so CBZ, drain the oil, drop it in, put in springs, spacers and washer on top, fill w/ appropriate amount of 5W fork oil(26oz?) and button it up. Is that all there is to it? Thanks.

 

I could not explain it better than XLXR over on the sporty forum, so here is his reponse,

The Race Tech emulator is a shim stack valve body that only controls compression dampening. You have to drill out the compression holes in the damper rod to get enough oil flow to get the emulator to work. There is a spring holding pressure on the shim stack which you can loosen or tighten to decrease or increase compression dampening. In order to change REBOUND dampening, you have to change the oil viscosity or drill or fill the rebound holes and then change the spring tension on the emulator to change compression dampening to match.

Once set, the Race Tech emlulator provides the same compression dampening throughout the stroke, IF the stroke speed remains the same.

As I have said many times before, I found the Race Tech emulator and spring recommendations to be way off, way too stiff for my Roadster. I took it out and softened it up about a zilliion times until I figured it was not doing anything and then left it out completely. Then I changed to Works Dual Rate springs and started all over.

Race Tech also makes Gold Valves for cartridge forks. I had Gold Valves in my dirt bike many years ago. If I remember correctly, the Gold Valve has larger ports to increase oil flow to the shim stacks. (Same idea as drilling extra holes in the damper rod to get more oil flow to the shim stack in the emulator.) The Gold Valve work in conjuntion with the shim stack which needs to be modified to deal with the extra oil flow. But again, the Gold Valve and shim stack provides the same compression dampening throughout the stroke, IF the stroke speed remains the same.

The Ricor Intiminator is about the same size as the Race Tech emulator, but is easier to install because you do not need to take the forks apart and drill out the damper rod compression holes. You do have to replace the oil and remove the springs.

However, the Ricor Intiminator works in a totally different manner than the emulator or Gold Valve. Because of the floating collar, the faster the wheel moves up compressing the forks, the more dampening resistance the Intiminator develops to prevent the forks from bottoming out. It provides a dampening curve that gets progressively stiffer as the forks try to compress faster. In a sense, it is like a fork spring with a progressive spring rate, soft over small bumps, which is very important to get a smooth comfortable ride down the highway, yet stiffens up automatically when you hit bigger bumps to prevent bottoming.

EDIT: After trying the Intiminators, I am correcting my earlier posts. With the Intiminators, upward wheel movement reduces compression dampening.

 

Hmm...I wasn't aware that you had to drill out the damper rod compression holes for the RaceTech Emulators...

Does Ricor sell springs that are matched to work with the Intiminators? I'd look for myself, but it seems like their page is down...I've tried about 6 times to reload it and it won't.

I was initially looking at Progressive fork springs, and most recently Works or Race Tech. Just checking out my options.

 

Not sure whether you have to drill the damper tubes on the dyna as you do on the sporty, never looked into the emulators for the dyna since they did not work well on the sporty.
These units from Ricor are supposed to work with any spring, stock or aftermarket. I have invited Ricor to post here to explain their product and I hope they do. The site is working for me?
http://store.ricorshocks.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=27
CB

 

Yes, but........

It appears to me you would need to trim your preload spacer the same amount as the thickness of the intiminator to keep the proper preload and adjust the oil level as well to subtract for what the intiminator displaces. Secondly, I do not know of a good way to drain the fork oil without removing the fork tubes from the triples and get ALL the oil out (anyone?). Sportys have a drain hole, WTF with Dyna, I do not know.
So, Lift the bike, loosen the upper pinch bolt and loosen the fork cap, remove the fender, tire, fork tubes, then caps, spacers, washers and springs. Drain the fluid and pump the fork tube to get it all out. Measure the thickness of the intiminator and trim the spacer accordingly, might want to just use some PVC tubing instead of the stock metal spacer as it is easier to cut PVC. Fill the forks to factory spec, drop the intiminator in and remeasure the level and adjust back to spec. Reassemble in reverse order, ride it like ya' stole it!
CB

 

if you have new fork oil, is there really any reason to drain it?

 

The application for front forks on a Harley is recent, but this technology has been round a while, it's in progressive 440's, and a lot of SUV shocks. The appeal is going to be how easy it is to install.

 

They recommend 5wt oil, if you're running 5wt then you're ok.
CB

 

I would not gauge this product on the function of the 440s. As far as installation it is easier than installing non-drop in lowering springs. If you could drain ALL the fluid easily it would be a snap. I can pull the fork tubes off my SB in less than 30 min. I would say it is a 1 1/2 hr job for someone who has changed their fork oil before, even less if you can suck all the oil out properly with out removing the forks. This is definitely not rocket science.
CB

 

Jack up bike, remove caliper, front wheel, loosen a couple of bolts, slide 'em out, (loosen cap a pinch beforehand) put in vise, finish removing cap,catch spring, turn upside down into bucket, push a couple of times, all fork oil out.Repeat. As you said not rocket science.I'm not gauging the product whatsoever, I have no experience with it, nonetheless the same technology IS in progressive 440's. That in no way demeans how it works in the front. I was just saying the appeal was how easy it was, no dismantling the forks, no drilling, etc. I am very interested in this product, I only pointed out that the technology has been around a while,which it has,(a good thing) and it's not some fly by night operation.