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Rear Shock

You can adjust the spring preload, but there are no damping adjustments on the stock shock. AHAIK, If you want full adjustability, you will have to buy an aftermarket shock.

Bob
 
My Ohlins shipped today. Front suspension shipped yesterday from RaceTech. Won't be long!!!

Hi Beemerphile,
when your Ohlins will arrive can you give me some tech info?
I'd like to know if the leght is exactly the same of the stock one and if can be adjust....
 
Hi Beemerphile,
when your Ohlins will arrive can you give me some tech info?
I'd like to know if the leght is exactly the same of the stock one and if can be adjust....

I would be glad to. Are you talking about adjusting the length of the Ohlins or the stocker? I don't recall ever seeing a shock with user-adjustable overall length. I have had some that could be adjusted by the factory or by rebuilders.
 
I would be glad to. Are you talking about adjusting the length of the Ohlins or the stocker? I don't recall ever seeing a shock with user-adjustable overall length. I have had some that could be adjusted by the factory or by rebuilders.

I think the stocker can't be adjust in the lenght, if I'm not wrong the stock one can be adjust only in the preload...
Yes, I'd like to know if the lenght of the Ohlins is the same of the stock and if the Ohlins can be adjust.


Thanks! ;)
 
Ride height adjustment (overall shock length) is found on many premium shocks. I would be surprised if the Ohlins aftermarket NC700X shock did not have it but if the price really is about $620 US it may not include it.
 
Ride height adjustment (overall shock length) is found on many premium shocks. I would be surprised if the Ohlins aftermarket NC700X shock did not have it but if the price really is about $620 US it may not include it.

We'll know shortly. I know they asked if I wanted the stock ride height, and I said "yes". The Wilbers on my BMW were not user-adjustable for ride height, but they could be altered about 1/2" by a rebuilder.
 
Beemerphile, question what is RaceTech doing for the front forks? I've had Ohlins shocks, I've ofcourse heard of RaceTech but haven't ever delt with them. Are you just trying to firm things up or going full hard core racing with it?
 
Beemerphile, question what is RaceTech doing for the front forks? I've had Ohlins shocks, I've ofcourse heard of RaceTech but haven't ever delt with them. Are you just trying to firm things up or going full hard core racing with it?

I didn't want it firmed up and I didn't get a race set-up. I changed both the springs and the valving. I ride a lot of unimproved roads and I wanted both a plusher ride and better resistance to bottoming on large bumps. My problem was that it was harsh over rough roads, big gravel, or step changes like concrete interstate highway joints or a bridge that is a bit higher than the road. In all cases, the issue was too much high speed compression damping. I wanted to be able to separately tailor the low and high speed compression damping so that the suspension could be both firmer and plusher. Race Tech has a product called the Gold Valve that does an excellent job. The compression damping holes in the stock damper rod are drilled out and additional holes are added until the damper rod is effectively no longer doing any compression damping. The Gold Valve takes over this duty. It has open orifices that provide low speed damping similar to the stock rod, but when a fast change comes along the pressure rise causes the spring loaded high speed compression valve to open which allows the suspension to better follow the road surface. Rebound damping is adjusted by changing oil weight. I am using 15 weight oil vs. 5 weight as stock. Rather than two rate springs, RT uses single rate springs and tailors the progressive resistance by modifying the oil level in the forks - using air pressure instead of springs to increase the rate at higher compression levels. They have done enough of these that they can dial them in pretty accurately to what you tell them you want it to do.

There are probably people who do a better job for three times the money, but for value, I think RT does a great service. I haven't road tested it yet because the bike is still down for modification for another week, but I know just the bridge to test it on near my home. When I hit the deck of that bridge the first time on the NC, I thought I had run over a concrete block in the road. I expect the difference to be dramatic and for the RT and Ohlins combination to turn this into a comfortable and civilized tourer on good roads or bad.
 
Thanks man,I think I'll give them a call and check on what they can do for me, Price is a big factor. I had heard of the gold valve but hadn't got a solid description of what it did.
 
Um I think it is called cartridge emulator. The gold valves are for cartridge forks. The fork on the NC is a damper fork...

Here's a picture of one;

DSCN0498.jpg

They work by having a small hole for small bumps and a spring loaded big hole for big bumps. You can adjust the spring for firm or soft damping.
 
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Um I think it is called cartridge emulator. The gold valves are for cartridge forks. The fork on the NC is a damper fork...
Well, RaceTech calls them "Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators"...

Emulators

They work by having a small hole for small bumps and a spring loaded big hole for big bumps. You can adjust the spring for firm or soft damping.

Um, I thought that's what I said.
 
I would like to see a comparison ride report Stock vs Race tech

I did a race tech upgrade on a Burgman 650, But the burgman has a Very short Front suspension travel that causes a very abrupt harsh suspension, it did smooth most of the harshness out, but the rear shock replacement did the most good on that bike.
 
