Race Tech Springs and Emulators

So, I've been cruising around and looking at info about front suspension mods.
Like the rest of you, I don't like the dive, and I have a "clunk" when I brake as well as a "flat tire feeling" that I'm attributing to the steering bearings.

SO,
I decided I would go whole hog.
All Balls Bearings, and Fork Seals
Race Tech Springs and Emulators

I know about the R6 fork mod, but I don't think I'll ever adjust the damping and I don't want to scrounge round for the few extra parts.

The only info I couldn't find was:

When people install the Emulators, what weight oil is recommended and what settings (if any) do folks use on the emulators?


THANKS!:rockon:

You should really like that setup. I don't think most people would adjust the damping either if they had it.

As for the oil weight I'll leave that up to someone who knows...

When I did the Springs only, I went with 15wt oil. Worked really well for me. Don't know what weight oil to go with when doing the emulators as well though.

Do the R6 forks, night and day, and ~ the same cost.

Dave.TX said:

You should really like that setup. I don't think most people would adjust the damping either if they had it.

As for the oil weight I'll leave that up to someone who knows...

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A couple ways to view that. Most will find a spot and leave it. And if you CAN'T adjust it, very few of us will hate it so much that we open our emulated fork up and mod the valving or even re-shim it for that matter. From this, you DON'T KNOW what you're missing! Heck, simply changing from the stock bars to the FZ1 bars distributes more weight over the front which created a need to make adjustments. Now add rider likes, dislikes, weights, 2 up riding etc. . .

Being able to soften the ride for long road trips and firm it up when feeling more aggressive is nice. Or maybe even adjust the sag a tad??? With the R6 fork you can!
But like you say, once you find the sweet spot few will be tweaking it. So the question is; can you hit a home run with the springs and emulators or "bang per buck" do you stand a better chance swapping forks? The cost is the same.

I actually think it easier to hit a home run with a racetech spring and emulator then a fork swap. With the race tech setup racetech will set you up with the right spring and damper setting as long as your honest with them about your riding style and weight. With a R6 fork it is shorter and optimized for a lighter bike with a different rake. Of course with a hour or so of adjusting and maybe a spring swap the R6 fork will be spot on.

I went with a spring swap and a few weekends of trying different oils and preloads. My front is working just fine now. The problem is it makes the rear suspension feel even more like crap.

iSteve said:

I actually think it easier to hit a home run with a racetech spring and emulator then a fork swap. With the race tech setup racetech will set you up with the right spring and damper setting as long as your honest with them about your riding style and weight. With a R6 fork it is shorter and optimized for a lighter bike with a different rake. Of course with a hour or so of adjusting and maybe a spring swap the R6 fork will be spot on.

I went with a spring swap and a few weekends of trying different oils and preloads. My front is working just fine now. The problem is it makes the rear suspension feel even more like crap.

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True it is a tad shorter and it was designed for a higher end bike. As many here will attest - it is an effective drop in solution that turns the mush box into something very nice to ride!
To each is there own opinion. Ours differ and I'll leave it at that.

iSteve said:

I went with a spring swap and a few weekends of trying different oils and preloads. My front is working just fine now. The problem is it makes the rear suspension feel even more like crap.

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iSteve, what weight did you end up with and do you think it would be appropriate for me as I'm about 5'8" and 160#.
I'll also add, I'm not a track racer guy, I've only been riding a couple of years and I'm still pretty chill when it comes to true sport riding.

FinalImpact said:

True it is a tad shorter and it was designed for a higher end bike. As many here will attest - it is an effective drop in solution that turns the mush box into something very nice to ride!
To each is there own opinion. Ours differ and I'll leave it at that.

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I'm already committed to the Racetech springs and emulators.
my out of pocket will be < $250 and I can get it done with one order, not scouring ebay. The best front end I found was $299 without the axle and calipers etc. From my point of view, its going to be cheaper to go the Racetech route and to get it done RFN because I want to ride my new bike, not deal with a saggy front and clunky steering for the first half of the spring riding season.


