Fork springs and valve emulators

[JetdocX]

The aftermarket for this bike is extremely small.

More preload will affect ride height as well as stiffness and do nothing for compression damping.

Thicker oil will definitely slow things down, but I still don't think you get the same thing as emulators. 8)

Edit:  I'm 210 lbs, Mr Jetmoto.  And I ride like an idiot.  My ride is very harsh ofroad also, but I just man through it. :lol:

[Mr. Jetmoto]

The aftermarket for this bike is extremely small.

More preload will affect ride height as well as stiffness and do nothing for compression damping.

Thicker oil will definitely slow things down, but I still don't think you get the same thing as emulators. 8)

Edit:  I'm 210 lbs, Mr Jetmoto.  And I ride like an idiot.  My ride is very harsh ofroad also, but I just man through it. :lol:

So can I use spacers and emulators together? Will heavy weight oil and emulators be compatible? I am totally clueless.

Oh I called Racetech and they didn't answer. They must be busy, I left them a message.

[Mustang]

spacers can be as simple as a piece of pvc pipe that is the same diameter as the springs and cut to whatever length you want . for starters try a pc cut to about an 1inch length , and replace the oil with some 15 wt , you may be pleasantly surprised .

One thing you should keep in mind is that this is a long travel fork so some brake dive is inevitable .
If your bike is not a 98 then you have a kayaba fork which is really really mushy compared to the showa forks on a 98 , and the showas were/are mush .

[Mr. Jetmoto]

spacers can be as simple as a piece of pvc pipe that is the same diameter as the springs and cut to whatever length you want . for starters try a pc cut to about an 1inch length , and replace the oil with some 15 wt , you may be pleasantly surprised .

One thing you should keep in mind is that this is a long travel fork so some brake dive is inevitable .
If your bike is not a 98 then you have a kayaba fork which is really really mushy compared to the showa forks on a 98 , and the showas were/are mush .

Damn PVC! Schedule 40 I hope at least!


That is so low tech and cheap that I am definitely going to try it before I do anything else! As a landscape contractor I've got tons of scrap lying around. I bet 1 inch sched 40 works eh?


So wait,  :shock: do I just set it on top of the spring or does it go on the bottom? How much you want to be me I totally screw this up? I've got the service manual for it so that should help with disassembly and reasemmbly, but I bet it doesn't say anything about putting PVC pipe in my fork tubes!

Oh yeah, and mines a '96 so it's got the kayaba, the brake dive doesn't bother me so much as the bounce does on corners and stuff. I also need to set my works shock up better once I get this done.

[DesertDog]

The spacer goes on the top of the washer that is on top of the spring.

Bummer is there are no drains in the fork tubes so they have to be taken off the bike to get the old fluid out.  Unless you have one of the inversion racks and you can just pull the caps and flip the bike.  :lol:

good luck and cut yourself several different lengths of spacers as once you have the new fluid in, it is simle to change the spacers to come up with something you like.

[Mustang]

the kayaba forks have drain plugs , at least my 95 does .

[Mr. Jetmoto]

the kayaba forks have drain plugs , at least my 95 does .

Yeah mine have drain plugs. I can't believe some models don't have drain plugs. Another fine example of British engineering. It's a good thing that these bikes are fun as hell to ride, Because they don't have much going for them besides that. Well, they look pretty cool too.

So I spent yesterday fiddling with my works shock and doing test rides. I've got the back end set up pretty nicely now, I haven't picked up any fork oil yet, so I'll prolly try the spacers sometime later this week.