Cartridge Emulators

[Highside]

Mikes XS sells a set for about $50

650 central sells a set that looks almost the same for about $150

Has anyone tried either of these and can give a good review??

 

[grizld1]

What I use and strongly recommend is what MMM sells at 650 Central: the original Race-Tech cartridge emulator, designed by Paul Thede, and made in the United States. With those emulators you also get Michael Morse's expert tech support and installation instructions. Tech support is also available from Race-Tech.

At Mike's XS you get a Chinese knockoff that lookee right and nothing else--no instructions, no tech support, nothing but the hardware. Of course if you know enough about fluid dynamics to work out the damper rod modifications needed to install the valves, you don't need instructions or advice.

A critical part of the emulator is the spring that controls the valve. The rate needs to be right, and no one to my knowledge has done an inspection of that part on the pirated valves.

Cartridge emulators are not "drop-in" parts, and installing them with dual rate fork springs is a waste of time and money. Don't bother to look for off-the-rack single rate springs for our application; they don't exist, you have to have them wound. A wonderful source for springs and emulators is Traxxion Dynamics (www.traxxion.com ); the folks at Traxxion can have springs wound to match your rider weight, bike weight, and riding style, for a very reasonable price. If their estimate of the correct rate is off, they'll make it right. Their tech support is first-rate, too--great folks to do business with.

 

[scabber]

I run the emulators with a progressive spring not a waste of money. They work great, ride quality improved ten fold. Before small bumps and tar strips use to beat the hell out of my wrists no more pogo stick ride. You can fine tune with the preload spring on the valve. I'm shure they would work better with a non progressive spring tuned to rider and bike weight stands to reason but mine is still alot better and safer than it was my opinion.

 

[Highside]

I run the emulators with a progressive spring not a waste of money. They work great, ride quality improved ten fold. Before small bumps and tar strips use to beat the hell out of my wrists no more pogo stick ride. You can fine tune with the preload spring on the valve. I'm shure they would work better with a non progressive spring tuned to rider and bike weight stands to reason but mine is still alot better and safer than it was my opinion.

Which ones did you use??

 

[grizld1]

scabber, I'm glad you got good results, but I'll stick with what I wrote. When the suspension acts like a pogo stick it indicates (among other things) that rebound damping is inadequate, and in the front end, that's a function of fork oil viscosity; emulators have no impact on rebound, they modulate compression damping. If a guy is going to use dual rate springs, he's better off to spend his time and money on a new pair of springs, a fresh dose of real fork oil (10W or 15W), decent shocks, and proper sag settings. Sag should be equal or nearly so front and rear.

 

[5twins]

The lack of suppleness and reaction to small bumps is one of the short comings of the original forks. It can be improved by applying the Minton Mods to the damper rods. With new springs, one ounce more than the recommended amount of oil, and the Minton Mods, I don't feel the need for emulators.

 

[scabber]

Which ones did you use??

After thinking about it my springs might have been dual rate not progresive but not single for sure. I bought my bike from a member of the XS650 society 1200 original miles. He might have changed them. After about 18000 miles when I installed the emulators and replaced the fork seals they were still longer than the stock. The pogo stick ride I was talking about was the rebound I got after hard braking. The gold valve from race tech come pre adjusted Mikes do not. Due to lack of funds I bought the ones from Mikes before he sold to a new owner when they first came out. A crap shoot none the less. I've bought some real junk from him also. They came with 4 pages of installation instructions don't know if the new owners provide them or not or even if they sell the same parts I bought. That being said they worked for me no more road shock and brake dive I use 20W Belray fork oil now to control rebound. The real deal gold valve emulators are a better product and MMM at 650 central a great place to buy from I plan to buy some rear shock from him to replace the junk ones I bought from mikes

 

[grizld1]

Scabber, "progressive" springs are usually dual rate, though some shock springs are triple rate (Koni and Koni-successor Ikon, for example). I must have jumped to the conclusion that the Chinese valves came with no instructions because of some of the questions here and there online--guess some guys don't read what they have before they ask!. While Race-Tech valves are supposed to be preset, the instructions advise the user to inspect the setting before installation. The only suspect component in the knockoffs is the damper spring. It may be fine, but I don't know of anyone who's checked one, let alone a few samples.