After looking at various options to improve the front end of our current project BolDor,the bullet was bitten and the budget blown on some trick internals from Racetech in the US
A set of gold valve emulators and 1kg/mm linear springs to suit my weight.
All that’s needed now is for my stantions to come back from the chrome platers and for me to remove the anti dive from the left damping tube and the adjustable rebound components from the right.
Full instructions specific to the VF are included so I don’t see any major issues with fitting,
only time will tell if it’s money well spent or not.
New bushes and seals are also being fitted so I expect to see at least some improvement
Regards Bif
Some people don’t like the anti-dive purely because of the fork behaviour under hard braking on choppy surfaces, it can cause the fork to become non-compliant and very harsh, which can cause lack of grip as well.
I am all for any improvement that works or enhances the performance/behaviour of a bike without any negative effects, but when there are negative effects, you then need to work our if it will suit your riding style and conditions.
Lloyd it sounds as though the conditions you ride in are suited to the anti-dive system and the way it was originally designed to work, lucky bastard!
No such luck here in Australia with some brilliant roads, separated by some truly awful ones at times, not to mention the wildlife, or as Paul discovered, the livestock!
How many bikes do you see fitted with anti-dive these days?
The main reason is the move to cartridge forks which are tuned to cope with the forces generated by braking.
The emulators mimick the function of a cartridge fork and so the anti-dive circuit is redundant.
If this works I will fit the same setup in the FE with NC30/SL650 forks
Regards Bif
Very true Bif, the shim stacks in cartridge forks allow them to be tailored to almost whatever you want from them.
Please update us on the performance of the refurbished/modified forks, it would be great to see them upgraded to near modern bike standards.
I understand, I love smooth tarmac and roundabouts but that is not going to help me right now as my prolink on the rear shock is seized and its the wrong time of year to fix it, will wait till its warmer
apart from that I am looking for a 51 seat coach on Ebay to convert to my new home. 8) but I haven’t figured out how to drive it home legally
Forks back from being rechromed,but overrun with work so not managed to get a start on rebuilding yet.
Hope to get some pics done as I go just to catalogue what’s involved in fitting this kit
Regards Bif
Not too bad a job at all,very detailed instructions and pretty much a step by step guide as what to do and when.
Pics have been problematic being as they won’t upload from my phone.
As a guide 7-25mm spring preload is recommended,as I prefer the front end firm I went with 25mm.
15wt oil is required with an air gap of only 150mm so 1lt of oil is neat with no room for spills.
The finished fork has a very smooth action,very controlled on the rebound,can’t wait to try it out.
Front calipers have been stripped and fitted with new Pistons seals slide pins and HH pads,black braided SS lines and dot 5.1 fluid.
I’ve also fitted a set of new floating discs so the whole set up should be at least as good as new(I hope)
regards Bif
It’s all together now Tony,there’s a few pics under “progress at last”.
The engine is in bits now so don’t have any actual riding feedback for you as yet.
I’ve got my son in law primed for Jan 30th to refit so there’s a bit of pressure on to have it ready.
All the shells are on order as are a set of camchains from Italy.
New inlet rubbers,camchain tensioners and guides and gaskets as well as piston rings are all here.
Regards Bif
Sorry bif, I didn’t realise it was still in bits.
You had to order cam chain from Italy? Bugger! I was lucky to find a bike shop not too far away that had DID 219 cam chain on a roll, peen over link and all done… well that oversimplifies the job!
Looking forward to hearing how your forks work out since it is easier than grafting a different front end on.
It sounds as though you will have a bloody nice bike once it’s up and running, good luck with the assembly and first press of the button.
Tony
I like the sound of the bike shops you have down there,cam chain on a roll now that is old school!
Up here the best you get is,sorry mate we don’t deal with anything that old,or sorry Honda don’t do the parts anymore.
“Equivalent chain” is available but I would sooner use some of my mums old knicker elastic.
Found a pair of NOS chains in Italy for £85.00 including shipping so can’t complain.
I’m not intending being back inside this engine so trying to cover all the bases this time round.
Best regards Bif
I’ll admit that I was dubious about the cam chain until I was shown the DID stamped into the plates!
Your mum must use strong knicker elastic if it compares even to cheap shit cam chain…
Good to see it is being done properly once instead of patch up work that you may have to do twice, “The cheap man pays twice” is a saying that comes to mind and I may have read that here somewhere?
Its taken some time Tony but it was worth the wait.the front end behaves impecably.
On a mix of rather poor and dirty back roads to dry dual carrageway it felt planted without the usual pogo feeling of the standard setup.
At low speed it does feel very firm,at high speed it felt good and stable,tracking accurately in bends.
I opted to go for the maximum preload but I will back this off once my adjustable fork caps arrive.
I will update once more miles are covered
Regards Bif
8) but I haven’t figured out how to drive it home legally
