emulators again

Originally Posted by antony

took 8mm off original spacers but it took some effort to get caps back on

They are a little bit of a push even when correct, but how far did you have to press the caps down before you could get them to take on the thread??? i.e. did you have to compress the spring 1mm or 100mm?

If you put your full body weight on a fork does it still refuse to move even a little?

8mm doesn't sound very much. I made two new spacers using the tube supplied with the springs and I seem to recall they were much shorter. Gonna have to cut them again, just bought the preload adjusters off the 2002 model. Just over £40 the pair brand new. Ideal for fine tuning.

had to compress them about 50mm at a guess and yeah the forks dont move when in bike with my body weight on them

Originally Posted by antony

had to compress them about 50mm at a guess and yeah the forks dont move when in bike with my body weight on them

How heavy are you??? It might be something more sinister, but I really think you just have an obscene amount of preload on there ...

What weight springs do you have too?

As a guide, to get the correct sag it works out that you only really have to compress the spring about 10mm before you can get the cap to take on the thread ...

RobW#70 Gave me a tip that all the spacers and washers should be about level with the top of the tube to be about right. (hence only needing to compress about 10mm as that is the depth before thread on the cap).

Also what weight oil did you use and how many turns did you set the emulator at?!?!

If you have >=85 springs, are using 20w oil and have the emulators wound right up, with the preload too, then the forks will barely move!! (been there done that!)

The emulators fall over quite easily, when you drop then in the oil push a rod in and roll in round the inside of the tube standing the emulator up, if its tipped over it will double the preload and damage the emulator if used.

Generally 20mm of preload will get the sag pretty close.

Spacers only flush with tube if vou don't have preload adjusters

i am about 11stone and got 8.5 springs in 20wt oil fitted got two 4 turns of preload on the emulators as i am using it for the track had to really compress the spring to get it in though

Originally Posted by Robw#70

The emulators fall over quite easily, when you drop then in the oil push a rod in and roll in round the inside of the tube standing the emulator up, if its tipped over it will double the preload and damage the emulator if used.

Generally 20mm of preload will get the sag pretty close.

Spacers only flush with tube if vou don't have preload adjusters

You should only have to push the caps on about 20mm (ie 20 mm pre-load)
Something is wrong otherwise

Originally Posted by antony

i am about 11stone and got 8.5 springs in 20wt oil fitted got two 4 turns of preload on the emulators as i am using it for the track had to really compress the spring to get it in though

Ok, according to racetech website you are over sprung ... RaceTech

Street
Rider Weight: 154 lbs.
Recommended Spring Rate: 0.745 kg/mm (use closest available)
Stock Fork Spring Rate (measured): .706 kg/mm (stock)
Available FRSP S3534 Series Springs are:

Race
Rider Weight: 155 lbs.
Recommended Spring Rate: 0.811 kg/mm (use closest available)
Stock Fork Spring Rate (measured): .706 kg/mm (stock)
Available FRSP S3534 Series Springs are:

4 turns of emulator preload is obscene too ...

Robw#70 know his stuff, he does this stuff professionally, so can give you the generic stuff you should be doing.

But for reference, I will let you know what I have done and what a difference it made to mine ...

I am ~13st I had 85 springs, 20w oil 2.5 turns on the emulators and too much preload (can't remember by how much). It was solid as a rock and horrible to ride ... way too stiff and non reactive ...

I ended up putting 80w springs in, 1.5 turns of emulator preload and 15w oil ... it is still a little too stiff for my liking, but markedly better and I now have much much much more confidence in the front end and it actually moves a bit!!

Take out your spacers and measure them ... in the meantime I'll find out what I set my spacers at ... if your spacers are ballpark, then as Rob said, might be the emulators have fallen over ...

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

I ended up putting 80w springs in, 1.5 turns of emulator preload and 15w oil ... it is still a little too stiff for my liking, but markedly better and I now have much much much more confidence in the front end and it actually moves a bit!!

Blue - is that your road bike or track bike? I'm around 13st and am thinking of the .80 springs with 15wt oil in standard forks, but will add preload caps.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Blue - is that your road bike or track bike? I'm around 13st and am thinking of the .80 springs with 15wt oil in standard forks, but will add preload caps.

Trackbike ... but I tested them out on my roadbike first ... 100 times more surefooted than the 85w spring setup (too 'ard and harsh damping) I had and 100 times more surefooted than stock too (too soft and horrid damping)

Basically I was finally content with my front end

Another thing antony, if you haven't stiffened the rear too ... having a stiff front will completely destroy the 'balance' of the bike ... you need a new shock too dude ... pref a race shock, but if you are tight like me a ZX shock is fine!

Edit: .. ok forgive if some sucking of eggs is about to go on ... but hopefully these pics will help ...
The layout 'exploded diagram' style:-


Length of OLD spacer i.e. when I had far too much preload. NOTE ALL THESE PICS ARE OF THEM AS THEY WERE (horrid) NOT HOW I FINALLY HAD THEM (nice)



Forks assembled and you can clearly see that things are protruding ... my best results were when that washer bit was just about level with the top of the fork tube ... so about 8mm further in ... if yours is 50mm out at this point it is obscene, that with the 4 turns of emulator preload, 85 springs and 20 oil, then no wonder you have problems; mine were horrid enough as they were and that was with 2stone more lard on them and a lot less adjustment!!