I had my hands knocked clean off the grips hitting a bump the other day. I can't say I've had that happen very often in my career. The front suspension isn't bottoming out, either. (unless it's doing it internally, and leaving inches to spare on the outside of the tubes, visually)***

"Harsh and jarring" is how I'd describe my front forks. My god, if my F800ST had it's forks like this, I would have probably been killed in the first day, due to the ABS utterly refusing to ever allow me to stop. As it was, most everyone complained that the F8's forks were way too soft, but I would have liked them even softer.

Comparitively, the NCX feels like it's got concrete instead of oil in there.

The rear I haven't really noticed one way or the other-possibly a little too stiff as well, but it doesn't er...(sorry) spring to mind when I am riding day to day. I have no instant complaint that overpowers my thoughts when tooling along.


*** could it actually be continuously bottoming out so badly that I am mistaking it for being way too stiff?
 
L.B.S. said:
*** could it actually be continuously bottoming out so badly that I am mistaking it for being way too stiff?

The forks are not bottoming. The single channel compression damping in the NC fork is essentially a hole in the damper rod through which suspension fluid flows. If the suspension is moving up and down slowly, all is well. But, if you hit a fast change in road surface like a pothole or a step increase like a board or a big rock or something, then when the fork tries to move quickly, it simply can't push the fluid through the hole fast enough. Since the suspension can't adjust fast enough, the whole bike moves. What is needed are separate high and low speed compression damping circuits so that when a fast step change comes along, the fork switches to a larger orifice than can flow enough fluid to allow the suspension to quickly move with the changing road surface. If the single circuit had a large enough port for good fast damping, it would be horribly underdamped at low speeds. This is a budget suspension. In my view it is the most unfortunate shortcut they took to make this a low cost motorcycle and that is why it was one of the first things I changed. There is no spring or fluid change that can give it what it needs. The RaceTech emulators provide high and low speed tunable compression and rebound damping. It seems impossible, but the suspension can be made firmer but still have better compliance and comfort than the stock set-up. Win-win. Einstein said that "a thing should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." In the case of the NC front suspension, they made it so simple that it was ineffective. It needs to be a bit more complicated.

It amazes me the number of people who think nothing of bolting on a different muffler for $500 because they want a different sound, but they don't want to spend $500 on the suspension and are looking for a $100 cure.
 
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The forks are not bottoming. The single channel compression damping in the NC fork is essentially a hole in the damper rod through which suspension fluid flows. If the suspension is moving up and down slowly, all is well. But, if you hit a fast change in road surface like a pothole or a step increase like a board or a big rock or something, then when the fork tries to move quickly, it simply can't push the fluid through the hole fast enough. Since the suspension can't adjust fast enough, the whole bike moves. What is needed are separate high and low speed compression damping circuits so that when a fast step change comes along, the fork switches to a larger orifice than can flow enough fluid to allow the suspension to quickly move with the changing road surface. If the single circuit had a large enough port for good fast damping, it would be horribly underdamped at low speeds. This is a budget suspension. In my view it is the most unfortunate shortcut they took to make this a low cost motorcycle and that is why it was one of the first things I changed. There is no spring or fluid change that can give it what it needs. The RaceTech emulators provide high and low speed tunable compression and rebound damping. It seems impossible, but the suspension can be made firmer but still have better compliance and comfort than the stock set-up. Win-win. Einstein said that "a thing should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." In the case of the NC front suspension, they made it so simple that it was ineffective. It needs to be a bit more complicated.

It amazes me the number of people who think nothing of bolting on a different muffler for $500 because they want a different sound, but they don't want to spend $500 on the suspension and are looking for a $100 cure.

If I had to pick an area where I knew the least about bikes, it would easily be suspension set up. That's not to say I'm a complete 'tard when it comes to this, but I certainly sit at the back of the class looking out the window.

Modern day LBS' whole raison d'etre is all about plush and comfy soft if at all possible, with a grudging nod given to the sordid neccessities of combating "too" plush and having hard parts try to occupy the same time/space.

Back in my friskier roadracing track years, I fiddled a fair amount with the boingy bits, but for the most part, went slower there, or faster here, or nudged #58 a little further off line, lol.

I may just have to poke at these Emulator doohickeys with a stick one day, and see what happens.:)
 
Hey Beemerphile,

Did you have to open/drill larger holes in the dampner tubes, I had to open mine up per Race tech to allow more fluid transfer, then pick the proper springs, it was acutally fairly straight forward and no more complicated than rebuilding front forks other than the emulators being put in place.

Some of the guys over on the Burgman site just opened these holes up and they said it helped a lot but when you understand how the Race tech system works it makes sense why the emulator s are in there.
 
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