Fork upgrade - RaceTech cartridge emulators
 

Hi all

I fitted a pair of RaceTech cartidge emulators to my Tenere forks in preperation for a recent trip to morocco.

I have only a vague idea of how they work, the basic principle is they turn old-fashioned 'damping rod' forks into modern 'cartridge' type forks.

They did a great job, really transformed the handling on and off-road. The bike feels much more supple and the front end is heaps better at coping with sharp jolts, and the wheel travels much more smoothly through its full travel. Very happy with the end result.

I bought mine from PDQ in Berkshire at £100 for the pair. They're easy to fit and adjust, however you have to remove the damping rods and drill six 8mm holes in each. PDQ gets top marks for being friendly and helpful.

I looked at the RaceTech (US company) website to work out what part number I needed. There's also a description in there of how they work and list of distributors: www. racetech

For my '88 XT600Z the part is: FEGV S4101

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Barry
3AJ Tenere


[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 04 December 2004).]

Hi Barry,

Are they compatibles with the compressed air preload system on the ténéré forks ?
Why do you have to drill holes, and in the cartridges?

Regards,

Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt595 (edited 04 December 2004).]

From my understanding of the air preload on teneres it should work fine with the emulators. However, I don't use mine (zero pressure). This is a low-tech, very basic way to pre-load forks. You are much better off buying fork springs of the right stiffness for your load.

The basic principle of damper-rod forks (stock tenere forks) is that oil is forced through a hole as the suspension extends or compresses - this provides the damping. However as the hole is a fixed size, often either too much or too little oil gets through the hole - meaning the ride is either too soft or too harsh. For example, when the suspension tries to compress quickly, the oil can't get through the hole fast enough and slows the suspension - giving a harsh ride (wheel is unable to follow contour of road). Equally, when the suspension is moving only a little, too much oil gets through the hole and the suspension is under-damped and feels soggy.

The emulator uses a clever spring-loaded valve instead of a hole. The valve can 'sense' how much damping is needed and adjusts the size of its 'hole' to suit. You need to drill extra holes in the damper rod so that the oil flow is controlled by the emulator valve, and not the original hole in the damper rod.

I don't have anything to do with race-tech and I'm no suspension expert, but the emulators certainly made the bike feel much more capable.

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Barry
3AJ Tenere