Emulators and springs

Started by T30, Dec 28 2011 05:32 PM
27 replies to this topic

  • 07400E

Posted 04 February 2012 - 11:39 AM

#21

View PostT30, on 21 January 2012 - 06:07 PM, said:

Installed new seals today. I also changed out the yellow springs for the blue on the RT emulators. I turned the tension screw in abut 4 turns. It measures 1.230 from the top of the hex screw to the emulator body. I then filled the tubes up with 15tw oil to a level of about 6" from the top with the fork compressed and emulator in place. Although it was threatening tornados I took it our for a short spin. The dampening is now softer. It's no where near as harsh. I'm still runing one heavy spring and one OEM. The fork dive is still under control compared to OE. I plan to take the DR off road tomorrow. That's the real test. I'm hoping the front will work as well as the back for off road use, while maintaining some degree fo road manners. So far so good with the new settings.

[size=4]Update: Hit the Forest Service Roads today in the AM with the new set up. Unfortunately rain put a damper on extend riding or any aggressive work in the woods. From what I can tell hitting ripples, pot holes, and erosion cracks on the ground this change was in the right direction. I still want to launch the bike a bit on some tame jumps to see how the front end will react as compared to the rear. That will be on my “to do” list for next weekend. [/size]

Any updates on your latest set-up with some more serious offroad riding yet ?

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  • NordieBoy

Posted 04 February 2012 - 08:13 PM

#22

RT used to recommend a 7.6kg/mm rear spring for me and now it's 8.1 - 7.6 gives correct sag.

On the front it was 0.46kg/mm and now it's 0.75kg/mm - 0.46 gives correct sag.

  • T30

Posted 04 February 2012 - 08:34 PM

#23

I did take it out last weekend for some woods riding and manage to find a spot that had a hill with about two foot jump and it did fine. I'm plan on going out tomorrow to hit some harder trails if the weather holds out.

  • T30

Posted 05 February 2012 - 05:32 PM

#24

OK

Took the bike for a 4.5 hour ride. I put over 60 miles on the ODO just off pavement. I hit some trails that had big ruts. I blasted through others that had dips and bumps, taking every opportunity to launch the bike every time a saw a good peak. The bike worked well off road, about as well as you could expect a 350 bike with a 9" suspension to handle. Off road no issues.

However, on the street I still get a slight sense of front end undulation at about 40 MPH through the handlebars. I'm beginning to think it's not the emulator rather the stiffer spring that's creating this. It may be unavoidable with the heavier springs in the spindly DR650 forks. Its hard to tell but it seems as though what's going on is the forks are flexing ever so slightly fore and aft. If I knew back when I start the fork project that this was going to be pervasive. I would have just done a standard DRZ fork swap. There are several on eBay for less than what I paid for the DR650 front end kit. I still may end up doing that if I can't get the sensation on pavement cured.

  • 07400E

Posted 06 February 2012 - 02:57 AM

#25

View PostT30, on 05 February 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

OK

Took the bike for a 4.5 hour ride. I put over 60 miles on the ODO just off pavement. I hit some trails that had big ruts. I blasted through others that had dips and bumps, taking every opportunity to launch the bike every time a saw a good peak. The bike worked well off road, about as well as you could expect a 350 bike with a 9" suspension to handle. Off road no issues.

However, on the street I still get a slight sense of front end undulation at about 40 MPH through the handlebars. I'm beginning to think it's not the emulator rather the stiffer spring that's creating this. It may be unavoidable with the heavier springs in the spindly DR650 forks. Its hard to tell but it seems as though what's going on is the forks are flexing ever so slightly fore and aft. If I knew back when I start the fork project that this was going to be pervasive. I would have just done a standard DRZ fork swap. There are several on eBay for less than what I paid for the DR650 front end kit. I still may end up doing that if I can't get the sensation on pavement cured.

Thanks for the update.

Maybe you need to try a fork brace....

  • NordieBoy

Posted 11 February 2012 - 10:06 PM

#26

View PostT30, on 05 February 2012 - 05:32 PM, said:

However, on the street I still get a slight sense of front end undulation at about 40 MPH through the handlebars. I'm beginning to think it's not the emulator rather the stiffer spring that's creating this. It may be unavoidable with the heavier springs in the spindly DR650 forks. Its hard to tell but it seems as though what's going on is the forks are flexing ever so slightly fore and aft.
Tyre wear?

  • T30

Posted 12 February 2012 - 09:11 AM

#27

Wear is normal. It does the annoying vibe thing with both my shinkos and my D606s. Although it is felt more with the shinkos my guess is because they are smoother. I painstakenly balance the wheel when this first started. Since it started when I swapped fork springs and installed emulators I have to attribute this to the mod. I have a couple more things that I plan to do to try and isolate the problem. If it turns out I have to run a stock front end to eliminate this I'll do a DRZ fork swap.

  • T30

Posted 20 February 2012 - 03:27 PM

#28

Finally settled on a solution.

I re-installed the heavier yellow emulator springs and set the preload at 5 turns. I installed the OE fork springs but this time with .750 preload to get the right sag. This seems to be the best combination for my bike. The 40-50 mph road sensation from the handle bar is substantially reduced. Off road it did just fine on pretty rough stuff. It's still no 43mm cartridge fork but it's much better than stock.

I think I'm done with the suspension for now.



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