RaceTech Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators ... Mini Review

[LIMagna]

I've got a list of things I've decided to do for my Magna over the winter and the front suspension was right at the top.  I know that many here have gone the Progressive Spring route but I decided to give the emulators a shot so I ordered them along with a set of Race Tech springs tailored to my weight (.85 kg/mm) from Phat Performance Parts (http://www.phatperformanceparts.com/) back in January. I did the install over the course of the month of February when the weather was not conducive to riding. At first I wasn't going to completely rebuild the forks but in the end I decided to which added another week waiting for the seal sets to come in. I'm rather glad I did pull everything apart because unless you are familiar with the internals you may end up with not as many exposed holes in your damping rod as you thought. Installation of the emulators requires drilling a couple of extra holes in the damping rods and if you follow the Race Tech directions which seems to indicate one pair above and one below the existing hole, you'll end up with a pair of holes that get covered by a part that is not accessible unless you pull the forks apart (something referred to as the "oil lock piece").  I got bit by this as I had already put my damping rods under the drill press before pulling my forks apart. 

Anyway, got everything back together today and given that the temperatures reached into the low 50's (first time in many, many weeks), I took her out for a preliminary test ride. Now given that I have not ridden since a quick ride back in January and since there is still a considerable amount of sand on the streets from all the snow we've had this winter (heck, had another 10 inches just over a week ago), I in no way pressed things. First impressions are very favorable ... the front end is now completely glued to the road. The forks seem to suck up the uneven pavement instead of wallowing through it. While I did not go looking for potholes it did feel like much of the harshness associated with that sort of thing was gone with the new setup. Bear in mind that the Race Tech springs are much stiffer than the stockers (I've only got about 20mm of preload on them) so I wasn't sure just how much improvement I was going to see in the sharp edged bump area but so far I'm very pleased.

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[hootmon]

keep us updated on how things go with this..

[LIMagna]

Will do.  I've got a set of Progressive 440's coming this week for the back end ... should have them on the bike by next Saturday.  I've also got some replacement stainless steel cables (Barnett & Motion Pro) on the way.  After installing the stainless brake line from Fluid Transfer Products (www.fluidtransferproducts.com), the rest of the cables look out of place.  FTP was great to deal with btw ... they'll upsize and make them to DOT spec if you want all for under $60 delivered. 

[LIMagna]

Just a quick update now that I've put a few more miles on the new front end setup.  Went for a 10 mile ride late yesterday afternoon (after my honey-do chores were complete and then rode into work this morning.  I had to navigate one of the roads that has not fared very well this winter ... lots of pot holes (patched and unpatched) and I can now say that the front end is much improved over terrain like this.  The sharp shudder you would get when hitting bumps like this is gone (well, at least muted significantly) along with the momentary feeling that your front wheel is no longer in contact with the road.  This is exactly what I was looking for, even more so than the overall performance improvement since I tend not to ride the bike like I just stole it.   I continue to be pleased with the results of the upgrade.

[gargoyleddriver]

Any more updates on these? I may have to go this route since progressives in the front dont feel right( 6 inch preload spacer) do they help handeling at higher speeds at all?

[Chad in Michigan]

how did you manage to get a 6" spacer in there? did you have trouble getting the caps to thread back down?  there is supposed to be a 5" to 5.25" spacer in there, 5.5" max.

[LIMagna]

Any more updates on these? I may have to go this route since progressives in the front dont feel right( 6 inch preload spacer) do they help handeling at higher speeds at all?

  I'm very happy with them.  I'm not really a high speed kind of guy but they feel fine to me at highway speeds.  Much improved overall from the stock setup and I can't say that I've bottomed out even once since they were installed (don't seem to hit my pegs in turns either which is also probably due to the suspension mod).  Can't compare to the Progressive front springs but coupled with Progressive 440's out back and the bike is completely transformed. 

[gargoyleddriver]

yea I think im gona have to give them a try, been reading about them all day. Seems they make the forks act more like a sportbike suspention.  Mabey one day I will find a sportbike I like and stop abusing the magna.  Thanks for the reply

[LIMagna]

If you do go with the Race Tech stuff and you're going to do it yourself, shoot me a note (my email address should be in my profile) ... I might be able to provide you with some lessons learned. 

- Charlie