It was the excellent British journalist Mat Oxley who revealed the truth about MotorSportMagazine.com : Like Brembo and its new GP4 calipers, the Swedish firm Öhlins offered the MotoGP teams a new shock absorber called BDB50 (Bi-Directional Bleed) at the start of the season, more precisely during tests in Sepang.
And as for the calipers of the Italian firm, this novelty was initially adopted sparingly by a few technical teams of pilots, Suzuki in the lead, the others preferring to rely on safe and proven products, with the notable exception ofAlex Rins et Joan mir who adopted it quite early in the season.
Obviously, like the podium at the Red Bull Ring Dovizioso/Mir/Miller, all equipped with Brembo GP4, had triggered a rush of other teams at the Italian manufacturer, the podium Rins/Márquez/Mir in Aragón, 100% equipped with BDB50 generated the same phenomenon at Öhlins.
At least for those who had not yet adopted it, since to the three aforementioned drivers it is appropriate to add Valentino Rossi, Francesco Bagnaia and Stefan Bradl from Misano-2 and Cal Crutchlow since last weekend.
It must be said that with the continual reduction in testing days, testing a new shock absorber takes second place, well after evaluating a new frame, a new swingarm, a new injection body or even a new exhaust. .
Öhlins does not wish to communicate in detail until the patents are registered, but according to its representative, the now famous BDB50 improves both lateral grip and traction when exiting corners by providing a constant load on the tire.
Enticing, right? Yamaha and Ducati will not fail to get a more precise idea of this as soon as possible, sometimes even without the knowledge of their riders so as not to influence them…
The question was, for example, asked yesterday to the two French drivers at the end of the first day of testing for the Grand Prix of Teruel and Johann zarco said " No idea ! I didn't see that there was anything new. We did suspension tests. There are some good things to take and some not so good, but I can't say if it was the new thing that the others tried or not." while Fabio Quartararo responded " We tried a lot of settings this morning and also this afternoon, but from what I know we haven't really tried a new shock. »
The information provided by Canal+, however, shows that the BDB50 was indeed mounted on the Yamaha M1 of the young French talent…
In the opening photo taken in the Pramac box, the BDB50 is the one with a black cylindrical part.
