybe contact Ohlins for a very indepth explination of just how their shocks work. They are the premiere motorcycle suspension people these days.

 

[Hack]

Let's keep this post on topic please.

Cantilever suspensions are ALL about rising-rate design. The inboard position is an aerodynamic advantage but that is just a freebee. As far as your theory on the single shock...BMW used a single-sided swing-arm with one shock mounted in the conventional location as early as 1985 or 86, so that kind of kills that idea.
You really need to look at a cantilever set-up on a bike before you make those statements and maybe contact Ohlins for a very indepth explination of just how their shocks work. They are the premiere motorcycle suspension people these days.

..