[svjam]

Have you guys every try race tech suspension on your 1800? there gold valve set up. Just asking, first time. new to me 2006, 4300 mile
:?:

 

[ddking]

Someone here has and will probably respond. A better [and more expensive] suspension can be found here:

www.traxxion.com

 

[magek]

I had my front end done with the Race Tech springs and gold valves. Really like it. Bike handles much better over bumps, in corners, everywhere. Sent my forks into GMD Computrak in Atlanta and it was around $500 plus shipping.

 

[Tangleyes]

I installed the Race Tech. Gold Valves, springs and oil in my forks a couple of months ago. Have about 1000 miles on them.

They are a lot better than stock stuff. The valves are adjustable, but I don't believe that I will try that route. They do smooth out the road bumps quiet a bit.

The full traxxion upgrade would definately be better. It would also be more expensive. If I have the spare funds, I would go with the traxxion.

If I can be of any more help, just let me know.

Dwight

 

[powderhound5]

Have you guys every try race tech suspension on your 1800? there gold valve set up. :

I was Paul Theade's test bike for the Race Tech front end. I shipped my forks to him in Jan 2005 and they built their first goldwing setup for my bike. They charged me the full shot ( fair ) and wrote off all of their R&D time on the invoice - extremely fair.

I have run over 50K on the Race Tech Front end with a Works rear shock included the 4 corners tour, The IBA National Parks Gold ride (Includes Alaska) and the 2005 Iron Butt rally.

I hit a large rock this spring at a high rate of speed in the ground fog - resultant damage was a bent triple tree, centre stand , front rim and fork tubes. I believe that the Race Tech set-up helped absorb the blow and assisted me in staying upright and riding home the 500+ miles that day with a damaged bike.

I have read about the tractions system with interest and it seems to also be a fine system - though without a side by side test I am unsure how one can declare that one is superior to the other. I went with Race Tech because of their track record and reputation

Any suspension setup that is purpose built for the rider, the weight (loaded) of the bike and your riding style has to be an improvement

Bill Watt

 

[ddking]

I have read about the tractions system with interest and it seems to also be a fine system - though without a side by side test I am unsure how one can declare that one is superior to the other.

I'm not a tech person. However, Traxxion puts a shock absorbing cartridge in each fork. I would assume Race Tech keeps the damper rod in one fork leaving only one cartridge. Two vs one is the reason I would guess Traxxion is maintained to be better. But like I say, I'm not a techie.

 

[Strider]

SVJAM, your right about the suspension needing major rework done . Check out Fred's suspension reviews . http://www.angelridevideos.com/reviews/

I personally don't think there is any comparison between what Race Tech verses what Max at Traxxion does to the suspension . You bought a great bike why settle for less, go with the traxxion set up .

Good luck

 

[gpick]

I'm not a tech person. However, Traxxion puts a shock absorbing cartridge in each fork. I would assume Race Tech keeps the damper rod in one fork leaving only one cartridge. Two vs one is the reason I would guess Traxxion is maintained to be better. But like I say, I'm not a techie.

I have Traxxion on my Wing and put Race Tech on my Burgman 650. The reason I tried the Race Tech with the Burgman was the cost of the upgrade relative to the value of the bike and because the Burgman has damper rods in BOTH forks.

Race Tech makes Gold Valve for cartridges and a Gold Valve emulator for damping rods. The mod to the damping rod involves drilling extra holes at the bottom of the damping rod to negate the rods damping effect. The so-called "valves" in a damping rod are merely holes drilled into the rod (better described as a tube) near the bottom. This allows the oil to go in and out, but since the holes are fixed such a setup can never be optimized for both high and low compression. So after drilling the extra holes to allow the oil to flow more freely, the rod is reinstalled with a Gold Valve Emulator which sits on top of the damper rod tube and is held in place by the fork's spring. The Emulator has rather large fixed valves (holes) in it, but these are covered by a stack of thin metal shims compressed by a small spring. It is the setting of this spring that allows the Emulator to blow off in a high compression bump.

The Burgman is much improved as, like the Wing, it has saggy front springs and no high compression damping in its stock form. As other's have said one would have to compare head to head on the same bike to evaluate the differences.

My reasoning concerning the Traxxion setup for the Wing was as follows:
Whereas the Burgman had two damping rods, the Wing has a damping rod in the left and a cheap cartridge in the right. If you were to look at an OEM next to an AK20 you would know what I mean. I think there may be some photos posted with this. In any event, I just wasn't crazy about putting a bandaid on both forks on a big, heavy bike and the cost of the Traxxion upgrade relative to the value of the bike made more sense to me. Finally, I planned to ride the Wing for long distances, 2 up under all kinds of conditions and I wanted it to ride as good as I could make it.

In comparing the two bikes, both in their OEM form had the same harshness over high compression bumps. With the retrofit the Traxxion equipped Wing has a much more plush ride than the Burgman, however, one would certainly hope so. I had expected the stock Wing to be more plush, but it was not.

In modifying the suspension of the Wing with an eye on the budget I think there are three reasonable configurations.

Good: Traxxion rear shock and Traxxion or Race Tech front springs.
Better: Traxxion rear shock with Race Tech front springs and emulators.

Best: Traxxion front and rear.

 

[Strider]

I'm having Race Tech springs installed right now on my '03. They recommend the 1.0 Kg/mm for a guy my size. Here is their website.

Max McAllister



Joined: 21 Dec 2005
Posts: 401
Location: Woodstock, GA
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:25 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some more info...

1.0 kg is not even close to the rate the GL requires. They recommend 1.0 because that is the stiffest spring they sell. If you actually follow the link that azjerry provided, the RT site cannot provide a spring rate throught their calculator.

On another note, Race Tech springs are always one full rate softer than their box claims. I have three digital rate testers in my shop and all concur. So RT 1.0 is really only a .95kg/mm. We have tested thousands of sets over the years.

It is easy to be confused or misled about spring rates. "Stiffer" has a negative connotation. Stiffer springs WHEN PROPERLY INSTALLED will have substantially less preload, and can often feel SOFTER than stock springs (depending on the bike). The idea is to have a spring firm enough to support the bike in high load situations like pavement dips, and sweeping corners, but be plush feeling under ordinary use.

Digger, t is entirely possible for the "right" springs to give bad results. We find lots of reasons for this. I don't know if you installed them yourself, and I am not trying to insult you, but I am being general here...

99% of people refuse to read instructions. Period. They just look at a pair of springs and say "I've been working on my own bikes for twenty years, and I don't need anyone to tell me how to install a stupid pair of fork springs..." And then they are unhappy....

Preload is very critical. Most aftermarket springs are not the same length as the original springs. A proper spring and spacer combo must be made. We have found people (Registered Factory Techs included) will open the box, and just jam whatever is in the box into the fork without reading anything.

It sounds like in your case, you had a severely over preloaded fork spring. This will take away the free sag, and exhibit the symptoms you describe. But it is impossible to guess at this point.

We have tried to elimanate this by supplying PRE CUT spacers for all bikes. We will do the same for the Wing.

I will have a spring only spec for you guys tomorrow, or Friday at the latest.

Digger, if you want, you can "try before you buy" and I will send you a set up and you can report back here how things go.