Reworking the damping rod

[lamoun]

Couple of years ago I installed racetech's emulators. Using 0.9Kg/mm Springs and 20w fork oil, the rebound damping wasn't enough and I couldn't find 30w oil.

To increase the rebound damping you can closed the rebound hole on the damping rod -> no describable change in the damping.

The problem with the GS fork is that the diameter of the seal on the bottom of the fork is much larger than the diameter of the damping rod. So you need to increase the diameter of the damping rod.

I sand the damping rod to make it rough, add some epoxy resin and fine sand it to the desired diameter.
The results are great! Using 5w oil I have enough rebound, and with 2turns of preload on the emulator spring (yellow) I also have enough compression damping.

More details in the following link.

http://www.twfracing.com/vbforums/showthread.php?t=954

Emulator Tip!
Don't add more compression holes per racetech's instructions (in the bottom of the stroke they will act as rebound holes). Just enlarge the ones already there.
If I remember correctly, enlarging them at 11mm is enough. (Area of each hole must be equal to half the area of the inside diameter of the rod ~15mm)

[burning1]

Thanks for the info, lamoun.

I've been running 15 weight oil without too much difficulty, rebound seems fine; perhaps there was differences between ours?

Cool to see a TWF link here on GSTwins. You run with those guys? Any chance I've seen you at an AFM event?

[lamoun]

You are welcome!

It is weird you find 15w enough. Kurlon used to race a GS500 and had to use 30w.
Mine ('06) with 20w oil, would rebound twice before coming to a stop (I know this is not the same as riding the thing, but every book and article I've read states it should not overshoot the equilibrium point). 

Here is a brief discussion with Kurlon
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=40080.msg601090#msg601090

burning1, I am no racer just occasional track day riding, I also live in Greece (minor detail )

[burning1]

I'm planning to visit Greece in August. If you can recommend anything I should visit that's off the beaten path, I would certainly appreciate it.

[lamoun]

Of'course! just tell me where your base will be?
Will you rent a bike/car, are you interested in long trips, do you already have planned an itinerary?

[burning1]

Our plans aren't very set yet, so no real base. The plan right now is to stay in hostels. To be honest, I have very little knowledge of Greece, I'm just super excited to explore a new country. My SO is the one who recommended it.

Plan right now is to head to London for busness, catch a flight to Greece, visit Turkey, and then head back to London before flying home. We may move our base partway through the trip to take in more of the country.