I'm curious though, has anyone compared a well tuned Racetech setup to the R6 swap? I understand that both are huge gains over the stock, but is one better than the other, if we assume that once the 'sweet spot' is found in both most of us aren't going to fiddle with it.

*bump*
No oil weight recommendations?

I don't have the emulators just springs. I tried 15wt and found it was like a jackhammer. It may work on fast, twisty, smooth roads but I didn't like it everywhere else. !0wt was ok but the rebound was a little slow and on real bumpy roads it seemed the bike was a bit twitchy. I ended up with 5wt the front rebounded quick enough so on bad roads and bumps the bike still feels well planted.

Final Impact, I like the R6 fork swap I just don't think it's for everyone. I just think the right spring and oil in the stock fork makes for a quick and easy way to get a very good setup. The R6 is more work and most riders will never take advantage of endless adjustments possible. Also once you start upgrades like fork swaps the bike becomes a friend and it's hard to sell a friend when it's time.

iSteve, thanks.
I figure with the emulators, 5wt should work. I also expect that RaceTech will have a tuning chart of some kind that will provide good info.

They shipped on Friday.. Hopefully I'll have something to report next week

I finished the racetech springs only, and 15wt oil. New seals and dust shields, and did the head bearings too. My 2008 bearings looked brand new but I put the new ones in anyways. I went with 32mm of sag with me on it, what did everyone else go with? I took her for a ride and she felt great no quick dives under hard breaking and felt solid in the corners firm over bumps. Also put on new tires. Time to go for a long ride tomorrow. :rockon:

ejether said:

iSteve, thanks.
I figure with the emulators, 5wt should work. I also expect that RaceTech will have a tuning chart of some kind that will provide good info.

They shipped on Friday.. Hopefully I'll have something to report next week

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I helped install emulators on a Galdius. Race Tech instructions said to drill out the stock damper holes and use 15wt. Not sure if they will have you make the holes bigger in the FZ, if they do you probably will need heavier oil.

Most people who do race tech fork upgrades use a setup for track and aggressive riding. I spend most of my time riding on long touring type rides on average roads and tight twisties. I almost never break 100mph and most rides keep it around 85mph maybe a little faster on long straight roads.

If you're like a lot of the others here that like the 120+ speeds and drag the pegs every time you go out then a heavy oil may be best.

Good luck and oil is easy to change so don't be afraid to experiment.

Here's my problem with the R6 fork mod:

It's actually NOT cheaper than rebuilding your stock forks with new springs and emulators.

Nobody takes into account the cost of rebuilding/inspecting a set of R6 forks purchsed from ebay/wherever. How do you know the forks are good? Are thus bushings ok? What condition is the oil? Don't know. It's silly to buy used forks from anywhere and install them on your bike without inspectiong/rebuilding them first. That costs $$$

philosopheriam said:

Here's my problem with the R6 fork mod:

It's actually NOT cheaper than rebuilding your stock forks with new springs and emulators.

Nobody takes into account the cost of rebuilding/inspecting a set of R6 forks purchsed from ebay/wherever. How do you know the forks are good? Are thus bushings ok? What condition is the oil? Don't know. It's silly to buy used forks from anywhere and install them on your bike without inspectiong/rebuilding them first. That costs $$$

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I agree with you. For starters, I couldn't find a set of R6 forks that were less than spring emulators, seals, bearing and oil. And those forks didn't come with calipers.


My kit should arrive Wednesday! Hopefully I can get the new tires put on, the springs upgraded and the bearings replaced by the weekend! That would be very happy making indeed. :BLAA:

Instead though I'll probably end up working on it all gorgeous sunny weekend...

I wonder if anybody has tried swapping the fork tubes for the TNK ones that RaceTech sells. Those black ones would look killer.

Is there any performance advantage for those tubes?
Doesn't look like they make the black ones for the FZ6 but red would look cool with our bikes!

Not sure, how is the stiction on our stockers?

Randomchaos said:

Not sure, how is the stiction on our stockers?

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My forks are so soft. I don't even notice any.

Those are coated for slickery goodness used more in motocross.