friction shocks

Why the heck would you want to?!? Once the hydraulic shock was developed, friction shocks very quickly went away industry wide. And this was during the height of the Great Depression, despite the fact that hydraulic shocks were significantly more expensive to produce. Why? Because even then, the best friction shock was worse than a cheap, basic hydraulic. And, comparing the best hydraulic of that period to a cheap hydraulic now, you just can't buy a shock that bad today. It would be like putting bias ply tires back on, but worse.

Fundamentally a friction shock operates exactly opposite the way a good hydro works. A friction shock requires a greater amount of force to "break it free" than it does once in motion. So it tends to be sticky on small bumps, but provide progressively less resistance to larger deflections. A hydro on the other hand will allow small movements with little resistance, but because they rely on fluid passing through a controlled passage, the faster/greater the amount of deflection the greater their resistance.

People bash KYB's for being stiffly valved, bordering on harsh. A friction shock would make this worse.