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Note: Sorry, this isn't a step by step or a how to, or anything meant to be looked at as something to use for a procedure on doing the work, it's just a few pictures and some observations of mine.
I am ecstatically happy and beyond thrilled with the things so far, I am in awe of how freaking awesome the forks feel now... I am also extremely pleased with my dealings with where I got the valves- bakeandbike on eBay. Fast, answered emails immediately, checked to make sure I was happy, assured a prompt refund if they did not fit, and contacted Ricor on my behalf for technical questions.
Product listing, details and Vendor:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICOR-INTIM...-TRANSALP-/171140298718?vxp=mtr#ht_1208wt_909
*A couple things had me a little spooked with this project. Since there is no listing for Ricor Intiminators for an NC700X (yet) I had to throw a dart at what I hoped would be, a close enough other bike model, to work. The NC's forks are 41mm, and a Honda Transalp (of various model years and displacements) are 41mm, so I crossed my fingers and ordered those ones.
**Secondly, I have no idea how tight a fit an Intiminator is supposed to be inside the fork tube! I know they are theoretically supposed to slide down in with a certain amount of force, enough to prevent fork oil from gushing up in between the inner wall and the valve, so that the fluid gets directed through the holes in the bottom of the valve instead, but not so tight a fit that they can't be removed easily, so, how does one know what this tolerance is supposed to be or feel like? I have no clue...
*,** EDIT
Received an email from Don at Ricor saying what I described as: "like a very light feeler gauge drag feeling when adjusting engine valves" sounded just right, for what I thought the clearance felt like when sliding the Intiminators down the fork tubes. Tentatively then I would say yes, the 41mm Transalp Intiminators work for the NC700X forks. NOTE! I still don't hold Ricor or Don at fault if the things aren't quite as they should be; and I don't express any guarantee that they are 100% a perfect compatible match either, so please consider this if you are considering doing an install of your own!
This is another thing- my measurements and methods are extremely suspect as far as accuracy goes, I went through the whole day mentally cringing at the thought of what Lee would be saying if looking over my shoulder, hee hee hee.
This pic is *roughly*, what I could gather was the inside diameter of the fork stanchion tube. It could be completely useless though.
This pic is of what the Ricor outside diameter is, *roughly and crudely* with the springy oil control ring compressed as tight as possible.
The last picture, is again, *roughly* what it "felt like" to me, how far the oil control ring was actually compressed, when it was slid down into the fork tube. I have absolutely no frigging clue what kind of tight/loose spec it should be, I will be quite deflated if (I'm going to pester Ricor with emails to try and find out what this should be) I discover that I've ballsed-up the install, and they sneer at my hack shade tree fumblings, lol.
I couldn't see a huge difference in the spring split distance, between 100% compressed, and what I felt like it was like when in the tube. All I know is I am gobsmacked how awesome the forks feel now, I went for every hideous pothole, divot, manhole cover, you name it flaw and bad pavement irregularity on the way home, and I was giddily chortling inside my helmet with the Rolls Royce plushness and sheer excellence of el cheapo Honda "bargain basement budget forks" (The rear shock *sucks* now, lol!)
Another thing which had me scratching my head, was Ricor specs Amsoil Shock Therapy Fluid #5 to go with the Intiminators. This stuff is harder to get than Platypus teeth and Unicorn feathers.
I poked around until I came up with the closest match I could get where I am on short notice to the Amsoil, Maxima Racing fork fluid 85/150 "5 weight". I won't go into the whole centistokes, viscosity and viscosity index thing, suffice it to say what a fork oil "weight" is listed as, does not mean that's what it really is, All "5 weights", are not 5 weight, some could be closer to 7 or 10 when actually compared to each other, using specific tests to determine these things.
Anyway. The Honda manual specs 17.4 fluid ounces for each fork, as the amount of oil to put in. 17.4 X 2 = 34.8 fluid ounces required to do a two fork fluid refill.
The bottle of fork fluid I bought, says: 1 litre/33.8 fluid ounces. Auugh! I only noticed this after it was too late to do anything about it, stupid me. This meant (I thought) that 34.8 minus 33.8 equals 1.0 ounces short I'd be, or about 1/2 ounce per fork. I tried to convince myself that there would be dregs of old fluid still lurking in the recesses of the tubes, and the new valves themselves would displace a wee bit of volume, so I (crosses fingers again, shrinks from Lee's rolling eyes) hoped things would magically work out okay...
The Maxima bottle lied about the amount actually in it! There was easily *more* than an ounce of oil left in the bottle, after I had poured 34.8 fluid oz into a graduated cylinder! I am stumped at how there could be such a big discrepancy, but I sure wasn't complaining. Note, I didn't pour the fluid into each fork and have left over, I poured straight into a known true volume holding device.
ps Technically, I *think* you are supposed to cut down the preload spacer tubes by the thickness of the Ricor valves if you want the existing specs to stay the same, but A: I forgot, and B: it needed more preload anyway, lol. Also, I am eventually going to wait for it...wait for it....Spring for some kind of threaded preload adjusters off EBay or OEM CB1100 or something, and at that time will revisit the spacer tube and see if it needs a wee bit of trimming.
pps Also, beyond amount of oil to put in each fork there is a spec for how high the level of oil is in the fork, measured with the fork collapsed, Ricor valve installed, but spring not in yet. It is supposed to be 104 mm down from the top of the fork, cap off. I made sure to add/subtract tiny little syringe amounts of oil until this exact spec was met, as well.
