Ricor Intiminators installed

[maxwellian]

Well said.

I definitely noticed a much more drastic difference putting the f4i shock on the back. I might try to tune the ricors a bit. Might eventually go with gold valves and an ohlins in the back.

I'm no suspension engineer, but I think at least part of the trouble might be that the valving demands are different on a longer travel fork that these transalp units were designed for.

 

[L.B.S.]

Well said.

I definitely noticed a much more drastic difference putting the f4i shock on the back. I might try to tune the ricors a bit. Might eventually go with gold valves and an ohlins in the back.

I'm no suspension engineer, but I think at least part of the trouble might be that the valving demands are different on a longer travel fork that these transalp units were designed for.

Quite so; and we shouldn't lose sight that the Ricors are able to be tuned like the Emulators too, with different shim stacks and thicknesses. How or if the inertia valve can be tweaked, I don't know though.

 

[maxwellian]

This guy enlarged and raised the inertia valve ports.

Who wants their Ricor Intiminators to work better? - Harley Davidson Forums

 

[maxwellian]

Another thought I'm having, The transalp has a spoked wheel, probably less unsprung weight, faster movement, so maybe our NC needs a heavier weight on the inertia valve.

 

[L.B.S.]

A much belated update after some real world riding smooth pavement, bad pavement, high and low speed canyon carving, off road trails, and mostly horrible washboard filled, pot holed, deep marble gravel logging roads. About 3,000+ miles worth of overall traveled distance, give or take this trip.

WooHoo! I :heart: my Ricor valves. (and my Nitron rear shock)

I don't think I could be happier with how my bike behaved and did it's duty in the rough stuff at slow, medium, and stupid speeds. Now don't get me wrong, they are not MotoGP quality forks suddenly, that transend all designs before them, I can still get some goodly thwacks through the bars under certain knife edged pothole conditions, but the stock forks would knock my hands clean off the bars under those same conditions, so no complaints from me, now!

A happy LBS

 

[Antarius]

A much belated update after some real world riding smooth pavement, bad pavement, high and low speed canyon carving, off road trails, and mostly horrible washboard filled, pot holed, deep marble gravel logging roads. About 3,000+ miles worth of overall traveled distance, give or take this trip.

WooHoo! I :heart: my Ricor valves. (and my Nitron rear shock)

I don't think I could be happier with how my bike behaved and did it's duty in the rough stuff at slow, medium, and stupid speeds. Now don't get me wrong, they are not MotoGP quality forks suddenly, that transend all designs before them, I can still get some goodly thwacks through the bars under certain knife edged pothole conditions, but the stock forks would knock my hands clean off the bars under those same conditions, so no complaints from me, now!

A happy LBS

I'm glad it worked out for you and you're happy with them! I did not have the same luck with mine and ended up going with RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators -- and drilled the damping rods etc. etc. The end result with mine is absolutely fantastic as well, and I can't believe I ever rode this bike without them.

Glad you're having the same result with your RICORS!

 

[L.B.S.]

I'm glad it worked out for you and you're happy with them! I did not have the same luck with mine and ended up going with RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators -- and drilled the damping rods etc. etc. The end result with mine is absolutely fantastic as well, and I can't believe I ever rode this bike without them.

Glad you're having the same result with your RICORS!

Thanks!

I think there definitely is a lot of room for personal preferences, varying degrees of "feel", and what constitutes good for one guy, indifferent or not good for another, with a lot of suspension tweaking. I'm just glad there are choices to be had!

 

[Antarius]

Thanks!

I think there definitely is a lot of room for personal preferences, varying degrees of "feel", and what constitutes good for one guy, indifferent or not good for another, with a lot of suspension tweaking. I'm just glad there are choices to be had!

Totally!

I found the RT's to be fantastic, but it is somewhat of a more complicated solution to the same problem; Requires machining, or at the very least a drill press, heavier oil, etc. etc.

