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
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Barry
XT600Z 3AJ Tenere (rebuild in progress)
SRX600
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