Emulators.. which ones?, pros/cons

So I'm not happy with the results of my spring/oil upgrade.. so if I'm going to keep/enjoy this bike it looks like I'm going to have to upgrade to emulators.

So it seems Racetech are the most popular brand.. looks like they cost around £150 in the UK. I called a shop near me, Steve Jordan, who'll supply and fit them for £335.. a good price?

I see that YSS do a set for £87, are this recommended?.. If purchasing these do I require anything else.. apart from drilling out existing damper rods.

Then there's the Traxxion damper rod kit for £277, which includes emulators and predrilled damper rods.. I'd then have to have them fitted.

Any recommendations/deals on emulators etc would be appreciated

I live in East Sussex..

[Bibio]

emulators are only good if you can set them up properly and are a fast rider that uses their brakes a lot.

emulators slow down the dive when braking but have a popper that opens on bumps. this might sound great but it takes trial and error to get the popper to stay closed on braking but pop on bumps. if the popper is too late in opening you get a harsh ride, if the popper is too early in opening its the same as it would be without them, in fact its worse. its a very narrow tuning range to get the emulators working correctly.

to set them up still requires mixing oil to get the rebound correct but you then have the added complication of setting the popper for a given oil mix. there is NO 'mates settings' for this as it requires all the components to work together including spring rates etc.etc.

once set up they can be very close to the performance of full cartridge forks.

my advice for what its worth is weld up the rebound holes on the damper rods and concentrate on oil mix (viscosity) to set the rebound then if you feel the front is still 'diving' too much for your tastes then invest in emulators.

Its not the diving that's causing me issues, its the rebound, or lack of it. There doesn't appear to be any absorption of the bumps in the road.. every little bump is jarring.. surely this isn't right?

[Bibio]

is it bumps or potholes that is causing the 'jarring' that you are feeling?

Both, anything that isn't smooth tarmac.. its like theres no suspension at all.. it bounces around alot, I'm actually having to raise my bum up over bumps and try not to hold onto bars too tightly as the jarring is causing my head to ache...

[Bibio]

raising your bum is the rear. this could actually be too much (slow) rebound and or compression.

as for the front, even the standard setup on the SV is soft and fairly good on bumps. the rebound is a different story. the SV's rebound makes the front feel like a pogo stick.

have you put a cabletie round one of the front stanchions to measure how far up the front suspension is travelling?

what oil did you use and what height did you set the oil to?

How do i stop the pogo effect?.. thats what i feel is the issue.

Why didn't my 99 curvy not have this issue?

I initially put in 10w.. not sure what the height was set to.. I've been advised to put in 15 or 20w and the air gap should be 130mm

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by LeeSv650

I initially put in 10w.. not sure what the height was set to.. I've been advised to put in 15 or 20w and the air gap should be 130mm

there we have two problems. first is ''not sure what the height was set to'' second is that the air gap is 92mm for N and 94mm for S but tbh just set at 90mm and certainly not 130mm. setting to 130mm will cause excessive bouncing around as the air gap is huge.

depending on if you welded up the rebound holes and what spring rate you have then 10w might be a bit heavy and again depends on what make of oil was used.

do not put 15-20w oil in. the heavier the oil the slower the rate at which the forks move.

what air gap did you use (oil level)?
what spring rate did you get?
how heavy are you?
did you weld the rebound holes up on the damper rods?
what make of oil did you buy?

[Bibio]

if other people are reading this and wondering about the fork oil level on the SV then the pointy is 90mm (92mm N 94mm S) and the curvy is 100mm (102mm S&N)

I weight 10 stone, i got an 8.5 spring, initially put in 10w silkolene rst oil, don't know the gap, left it to garage..rebound holes were not welded.

Spoke to woman this morning at Steve Jordan, she advised an 130mm air drop and 15 or 20w oil, so this is now my set up, i have ridden the bike yet, but don't hold out much hope.