The benefit of the RT's though, and this may help increase "feel" for some, is that you can run a heavier oil (since you've drilled out the damping rods) and the heavier oil SLOWS down the rebound rate (the rate in which the wheel heads back to the ground). That coupled with compression valving (which the ricor and RT both have) really smooths things out.

The downside... just flat out more work to get installed and "dialed in."

 

[gboswellsac]

Thanks Lane for the idea as it works great. The ebay url had the Ricors to me in two days ans Amazon the 5 ct fluid in two days after that. Had a small issue with the amount of fluid as one took the 500 cc (518 = 17.4) and the other did n't so I took them both apart again and made sure the Ricor Intimidators were in correct. After lots of pumping to get air out with 300cc both took the 500 cc with maybe a 50 cc +- . I added Gaiters when put back together and made sure the air/drain holes were on the back side. Unlike another the first thing i liked was the improved anti brake dive. Took a ride over a route with lots of imperfections I like and big improvement. I still feel the imperfections but with out the harshness and it feels more planted. I also took out on the expressway and other than the noise of the hight mph it still felt good at 70 - 80 mph. Thanks for being a trail blazer or is that guinea pig... I'm waiting on the CB1100 preload caps but may not install as i like the ride as it is. Now with a new rear tire I'll be ready to head to the Horizons Unlimited gathering in CA the 25. Thanks again for posting all you did and maybe need to see about that new rear shock you have.... Thanks. Excuse the rambling as I'm trying to use my Ipad with a keyboard instead of my MBP to have less to travel with... I'''m not a good student .....

 

[maxwellian]

So, I decided to try drilling my damper rods to 5/16", to see if I'd get a smoother response over sharp bumps.

It really worked. Bigger difference than just putting the Ricors and thinner fluid in. Washboard freeway slab is much smoother as well.

 

[Antarius]

So, I decided to try drilling my damper rods to 5/16", to see if I'd get a smoother response over sharp bumps.

It really worked. Bigger difference than just putting the Ricors and thinner fluid in. Washboard freeway slab is much smoother as well.

Good to know!

 

[treybrad]

So, I decided to try drilling my damper rods to 5/16", to see if I'd get a smoother response over sharp bumps.

It really worked. Bigger difference than just putting the Ricors and thinner fluid in. Washboard freeway slab is much smoother as well.

I could've sworn that I posted up my results, but I can't find where I did.... I drilled out my damper rods as well, in fact I went big with a pair of 5/16" holes drilled in each rod. I agree, drilling the rods really helped the valves do their job, I noticed a bigger difference doing that than just putting in the Ricors.

I put in RaceTech .90kg springs at the same time and had been running those for the last few months. Last night, I put the stock springs and spacers back in and I'm even happier. The heavier RaceTech springs were nice and sporty, but for my normal commute I think the stock springs are going to work better for me - just a little bit softer.

I'd love to ride mine back to back with someone with RaceTech or Cogent valves to compare. I think it's a huge improvement, but it'd be interesting to compare the three.

trey

 

[bamamate]

In a way this is proving out the RaceTech Gold Valve theory. They have you drill out the damper rods and add 2 more holes in it. This is to basically eliminate the damper rod from the equation for compression damping and allowing the valves to control it. They then say to use the oil weight to control rebound.

 

[maxwellian]

Yeah, I'm thinking most of the bikes that the Ricors are actually designed for might have larger damping holes and/or thicker oil to start with. I think a lot of the Harleys spec 15w oil.

 

[treybrad]

Yeah, I'm thinking most of the bikes that the Ricors are actually designed for might have larger damping holes and/or thicker oil to start with. I think a lot of the Harleys spec 15w oil.

+1. Don't forget these aren't actually designed for our bike... we just took the liberty of using the Transalp parts like they were

When I contacted Ricor his advice was to drill out the rods to eliminate the stock holes from the equation just like bamamate said.

Ricor's quote:

It is not critical as we are trying to remove it from the damping equation. If it is .250 then make it .312 or so.