I am ecstatically happy and beyond thrilled with the things so far, I am in awe of how freaking awesome the forks feel now... I am also extremely pleased with my dealings with where I got the valves- bakeandbike on eBay. Fast, answered emails immediately, checked to make sure I was happy, assured a prompt refund if they did not fit, and contacted Ricor on my behalf for technical questions.
Product listing, details and Vendor:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICOR-INTIM...-TRANSALP-/171140298718?vxp=mtr#ht_1208wt_909
*A couple things had me a little spooked with this project. Since there is no listing for Ricor Intiminators for an NC700X (yet) I had to throw a dart at what I hoped would be, a close enough other bike model, to work. The NC's forks are 41mm, and a Honda Transalp (of various model years and displacements) are 41mm, so I crossed my fingers and ordered those ones.
**Secondly, I have no idea how tight a fit an Intiminator is supposed to be inside the fork tube! I know they are theoretically supposed to slide down in with a certain amount of force, enough to prevent fork oil from gushing up in between the inner wall and the valve, so that the fluid gets directed through the holes in the bottom of the valve instead, but not so tight a fit that they can't be removed easily, so, how does one know what this tolerance is supposed to be or feel like? I have no clue...
*,** EDIT
Received an email from Don at Ricor saying what I described as: "like a very light feeler gauge drag feeling when adjusting engine valves" sounded just right, for what I thought the clearance felt like when sliding the Intiminators down the fork tubes. Tentatively then I would say yes, the 41mm Transalp Intiminators work for the NC700X forks. NOTE! I still don't hold Ricor or Don at fault if the things aren't quite as they should be; and I don't express any guarantee that they are 100% a perfect compatible match either, so please consider this if you are considering doing an install of your own!
This is another thing- my measurements and methods are extremely suspect as far as accuracy goes, I went through the whole day mentally cringing at the thought of what Lee would be saying if looking over my shoulder, hee hee hee.
This pic is *roughly*, what I could gather was the inside diameter of the fork stanchion tube. It could be completely useless though.
This pic is of what the Ricor outside diameter is, *roughly and crudely* with the springy oil control ring compressed as tight as possible.
The last picture, is again, *roughly* what it "felt like" to me, how far the oil control ring was actually compressed, when it was slid down into the fork tube. I have absolutely no frigging clue what kind of tight/loose spec it should be, I will be quite deflated if (I'm going to pester Ricor with emails to try and find out what this should be) I discover that I've ballsed-up the install, and they sneer at my hack shade tree fumblings, lol.
I couldn't see a huge difference in the spring split distance, between 100% compressed, and what I felt like it was like when in the tube. All I know is I am gobsmacked how awesome the forks feel now, I went for every hideous pothole, divot, manhole cover, you name it flaw and bad pavement irregularity on the way home, and I was giddily chortling inside my helmet with the Rolls Royce plushness and sheer excellence of el cheapo Honda "bargain basement budget forks" (The rear shock *sucks* now, lol!)
Another thing which had me scratching my head, was Ricor specs Amsoil Shock Therapy Fluid #5 to go with the Intiminators. This stuff is harder to get than Platypus teeth and Unicorn feathers.
I poked around until I came up with the closest match I could get where I am on short notice to the Amsoil, Maxima Racing fork fluid 85/150 "5 weight". I won't go into the whole centistokes, viscosity and viscosity index thing, suffice it to say what a fork oil "weight" is listed as, does not mean that's what it really is, All "5 weights", are not 5 weight, some could be closer to 7 or 10 when actually compared to each other, using specific tests to determine these things.
Anyway. The Honda manual specs 17.4 fluid ounces for each fork, as the amount of oil to put in. 17.4 X 2 = 34.8 fluid ounces required to do a two fork fluid refill.
The bottle of fork fluid I bought, says: 1 litre/33.8 fluid ounces. Auugh! I only noticed this after it was too late to do anything about it, stupid me. This meant (I thought) that 34.8 minus 33.8 equals 1.0 ounces short I'd be, or about 1/2 ounce per fork. I tried to convince myself that there would be dregs of old fluid still lurking in the recesses of the tubes, and the new valves themselves would displace a wee bit of volume, so I (crosses fingers again, shrinks from Lee's rolling eyes) hoped things would magically work out okay...
The Maxima bottle lied about the amount actually in it! There was easily *more* than an ounce of oil left in the bottle, after I had poured 34.8 fluid oz into a graduated cylinder! I am stumped at how there could be such a big discrepancy, but I sure wasn't complaining. Note, I didn't pour the fluid into each fork and have left over, I poured straight into a known true volume holding device.
ps Technically, I *think* you are supposed to cut down the preload spacer tubes by the thickness of the Ricor valves if you want the existing specs to stay the same, but A: I forgot, and B: it needed more preload anyway, lol. Also, I am eventually going to wait for it...wait for it....Spring for some kind of threaded preload adjusters off EBay or OEM CB1100 or something, and at that time will revisit the spacer tube and see if it needs a wee bit of trimming.
pps Also, beyond amount of oil to put in each fork there is a spec for how high the level of oil is in the fork, measured with the fork collapsed, Ricor valve installed, but spring not in yet. It is supposed to be 104 mm down from the top of the fork, cap off. I made sure to add/subtract tiny little syringe amounts of oil until this exact spec was met, as well.
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