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RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators and Springs...

A note for anyone drilling the damper rods by yourself, It does not really say but it appears in Race Tech's instructions that you could drill a set of holes above and below the stock holes.
However, On this bike there is a sleeve, I believe they call it the bottoming cone, that covers the area below the factory holes on the damping rod.
You will have to make to pairs of holes above the factory holes, not a pair above and a pair below.

I am only making a note of it because I almost did it wrong.

I caught it in time and here is the properly drilled finished results.


I did end up installing those rings that I mentioned earlier as it make the valve move around less in the top of the damper rod.

I should have the forks back together tomorrow.
If I can remember I will take some pics as I go.

So far nothing has been terribly difficult.
 
I did end up installing those rings that I mentioned earlier as it make the valve move around less in the top of the damper rod.

I should have the forks back together tomorrow.
If I can remember I will take some pics as I go.

So far nothing has been terribly difficult.

A loose fit for the emulators is desirable if you think you'll want to make future adjustments without removing the forks. It's fairly easy to pop your fork caps, pull the spring, and fish the emulator out with a wire with a hook bent on the end. They drop back in and seat OK too. With the snap rings in place that may not be possible.
 
With the rings they still simply drop in place.
They just do not move side to side as much which probably does not matter that much since it is down in the fork tube.
The fit seems more acceptable with the rings.
They do not snap in or any thing like that.
 
My bike is set up for dual sporting and I kept the stock fork springs. And then put in emulators with all four holes drilled and the blue spring on the emulators. I also have a 1 inch lift as well. The ride is night and day difference. I can't imagine riding the bike without doing that work. I am 175 pounds and it's perfect. I left the rear shock stock
 
^^^^^^^^^^you maybe equally if not more impressed if you upgrade the rear as well........especially is a "dual sport" environment .
 
I hear yah the fun part is I have about 10 expensive hobbies and 4 kids with a stay home wife. It's a great bike but not my number 1 choice. For now it does what I want it to do and am happy with the budget friendliness of it.
 
You could do what myself and several others have done for the rear and run an 06-09 Aprilia tuono shock with a new spring from Race Tech or any other supplier.
I paid $80 USD for my shock and another $120 for a spring and I could not be happier.
I should also mention that I got another inch of travel out of the rear after installing the shock.
 
Noooop.
It's smaller in diameter and waaay too long... or is it too tall?
Either way it will not work.

I could probably take a pic of both stock springs if i can remember to do so.
Gotta lot on my plate at the moment.

This is the thread I got most of my info from.
Aprilia Tuono Rear Shock (Sachs)


I sorta "wung" it on my spring selection with a bit of calculated guessing but it worked.
Word is on the street that the stock NCX spring is about 15kg/mm but I can tell you that was way too light for my substantial heft.
 
Well, I like to consider myself a competent mechanic and tuner of all things mechanical.
However I don't know that I could have made a more rookie mistake on my gold valve install.

So RaceTech gives you some washers; four of them to be exact.
There is supposed to be one between the valve and the spring and one between the spring and the pre-load spacer.
Seems simple enough. Right?

WRONG.
Somehow I managed to get the washer standing in the fork tube beside the bolt and spring on the valve.
The washer got beat up a bit and the valve has a little mark where the washer was riding.



But wait, there's mooore.
Here is what the left side looked like.



Nothing was seriously damaged except for the washers but I have spares so it should be easy enough to put back together.

However, now my pre-load spacer is 26mm too short and I do not have enough spacer material to make two new ones.

I remedied the situation by cutting another spacer for each side and putting a washer between the two spacers so there's nothing weird going on.

A quick ride around the block and everything is much better.
I will get it out for a real test sometime this week.
 
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