I've been all over, looking at how to improve the ride of my 05 FXDI, if someone could explain what .. Race Tech Gold Valve Cartridge Fork Emulator is & just what does it do? I know what springs & fork oil will do. But this one had me stumped.

 

Do a search for emulators and you will find alot of useful tech info here.

In short they basically sit atop your damper rod in the fork leg lowers and force the oil to travel thru both the damper rod and then thru the emulator which houses a valve stack. This in turn provides more control of damping of the antique style HD forks.

 

Whats the difference in the Race Tech and the RICOR Intimators?

 

The dampners holes are drilled out so they are basically ineffective. The gold valve is a flat round piece that sits above the dampning tube. It has holes through it and a metal plate blocking the holes with a springed bolt. Adjusting the bolt changes the amount of oil that will go through it, thus the dampening. I can't attest to the .239004 seconds faster ricky racer lap time improvements but it really smooths the road out. I thought it was a great improvement for my bike.

 

I installed the emulators a couple of years before I heard about Ricor. I only know one person that has the Ricor intiminators and he isn't happy with the results. Conversely, I spoke with Ricor to inquire if they thought my forks would benefit with their product vs. the Race Tech parts I had installed and they said I wouldn't be able to see an improvement.

With the Race Tech emulators you must drill the holes in the dampening rods out to allow the massive amount of oil to move through the system. I didn't have the ability to drill into round pipe and paid a machinist $20 to drill and chamfer the holes.

Three years later and I am still very happy with the performance of my front end using stock springs, added pre-load, and Race Tech Cartridge Emulators.

 

I can give you input on the side of the Riocor Intiminators. I purchased a set a little over a month ago for my '10 FXDC. The installation was as simple as drop in and adjust my pre-load. Two things that attracted me to the Ricors over the Gold Valves. One was the fact that they use two internal valves to determine and control both the wheels reaction to the road and the chassis reaction to weight transfer. The other was the ease of instillation.
The results were a huge improvement in the feel and control of my forks. I live in New England where the best roads always seem to suffer from permanent frost damage and the resulting patch repairs. The best part is the level of confidence the Ricors give me. When I enter a sharp bend at speed and the bend is loaded with tar patches and bumps, I know that my forks are not going to do something unruly. That to me is priceless.

 

Hmmm, that sounds like my story, too.

I no longer have to slow to a crawl to cross R/R tracks.

 

Both these devices 'emulate' or copy the damping actions that more modern cartridge style forks give. My FXDXT already has cartridge forks and I am considering upgrading my Glide to the same style, with Ohlins from HDF sponsor Motorcycle Metal.

 

If you spoke with someone at Ricor 99% chance it would have been me and I don't remember ever saying something like that.

I've had experience with many high end conventional damping systems. Some work better than others but what we have that they don't is the inertia valve. Our system is the only system in the world for the front forks of a motorcycle that can give two different repsonses depending on if the chassis is trying to move or if the tire is trying to move. This allows us to provide the optimum response for the tire as well as the chassis.

Brian

 

Double post