New springs and Racetech Cartridge emulators

[Tartan Terror]

I got to say this is the best change I have made on my bike to date. I always found that the forks on this bike are never right. If you have no air in them they are too mushy and if you even have a little air in them you get a very hard unforgiving ride. Hit a pot hole and you blow your kidneys out you butt and on a on ramp it almost chattered and went sideways if you hit bumps in the lean. After seeing a post by Rick Butler I decided to try something Rick had done. I installed Sonic Springs in a heavier rate (120) and added the Racetech Gold fork emulators. Basically you are eliminating the air assist and adding spring. Also you are making the shock a variable dampening unit instead of an unadapting hard on the bumps shock. Now the bike is surefooted in turns and on rough roads a much more comfortable ride.

 

Now to do the rear shock. I planed to wait but I found the infamous pool of oil under the shock and its not warrantied. Second one in a 16000 mi range. I ordered the Works.

[Yamaman]

I got to say this is the best change I have made on my bike to date. I always found that the forks on this bike are never right. If you have no air in them they are too mushy and if you even have a little air in them you get a very hard unforgiving ride. Hit a pot hole and you blow your kidneys out you butt and on a on ramp it almost chattered and went sideways if you hit bumps in the lean. After seeing a post by Rick Butler I decided to try something Rick had done. I installed Sonic Springs in a heavier rate (120) and added the Racetech Gold fork emulators. Basically you are eliminating the air assist and adding spring. Also you are making the shock a variable dampening unit instead of an unadapting hard on the bumps shock. Now the bike is surefooted in turns and on rough roads a much more comfortable ride.

 

Now to do the rear shock. I planed to wait but I found the infamous pool of oil under the shock and its not warrantied. Second one in a 16000 mi range. I ordered the Works.

 

This is interesting. What is the cost of this mod and where do you get the items? Also, how difficult of a job is this?

 

Thanks.

[RSTDdog]

Bumping this. Would like to know more.

 

Thanks, RSTDdog

[Seaking]

I recall wanting to do the gol emulators on my VStar and many had recommended not to use them on a cruiser / touring bike as you would find them to be harsher on the bumps than stock.. I know, sounds counter intuitive to what they are supposed to do.. I did end up putting Progressive Springs in the VStar and that alone made a wold of difference..

 

However, I'd love to hear how these work out on our large bikes, though..

[Freebird]

Rick Butler has them on his RSV and the last time I discussed them with him, he had nothing but good to say about them. He always ran Progressive springs in his first gens but felt that the emulators and ...can't remember which springs he went with...were better on the RSV.

[Seaking]

Rick Butler has them on his RSV and the last time I discussed them with him, he had nothing but good to say about them. He always ran Progressive springs in his first gens but felt that the emulators and ...can't remember which springs he went with...were better on the RSV.

 

Ahh sweet to hear.. I have to get my forks serviced this fall at the same time as re-doing the axle threads (previous article mentioned that someone munged the axle threads on the fork requiring to have it heli coiled. So at the same time I might as well have the forks serviced.. and add some fun to them

 

Cheers

[Sylvester]

I have had the Racetech Gold Emulators in for over 100,000 miles and they are great. I never changed the springs and don't know why you would. When the fork oil gets dirty you will know it because the ride changes drastically.

 

[Seaking]

I have had the Racetech Gold Emulators in for over 100,000 miles and they are great. I never changed the springs and don't know why you would. When the fork oil gets dirty you will know it because the ride changes drastically.

 

 

Nice, thanks for the additional info.. where's the best price spot to purchase these from?

 

Are the roads rough and choppy where you are or are they mostly nice smooth slabs or decent pavement?

[Sylvester]

I live in North Carolina west of Charlotte 30+ miles. I ride all over the country though. Roads everywhere have rough areas especially on two lane roads. Can't help you on where to buy them since I have had them for so many years.

 

[Condor]

http://www.racetech.com/

[Seaking]

I live in North Carolina west of Charlotte 30+ miles. I ride all over the country though. Roads everywhere have rough areas especially on two lane roads. Can't help you on where to buy them since I have had them for so many years.

 

gees, I was there in May and June this summer.. and you call them 'rough'?! We thought those were darn decent roads lol.. You should try ours up here in Nova Scotia..

 

Thanks for the info.. I'll be checking them out..

 

Cheers

[Sylvester]

I was talking about roads in general. I have been to Nova Scotia and they are somewhat on the bouncy side. I have been on interstate highways that were terrible (I-29 in Iowa).

 

[KiteSquid]

can you please list the part nubers you used?????

[Rick Butler]

Jim,

 

The main reason to change the fork springs in the RSV is because the oem springs are too light for our bike. When I first installed the Racetech cartridge emulators I also bought the Racetech springs that they offered for the early Royal Star because they didn't offer springs for the RSV. And after I installed everything I was very confused that my front end was bottoming out on sharp bumps. I thought it may have been the spring preload on the emulator, but after talking with Rish Desmond of Sonic Springs I started understanding the importance of spring rates. This was when I realized my issue was spring rate. The rate for our oem springs if .90kg/mm and the ones I got from Racetech were .95kg/mm, not much of an increase. After using a spring rate calculator, I discovered that the rate we need for our heavy RSV is 1.2kg/mm. Once I installed these springs, my front end became more stable and it never bottomed out again.

 

And fork oil doesn't start causing issues because it gets dirty, it breaks down from constantly being forced through small holes. It gets dirty from bushing wear from oil that is broke down that has stopped lubricating. That's why it is important to use a good synthetic fork oil that will last longer and lubricates better.

 

Rick

 

I have had the Racetech Gold Emulators in for over 100,000 miles and they are great. I never changed the springs and don't know why you would. When the fork oil gets dirty you will know it because the ride changes drastically.

 

[Guest PlaneCrazy]

I was trying to do some research into this recently. I ran Progressive springs on my last bike and loved then, but the only kits I see for the stars are for the Royal Star Tourer, which have different part number springs then the RSV.

 

What part number Progressive springs did you end up using, if I may ask?

 

I was also looking at the exploded view of the RSV forks and it doesn't look like they use any sort of spacer above the springs.... is that correct? I was hoping to maybe cut the spacers down when I changed to progressive springs to lower the front by about an inch.