Need tuning advice with RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators.
I've installed a set of RaceTech Gold Emulators on my Yamaha Roadstar 1700. Based on RaceTech's online tuning calculator, for my type of riding [aggressive, advanced rider, on twisty mountain roads and canyons] they recommended their 1.0 fork spring, 15wt fork oil, and the blue [heaviest] preload spring at 2 turns in, along with the little spacer that has four bleed holes instead of two. Unfortunately, with that setup, initial impact over bumps was too harsh; the front end would come off the ground on occasion, even at slower speeds.
I called their support line and they told me to switch from the blue preload spring to the yellow [lightest] spring at 5 turns in. While it helped some, it's still too harsh on small bumps and the front end "chatters" or skips over a series bumps rather than absorbing them, especially at speed; which can be unnerving. At the same time it dives more than I'd like under hard braking.
What I want is the opposite; compliant over small bumps and more compression damping under hard braking.
I don't know if it could be contributing to the issue, but when I first assembled the forks off the bike, after installing the emulators, I was very careful to measure the fork oil level *exactly* as they recommended. However, after removing the emulator to swap over from the blue preload springs to yellow, obviously some of the oil came out with all the components, which dropped the level quite a bit. Not wanting to go through all the trouble of removing the fork tubes from the frame, so I could stand them up straight to measure the oil level perfectly, I simply topped up the oil until it was *just* covering the washer on top of the main spring. I was more concerned with making sure both forks had the same amount of oil, vs how high. As a result, I may have an extra inch of oil over the recommended amount. When I explained this to the RaceTech specialist, he didn't seem too concerned, but I thought I'd just throw it out there.
I figure my next attempt is to back the preload off of the yellow spring from 5 turns in to 2 turns, but I don't see how that would help front end dive.
FWIW, on my previous Roadstar, I ran a set of Progressive front springs with 10wt oil [no emulators] and it handled WAY better; less dive and more compliant. I could definitely make it through the twisties faster, which is a shame considering how much extra cost and effort has gone into the RaceTech set up, and it's still not even as good as the Progressives.
So what say you? Who here has experience tuning RaceTech Emulators? I could definitely use some advice.
Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Doc_V
I've installed a set of RaceTech Gold Emulators on my Yamaha Roadstar 1700. Based on RaceTech's online tuning calculator, for my type of riding [aggressive, advanced rider, on twisty mountain roads and canyons] they recommended their 1.0 fork spring, 15wt fork oil, and the blue [heaviest] preload spring at 2 turns in, along with the little spacer that has four bleed holes instead of two. Unfortunately, with that setup, initial impact over bumps was too harsh; the front end would come off the ground on occasion, even at slower speeds.
I called their support line and they told me to switch from the blue preload spring to the yellow [lightest] spring at 5 turns in. While it helped some, it's still too harsh on small bumps and the front end "chatters" or skips over a series bumps rather than absorbing them, especially at speed; which can be unnerving. At the same time it dives more than I'd like under hard braking.
What I want is the opposite; compliant over small bumps and more compression damping under hard braking.
I don't know if it could be contributing to the issue, but when I first assembled the forks off the bike, after installing the emulators, I was very careful to measure the fork oil level *exactly* as they recommended. However, after removing the emulator to swap over from the blue preload springs to yellow, obviously some of the oil came out with all the components, which dropped the level quite a bit. Not wanting to go through all the trouble of removing the fork tubes from the frame, so I could stand them up straight to measure the oil level perfectly, I simply topped up the oil until it was *just* covering the washer on top of the main spring. I was more concerned with making sure both forks had the same amount of oil, vs how high. As a result, I may have an extra inch of oil over the recommended amount. When I explained this to the RaceTech specialist, he didn't seem too concerned, but I thought I'd just throw it out there.
I figure my next attempt is to back the preload off of the yellow spring from 5 turns in to 2 turns, but I don't see how that would help front end dive.
FWIW, on my previous Roadstar, I ran a set of Progressive front springs with 10wt oil [no emulators] and it handled WAY better; less dive and more compliant. I could definitely make it through the twisties faster, which is a shame considering how much extra cost and effort has gone into the RaceTech set up, and it's still not even as good as the Progressives.
So what say you? Who here has experience tuning RaceTech Emulators? I could definitely use some advice.
Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Doc_V
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