Racetech cartridge emulators

[Robby]

Has anyone used racetech cartridge emulators in a set of damper rod forks?

I'm considering a pair for my Guzzi V9. The stock forks are very basic. The decision for me is between the racetech emulators which appear to cost about £150-200, or some far more expensive bit somewhat similar jobbies that cost about £500.

I'm looking to improve its behaviour around town. Low speeds, very poor surfaces, the forks just aren't keeping up with the road.

[MarJay]

[Snod Blatter]

I put them in my TRX, they took the forks from utter crap to being better than the shock at the back - very happy.

I also put them in the forks for my CB250 which seemed to make very little difference, I think they work better in a heavier bike which may be why MarJay didn't get a whole lot of benefit with an RD.

Also don't get Racetech valves, get YSS PD valves instead - exactly the same but a good bit cheaper in this country.
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1994 CB250, 1984 CBX250RS-E, 1989 K100RS, 1995 TRX850, 2016 Z250SL

[Robby]

A bit of googling suggests you are right, and I found your blog showing how it was done on a TRX. I'll go for some YSS valves. Have emailed wemoto to see if they know what size to go for.

[redeem ouzzer]

If I can find someone who can mod the damper rods I’ll be fitting them to my YR5 as I’m getting to the point where I can ride it hard enough to invoke front end patter. Cartridge forks are up there with 17” wheels, aluminium frames and radial tyres as the biggest step forward in how bikes handle IMHO.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[Snod Blatter]

If you are dealing with standard non-adjustable damper rod forks then any numpty (even myself!) can drill the extra holes needed to stop the rod from doing any damping. A small pillar drill and a couple of V blocks is all that's required, it's hardly precision engineering. I would say it's more difficult to lop some length off the spacers for the springs and leave the end flat.
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1994 CB250, 1984 CBX250RS-E, 1989 K100RS, 1995 TRX850, 2016 Z250SL

[redeem ouzzer]

[Robby]

Can you elaborate on that? It looks like the whole point of drilling more, larger holes in the damper rod is to take it out of the picture as far as doing any damping goes, so the emulator does all of the damping work instead.

Can't see why you would need to drill smaller holes.

[AdamEf]

The emulators have an effect on compression but less on rebound. The brazing up holes is usually the small rebound holes to slow rebound as the emulators won't do that much. They do control compression, so you are making the compression holes in the damper rods bigger, so that they no longer do anything, handing over control to the emulators instead.

They're usually of most benefit (alongside the right rate springs for your weight) if you're having problems with fork dive when braking.

Rebound needs to be sorted by finding the right weight of oil and possibly welding up the small rebound holes in the damper rods. All work finding the right oil weight for this etc should be done before setting the valves as the oil weight will affect compression via the valves too.

[garth]

I don't know if it's an option here - but on an SV650 an alternative to buying emulators is to rebuild the standard lowers onto another bikes stanchions, (41mm showas, so CBR f3, zx6r, vtr, vfr750) that way getting proper cartridge forks.

Unfamiliar with what's on the guzzi though.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[MarJay]

[Snod Blatter]

GT200Fan79 is being a little obtuse, perhaps considering this some kind of test, but some googling shows that his damper rods are right proper weird like. This the the top:
https://www.bikersassociationofnorthdevon.co.uk/images/YR591
And the whole assembly:
https://www.bikersassociationofnorthdevon.co.uk/images/YR5101
I wouldn't bother if it was like that. Can't a later front end be slapped on instead? Or, y'know, just leave it alone?

Also you set the rebound through choice of oil, thicker oil means slower rebound. Racetech love to suggest that the emulators are not affected by oil thickness but of course they are.. On a road bike this is fine though as you want a plush, springy ride anyway so 10w oil is fine.
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1994 CB250, 1984 CBX250RS-E, 1989 K100RS, 1995 TRX850, 2016 Z250SL

[Fizzer Thou]

I fitted RaceTech emulators to my FZR-R back in the early 1980s as the front end was not easily tuneable after fitting an Ohlins shock absorber.I had attempted to find a way of modifying the forks by fitting some Progressive Suspension fork springs,but they were not what I was looking for.So,together with some straight rate Ohlins fork springs,the Emulators were easy to fit and to tune.There was no need to modify the size of the rebound hole as the installation instructions specified that this was set by the selection of weight of fork oil.

https://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv23/WiNot_Rhencullen/Workshop/20160901_171152_zpsju7vnp7a.jpg~original

More recently I rebuilt the forks with new stanchions and used 12.5w oil instead of 10 or 15 by mixing a bottle of each and reduced the air-gap by 10mm to see how the front would behave.

https://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv23/WiNot_Rhencullen/Workshop/20160906_192026_zpsg7qypztn.jpg~original

Now the fork is held much higher in the stroke and I have lowered the forks by 10mm in the yokes.The preload adjusters have been backed off a few turns,which on the FZR-R is possible due to a modification I did years ago so that I can adjust while on the move.
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Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'

[AdamEf]

Welded the rebound holes on my SV650 so that I don't have to go for much heavier weight oil to control rebound. A lot of SV owners go for 15wt and heavier to try and sort the forks out. Currently using 10wt and feels so much better with K Tech linear springs specced for my weight than it did with old lightweight Suzuki spec oil and light progressive springs.

Lighter weight oils are less affected by temperature so more consisitent with how they perform winter to summer and also from bike cold to being out for an hour or so.

Also means that when / if I fit emulators they have a wide raneg of adjustability / control over the compression instead of the heavier oil affecting the compression so much.

All depends on what bike you're trying to sort out, but the SV650 definitely benefits from rebound holes being welded. They're tiny little holes but make a big difference.

Already very pleased with the improvements even before emulators. Just got it all set up to find an oil weight I'm happy with and then might fit emulators and work out their settings from there.

[redeem ouzzer]

[Robby]

Fitted the YSS PD valves over the weekend. They work. Forks are much better than before.