Buy? WTF, just adjust. Purchase only for real linear wound springs and forget this progressively wound stuff. There is only one person who I know is using a progressively wound spring on the track. I also got news for you guys, the track is the same as the road and sport bikes are the same in principle as your Bagger. Just a different application and hardware, same idea.

Keep the same 5 weight oil and adjust the emulators as they were ment to be. You are changing the valving, when you put heavy weight oil, you are also, in effect, changing the valving. The problem with heavy oil is inherent stiction (form of friction). Your stuff do not work/slide as it should. Read more, use your head, than do. You guys and heavy oil, think, read, or just stay dumb.

PS, buy good oil, and not HD SE crap.

 

Not sure I follow what you mean to say.

When you say " Buy? WTF, just adjust" I assume this must mean keep my existing springs and adjust them. Not sure that adjusting a spring which is too light is the best way to go, but it could be. How do you adjust the stock springs anyway?

However, your next sentence says " Purchase only for real linear wound springs and forget this progressively wound stuff". Not sure what this means after the comments about adjusting rather than buying?

I gather you are saying that Harley springs are progressively wound?

Not disagreeing, just confused as to what you were trying to convey.

greg

 

Has anyone tried Ricor Intiminators on their FL?

 

I have them on my 07 Dyna. They seemed OK untill I got Ohlins on the rear. I would probably like something more effective for the RG.

 

>>> I assume this must mean keep my existing springs and adjust them.
<<< No, not at all. When talking to you via phone previously, I thought you understood to replace the springs to Linear and properly have the correct force. Of course you can than adjust the spring pre-load on your fork by just disassembling it and either replace the spacer with a longer one (too soft) or cut the old one down (too hard). Good forks have externally adjustable pre-load so you can change externally.

I have posted the travel of these HD progressively wound springs with formula and calculations several times. No one wished to review it. You will only get 3/4" if travel with adjusted riders sag before going into the hard part (higher rate) of spring. And you wonder why your ride sucks.

>>> " Purchase only for real linear wound springs and forget this progressively wound stuff". Not sure what this means.
<<< See above, sorry for the confusion.

>>> What is meant by adjusting is:

• The seat pipe / 46422-09 DAMPER TUBE, w/ 45859-77A FC/FF/FS/FV/KB has holes in the side but they only allow oil to move and are no longer part of the valving, unlike the prior (2005 & earlier) forks which did not have the 46209-09 DAMPING VALVE FC/FF/FS/FV/KB.
• This DAMPING VALVE has a screw on top that adjusts the reeds (flat metal sliding plate) to allow for a different rate of oil to flow through the passageway. This controls how quickly the fork moves. Smaller the passage the stiffer the ride / larger the passage the more oil flows the front fork moves with less resistance. This is a knock-off of the Race Tech Emulators.
• You adjust the rate of travel this way and never use heavier weight oil as the thicker the viscosity, the more parasitic drag (stiction) you introduce. More stiction = less efficiency. Ohlins forks and shocks use 5 weight (actually a rate of viscosity ant a given temperature) and they produce one of the absolute best suspensions for motorcycles in the world. This is evident in who uses them and who wins. No one uses heavy weight oil! Use your valving and read and understand what you are doing before doing the doing.

 

OK Howard, I think I have it. Wasn't equating our phone conversation.

Couple questions:

1. Where do I get linear springs (actually I presume you sell them, but thought I would ask here for clarity),

2. As I understand your response, I CAN adjust the Harley emulator which apparantly comes stock on the 07 (?). Do both tubes have one?

3. Fork Oil....I suspect you don't recommend HD brand. Belray perhaps?

Thx

greg

 

Unless, you have decent springs, monkeying around with oil weight, compression, rebound, etc, etc on any bike is a joke and does next to nothing.

I just put Progressive fork springs in my 09 RK Police. Yeah, they're not the absolute best out there, but Progressive was running a special where they were free with the purchase of 440 shocks.

The difference is significant over the stock springs with braking dive decreased and high speed stability increased. I'm not going to tell you that I can now carve up canyons like I used to on my sport bikes, but there is a big improvement.

My personal experience over the years has been that the heavier the bike to start with, the smaller the incremental gains with suspension upgrades.

 

1- You can find them any places and all cost roughly the same. I try to use Ohlins, naturally.

2 * Do both tubes have one?
<<< Yes, I'll take a photo tomorrow if you need me to.
3- I am not going into the forbidden oil zone, but suspension oil may be less dangerous. Any better oil, use equivalent of 5W. Cheep but better = Bel Ray, Maxum, et. al. Of course I use Ohlins which cost $22,00 + shipping for a 1-liter plastic bottle. Thats 2X what Bel Ray cost but that is me & my customers.

 

Front Forks:
1. Use a damper valve (except FLHR/FLHRC)
2. New triple tree
3. No lock washer on steering stem
4. New torque on fork stem nut
5. Frame rake increased to 26 degrees
6. Fork angle 29.5 degrees – 6.69” trail

 

Howard, if you could post of pic of the emulator that would be super. Assuming I use a linear spring of the correct spring rate, how much would I adjust the emulator? My thought is to get the Ohlin springs and oil.

Will the amount of oil change due to different springs?

Finally, could you give me an idea of the cost of the springs? If you would prefer, I could call you direct.

thx

greg