Triumphrat

Caffeinated · 08-22-2006, 02:57 PM

Been reading lots of posts about suspension upgrades here. Seems lots of folks have put on new shocks and loved them, and lots have put in progressive rate springs and loved them. I'd like to get better feel up front and am very interested in putting in Race Tech's Gold Valve cartridge emulators.

Anyone done this to a Bonnie or Thruxton with stock forks?

They don't seem to make a valve specifically for the Bonnie or Thruxton. I'd need to figure out which other bike has the same size inner diameter. Also, as I understand it the only way to adjust the damping with gold valves is to add or remove shims. This requires dissasembly of the forks, so I'd like to get it right or at least close the first time.

Any experiences with the gold valves, even with other bikes, would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

05Truxter · 08-22-2006, 03:35 PM

I've been wondering the same thing about gold valves for bonnies or thruxtons. I see that people intend to install them, but never hear about the results. I checked racetech's website, and there isn't a specific valve listed for the bonnie.
I installed gold valves on my honda hawk GT in conjunction with progressive springs, and was really pleased with the results. The fork didn't flutter anymore and was a lot more planted through mid-corner bumps. The valves I used were adjusted by a set screw, and the number of turns determined the rebound damping rate. The instructions (specific to my model bike) gave recommended settings based on riding style (moderate street riding to track settings). The valves were probably $250, but if they were available I wouldn't hesitate - it was money well spent in my experience.
The installation was pretty easy - remove the springs, remove the damening rods and drill extra holes and replace rods, drop the valves in, replace the springs, set the oil level, replace the preload caps and ride. That was close to 10 years ago, so maybe I missed a step or two, but that's the basic idea...

justice · 08-22-2006, 03:54 PM

I'd be interested in them too...

vitabrew · 08-22-2006, 06:55 PM

I think you want just the Race Tech Cartidge Emulators, the gold valve kits are to upgrade existing cartridge forks while the emulators try to convert damper rod style forks to function like a cartridge style fork if I am correct. Anyway, I put in the emulators about 8 months ago and am very pleased. There were a couple threads on this topic before, some might have been lost when the forums were split up.

Here is a link to a recent thread on the topic which gives you the part numbers if you want to give it a try.

Caffeinated · 08-22-2006, 08:05 PM

Yes, you are the man, Vitabrew! I was searching for "gold valves" in the forum search which is why I didn't find it.
Thanks.

Did you ever change springs? My plan was to stick with stock until I tried the emulators. What about the set up? Is what I heard about adding or removing shims to adjust damping true? If so what did you do? I'm only looking for that better, more planted feel in the corners 05truxter is talking about. Not looking to go racing.
Thanks again,
Steve

05Truxter · 08-22-2006, 09:29 PM

Yes - that's it... sorry for the mislead on that one. I didn't use gold valves, just cartridge emulators. My hawk had a damper rod fork. Same story on the results of the installation, also same story on the adjustability. The emulators I had had a screw type adjustment that was easy to work with, though you set it and put the forks back together and hope it was set right! Fork oil and brake fluid are my least favorite things about motorcycling...

VR6 · 08-22-2006, 10:58 PM

I had the Gold Valve Emulators in my SV650. They sit on top of the piston at the bottom for the fork tube and are held in place by the fork spring. On one end of the brass unit is 3 kidney shaped ports and on the other a steel circular plate. Throught he center runs a allen head and the other a nylock nut. The nut holds the plate on and a spring between the ports and plate acts as resistence to the fork oil. Buy screwing in or out the allen head you effectively change the preload on the spring holding the plate shut. Racetech recommended heavier fork oil and drilling of the lowest piston hole to a larger size since the emulator did some of the work of the existing ports. I used this in conjunction with Racetech springs set up for my weight, they were NOT progressively wound. In order to tweek the dampening the forks need to be disassembled and the allen head turned. They were an improvement but I don't think I got the most out of them. I'm not an expert so I recommend that if you get them get the appropriate spring for your weight and have a shop that specializes in setting up the suspension to do the work. It would be well worth the money.

VR6 :-D

05Truxter · 08-23-2006, 06:14 AM

Vitabrew - did the emulators come with instructions that you could apply to the bonnie? I guess specifically I'm wondering how many/what diameter holes you drilled in the damping rod and how easy was that to determine. I was looking at the race tech website - looks like the parts are $175, which isn't bad...

vitabrew · 08-23-2006, 06:16 AM

As others stated compression damping is set by a screw on the emulator. The shim stacks are used for the Gold Valve kits, not the emulators. Rebound damping can only be set by changing oil weight (I went to 15wt fork oil). I changed out the fork springs to a 0.85kg spring which was on the soft side according the spring fitting charts but found it way too stiff as did two other people on this forum who did the same (my guess is that it has to do with the bigger rake angle on our bikes compared to the rake angle on the sport bikes those charts are designed for, just my guess). I ended up putting the stock springs back in and they work great with the emulators.

The emulators are set to the recommended 2 turns in for street riding and works fine, handles the bumps and dips in the road very well. It doesn't feel as good as a real cartridge fork but is a big improvement over stock particularly over high speed bumps. You won't be disappointed if you install them.

The instuctions are very straightforward as is the installation, no problem with our bikes. The only difficulty I had was removing the damper rod bolt, if you have an impact drill it should not be a problem. We also need to make an adapter which is a short segment of PVC pipe for the emulator to fit correctly.

[ This message was edited by: vitabrew on 2006-08-23 05:24 ]

setts · 08-23-2006, 08:37 AM

I think Thruxtonup has these installed on his Thruxton. Not the stock front shocks though. Check out Club Cafe