Rear shock for curvy. Opinions, advice please.

[yorkie_chris]

I have .85 in mine. I could go up another half or rate to .90 or so without much issue. I am 12.5 stone.
But that is with long rear shock.

Whatever you do I would drop the yokes down as far as you can get away with.

[Luckypants]

But would you have .85 in standard curvy forks Chris? With a heavier oil in there for the damper rods to actually do something, wouldn't that be harsh on broken surfaces? I'm assuming you are using a much lighter oil in the GSX-R forks you have fitted, with the valving set to suit? Not saying you are wrong, just that the OP may not want such a racy set up.

Thanks for all the advice and Gen guys. My head hurts!
I am at a loss to really understand what emulators do, even after reading lots about them.
Having not ridden my bike for a while I am struggling to remember its weaknesses anyway. Need to get out and about so I can get a feel for her again.

Richie K

[yorkie_chris]

Oil in mine is 5wt RSF. But because it is cartridge/shim damping there is actually much more damping.

You want the springs stiff enough to absorb hits, especially as the lack of comp damping means you are relying entirely on the springs for support on brakes. either rate will be a huge improvement. even more so with emulator valves.

Only difference which may or may not be significant is fact my setup means more weight is on front and rake angle is reduced. Probably will make some difference. It was about 4 turns of preload to get same sag when I changed from SRAD shock @350mm to ZXR shock @335mm. That was pretty significant change in ride height.


Emulators let the hydraulics help the springs out. They have a spring loaded valve, so when you brake oil flows through a bleed hole in valve, causing a pressure loss which resists the front end diving. When you hit a big bump the pressure spike overcomes the spring preload on the valve, letting it pop open and allow the wheel to move without damping.
On rebound stroke the valve closes again and the forks normal rebound stroke takes place.

[yorkie_chris]

Problem with stock forks is when you ride over a dip, the fork does not extend, whole bike drops into the hole, then inertia squashes the fork springs down to the hydraulic locks, and then the springs push the bike back up but uncontrolled so you get a couple of bounces as it recovers.

Cheers Chris. I sort of get it now. Why do people weld up the rebound hole on the damping rods and extend the compression holes?

Richie K

[yorkie_chris]

Idea is you want the emulators to do the compression damping job not the holes... so you extend them to the point they don't affect flow.
They braze the rebound hole because there is enough free bleed that you don't need it there.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by richiekuk

Cheers Chris. I sort of get it now. Why do people weld up the rebound hole on the damping rods and extend the compression holes?

Richie K

Extending (enlarging) the compression holes is easy, it is to make them in-effective and allow oil to flow un-restricted. The emulator then takes over compression damping duties.

Welding up the rebound hole is full of debate. The idea is that the SV forks are underdamped, so that needs to be increased. Closing the rebound hole means that oil has to force / leak it's way past the valve assembly (I think) which slows the rate and so increases damping. Lots of folks argue that this is imprecise and a waste of time. In general for road riding this is overkill IMO.

[yorkie_chris]

Zadar says to weld it up, is good enough for me

Would a garage know to enlarge the compression holes?
I wont be able to do the job myself as I am an electrician, and have no real knowledge of suspension!
Are the emulators top adjustable (as a proper set of shocks), or do you have to pull the forks apart to adjust them?

Sorry for all the questions, I need to have everything in my head sorted before I mess with as perfectly servicable motorbike.

Thanks

Richie K