Showa vtx1300 Shocks for the XS?

[jetmechmarty]

Yes. You're mixing technologies. The emulators make your old forks behave like cartridge forks. They use valving rather than spring rates is the very short answer. You're also getting a response from someone who thinks very little of progressive springs. Once you ruin the damper rods and install the valves, you should be prepared to.commit to matching proper springs.

[bikerphil]

Here's some good straight wound fork springs, I have this type in my FJ forks and they are nice, no diving whatsoever with emulators. They really transform the bike's handling IMHO. Soon I'll be buying a set for the 79SF....

http://www.sonicsprings.com/catalog/...7db7eb5638a1d8

[jetmechmarty]

Phil,

What rate did you use?

It was easy for me because the tech at Traxxion asked the questions then provided the spring based upon my responses. It didn't hurt that I was able to do that in person.

[bikerphil]

Marty, I'm using the 90's. BTW, this company will exchange them for a different rate if not satisfied. At first I had 100's and I rode them around for a couple weeks and decided to go with the 90's. Rich over there at Sonic is most helpful.

[jetmechmarty]

Great option! Mine were custom wound at .95. I wonder if they provide that service.

[Orange4]

Just got my Ebay purchase of those NOS heavy duty springs I was looking at to go with the emulators. Good news is that they are not progressive. Don't know what rate they are but I will try to find that out. They are a heavier wire as expected.

SUPER IMPORTANT: If you buy these online make sure they are not just a set of stock springs that someone put back in the box. The stock springs have a 3" tighter progressive wind on one end, whereas the HD ones are straight wound.

I bought two pairs and one was a stock set repackaged. This was the bad news in my ebay purchase. I'm waiting to see what the seller does to fix the problem. It even had "stock springs" in felt tip pen on the box! All that after I specifically said to the guy that I was concerned about that. I did only pay $18 a set for them.

You can see the progressive wind on the stock spring on the right. The other set was obviously factory fresh wrapped in crisp, clean paper.

[Orange4]

Seller is going to refund or exchange them for me so that's good. At least I have one set to try out for now.

[bikerphil]

I made a spring rate checker once, seemed to work pretty well....

[Orange4]

That will do! Great idea.

[crazy steve]

I'll be the contrarian.....

Marty doesn't like progressively wound springs.... I do. I've ran both types with emulators, and while handling 'preciseness' is better with straight rate springs, I didn't care for the low/moderate speed harshness. Now, a lot of this is personal comfort and the kind of roads you travel; if you travel relatively smooth paved roads all the time, the straight rate will work fine. But get on a crummy secondary road and they can tend to beat on you on bit. RaceTech likes straight rate because you can eke every last bit of performance out of their combo with them; after all, this is 'Race' technology and that's what they aim at. And virtually all the aftermarket suppliers tend to 'over recommend' spring rates (even Progressive Suspension) if you say anything about 'weight' or 'handling'.... Note that both Phil and Marty had to 'step back' from the original rates. But you can tune emulators to work with progressive springs, I was satisfied with mine.

All this reminds me of a 'Handling Shootout' that Hot Rod magazine had years ago. There were two schools of thought on this represented by Dick Gulstrand and Herb Adams; stiff springs vs stiff sway bars. One insisted that springs were the key to handling, the other claimed that sway bars could perform the same function while retaining 'normal' driving comfort. They did the testing at a track (maybe Riverside Raceway?) and the 'spring' car narrowly won.... but nobody wanted it for a daily driver... LOL.

[Orange4]

This is one of those endless debates that really boils down to preferences. All springs are progressive to some extent but dual wound springs are just more progressive. I want sporty handling and don't do a lot of long trips so I'm going to go with the straight springs.

Made up some copper washers to allow the MikesXS emulators to fit on the standard damping rod. The damping rod needed to be filed flat as the stock machining was a bit rough and would not have sealed well.

Going to start with 3 turns on the emulators, 10 weight oil and go from there.

As for the preload, with the 14mm emulators and the 1/8" longer HD springs, I'm considering cutting down the preload adjuster to compensate. That can be done after the fact though so I'll see how it goes as is.

[Orange4]

While I have the forks apart I'm taking the chance to polish up the fork bodies.



One thing I noticed on these emulators is that the washer the installed under the lock nut covers a large portion of the return holes. Since the washer is supposed to spread the pressure of the nut but the washer barely rests on anything beyond the nut, I replaced it to the top of the bolt where it can do some good between the bolt and spring. Brass is pretty hard anyway so that nut will not damage it.

While searching how to determine spring rates I found this helpful article by Peter Verdone on springs. There are more links at the site for oil height, low and high speed damping etc.

He recommends polishing the outside edge of the springs to reduce friction. It should also reduce the black aluminum filings that cloud up the fork oil so quickly. A quick look at the old springs revealed some polished edges where the spring was in contact. I just ran the new springs through a piece of 1500 wet and dry held in my hand. I ran them through a piece of cardboard with some Autosol and then washed them off with soap and water. It took a few minutes and should keep my fork oil cleaner and reduce wear on the fork bodies if nothing else.

[Orange4]

Got everything together. Used 15 weight after all. Seems to have much better damping. Can't ride because it decided to rain today That's what happens when you slowly build a garage queen.

I have about 25mm of rider sag on the front now. A little low, probably. I may have to cut down the preload adjuster to get the 30-35 that most recommend. I'll ride it a bit to see how it runs in.

[Schming]

Lookin' Good !!!

Love them Skettis too

Don't forget the lock tabs on the front disc rotor bolts . . . but I know you are'nt done . . . are we ever ?

[IanDMacDonald]

Those fork lowers look good! What did you use to polish them?