Advice on front suspension set up?

hi, i'm in need of some advice, encouragement, hugs or similar.

last weekend i finally finished installing 0.9 kg springs, emulators (the cheap ones) and the rest that goes with 'em, filled up with putoline hpx 15.
now, on smooth roads it's just a tiny bit more sensitive to surface imperfections, but the awful brake dive is gone and what was prevously the
Scary Lever now makes me want to do stoppies.

on bad roads, however, its quite terrible. it's harsh and wooden and shaky while braking. i don't think it's as unstable as before, but definitely unpleasant.

how do i go about correcting it? here are some initial thoughts to comment on:

- springs too hard? i'm 96kg (15st) with gear, so .9 is what's usually recommended, isn't it? i also get decent sag numbers - 24mm "static"
(i.e. just the weight of the bike) and ~44mm with me on. is there anything wrong with swapping one spring for the stock one to see how
things change? that would give approximately the same rate as 0.8 kg/mm springs, wouldn't it?

- "watering down" the oil? putoline hpx 15 has 67,5cSt @ 40°C which is well within 20w territory for some makes. wonder if thinning it down to
60-ish would make a difference?

ok, so i know there's nothing to give a definite answer about, but any input form those more experienced with forks is welcome.

thanks.

edit: oh, and could someone with the appropriate powers please correct the name of the topic? seems i just can't type today.

What air gap did you set on the forks?. Or in more common terms how much oil did you use and did you measure it correctly?.

120 mm with emulators in, all else out. measured by overfilling and then sucking off the excess.

Set the air gap at 120mm with everything out inc the emmulators. You could try 1 x std spring as really .85 may have been better. You may also want to try a fork oil that is closer to a 15w.

What setting did you put onto the emmulators.?.

Originally Posted by SV650Racer

Set the air gap at 120mm with everything out inc the emmulators.

that would make the actual air gap smaller. i don't think i'm bottoming out.

Originally Posted by SV650Racer

What setting did you put onto the emmulators.?.

2 turns.

[johnnyrod]

Stock air gap is 105mm with springs in, isn't it? That's what I use with the Racetech emulators on my curvy. 44mm sag is way too much, you should have about 25-20 with you on it (can't remember the target figures for bike only).

[johnnyrod]

PS if the emulator setting is anything like the Racetechs, the springs are soft so when you're winding the adjusters in to take out the slack before counting the turns, you have to be careful to watch for this as you can't really feel it. So, if you're unsure, re-check that both emulators are set identically.

[johnnyrod]

PPS realised I was talking crap, it's about 105mm with the emulators in and springs out, fully compressed. Dunno if the emulators should be in or out but I figured they should be in.

[yorkie_chris]

Don't mean to be insulting but are you sure all the air was out when you measured gap? Can sometimes take a while to leak past emus and fill damper rods up.

Did you drill holes out and fill rebound hole?

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Don't mean to be insulting but are you sure all the air was out when you measured gap?

well, i did pump the forks till no bubbles were coming and then gave them some time before setting the level.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Did you drill holes out and fill rebound hole?

yup.

btw, how much travel are these forks supposed to have? i mean they go all the way up to the lower triple with the caps off,
but the springs would reach their full compression before that, wouldn't they?