In actuality, the stock holes were 4mm (~.157"), not 6.35mm (.250) as he was assuming. Makes me think our stock holes are smaller than most.

trey

 

[L.B.S.]

Awesome on the follow up details and experiments, guys!

I was/am still happy with mine as installed, but I now wonder how long it will be before I grow complacent with status quo, and start to eye 5/16" drill bits, lol

 

[wheelwatcher]

Lane. See how good it feels to be a Pioneer? It feels especially good when you escape direct arrow strikes. Congratulations. The "process" difference between the two is the "inertia valve" on the Ricors. They claim that it differentiates between fork movement and bike movement. Claims aside, what matters is how it rides, and it that regard you appear to be a happy customer. Traxxion makes cartridge emulators as well that are supposed to be better than RT Gold Valves. Problem is that they are twice as expensive. I am still happy with the RT Gold Valves, but I am glad to see the Ricors validated as an option.

Who wants to spring for the Traxxion emulators? Next Pioneer front and center!

A couple of observations:

1) Matching the prior spring rate may not be either necessary or even desirable. With the harshness removed, you are likely to be able to run higher spring rates now than before. So trying them first is a good idea. It is a double benefit that the suspension can be both firmer and more compliant at the same time. You can also adjust the progressiveness of the fork by changing the fluid level.

2) Adjustable preload on the front suspension is, I believe, an unnecessary expense. Once you get the preload properly set by setting the sag, I really doubt that you would ever need to adjust it again. Rear preload makes sense if you change loads drastically or sometimes carry a passenger.

But how do you set the sag if you are unable to adjust the preload on the forks? Inquiring mind want to know!

 

[L.B.S.]

But how do you set the sag if you are unable to adjust the preload on the forks? Inquiring mind want to know!

"unable" is a relative term- he means cutting the spacer tubes until correct sag is determined, and then everything is buttoned up and left alone once this has been done.

It may be that the further mucking with adjusting the front preload isn't really a day in day out constantly fiddled with thing needed for the vast majority of owners.

 

[AsureDawn]

First, want to apologize for the necro, but I felt this was the most relevant place and it was a really helpful thread.

I had some (41mm) Intiminators for a klr650 that I never installed (long story), so I emailed ricor asking if they'd work in my nc700x's forks. After a couple days and mentioning the fork seal dimensions from earlier in the thread, I was told they should Just Work™.

Planning to install them on my day off. Should I drill the damping rods or try them stock first? Leaning towards drilling them, but not sure.

P.S. The mobile interface is a bit iffy. Went to edit my post, but when I focused the text entry it redirected to the first page and my post was deleted. :/

Edit:
Just a quick update. Installed the intiminators with Maxima 5w fork oil (much thinner than what was in my forks, which was also dark gray, "smells like gear oil" according to my dad), unmodified spacer (so, a little more preload) and damper tube. Feels a bit softer getting on/off and riding around, seems like it dives a little more but I haven't done any measurements. Sharp bumps don't jar my hands enough to loosen my grip on the throttle anymore, but are still noticeable. Overall ride feels bouncy now (more than before), I assume due to the amount of damping/preload in the rear shock relative to the forks.

One of the forks has a little more oil than the other (forgot to siphon to recommended level after dropping intiminator in), and we didn't let the forks drain over night, so I'll be taking them off again next week probably. If anybody has any suggestions to improve the ride, I'm listening. Definitely considering a rear shock, though they're out of my price range right now.

(I'm about 135lbs geared up, bike is about 480lbs, usually ride solo with minimal luggage)

 

[Juan_Banjovy]

I put Ricor Intiminators in my Vstrom 650 years ago & got a Ricor rear shock with spring weight to match my weight. Smooth but controlled ride. There is a winding country road I often take but it's a little bumpy. When I'm pushing it the front tire spends a little less time in the air. Before the install it quickly got out of shape. I'll check their website & see if these fit the NC700X.