fork Preload Adjusters
You just answered my next question. Thanks.
Did you still use the lighter oil for the Ricors? I guess it's necessary.
Did you take a 1/2" off the spacer length calculation to accommodate for the Ricors?
Thanks.
Thread Starter
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Road Master
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 849
Likes: 13
From: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
So what is the proper preload for the riders weight? I changed the old ¨liquid¨ (since it was so old and degraded that I can't even call it oil) to Screaming Eagle and it made a big difference but still I'm sure its not where it should be.
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,535
Likes: 42
From: Bossier City, LA
Preload will vary depending on the rider. You basically want the sag, with you sitting on the bike, at 1/3 of the total suspension travel. For simplicity, say you have three inches of travel you'd want the laden height of the suspension to be 1" lower than the height at full extension. There are tons of articles online of how to measure sag.
The springs I'm running are about 3" shorter than the stock springs. Initially I added that difference minus the 1/2" for the ricors and I couldn't compress the caps within 2" of the fork tubes. I'm running a 1kg single rate spring which is much stiffer than the .96kg variable rate spring that's stock. It may not seem like a huge difference, but a variable, or progressive spring has a much softer section that compresses easily before it gets into the stiffer section of the spring. I ended up running a 7" spacer, which was the tallest I could run and still get the fork caps on. My sag is about 3/4" to soft and the adjusters will make up for that.
I'm running 10wt Amsoil Shock Therapy. My ricors are stock but they will be getting modified with new shim stacks and valve porting. Once that's done I plan to change to 5wt Amsoil. Every fluid comes out differently on how they measure viscosity and no one has convinced me that there is a better fluid than Amsoil.
I have a pretty in depth thread in this setup that explains why it works. The link is below. I talked to many suspension companies and none of them agreed on what was best. This is my 5th fork setup and is by far the best. I don't think it would compare to Ohlins cartridges, but it cost about $600 vs $1500.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-glide-models/764904-front-suspension-upgrade.html
The springs I'm running are about 3" shorter than the stock springs. Initially I added that difference minus the 1/2" for the ricors and I couldn't compress the caps within 2" of the fork tubes. I'm running a 1kg single rate spring which is much stiffer than the .96kg variable rate spring that's stock. It may not seem like a huge difference, but a variable, or progressive spring has a much softer section that compresses easily before it gets into the stiffer section of the spring. I ended up running a 7" spacer, which was the tallest I could run and still get the fork caps on. My sag is about 3/4" to soft and the adjusters will make up for that.
I'm running 10wt Amsoil Shock Therapy. My ricors are stock but they will be getting modified with new shim stacks and valve porting. Once that's done I plan to change to 5wt Amsoil. Every fluid comes out differently on how they measure viscosity and no one has convinced me that there is a better fluid than Amsoil.
I have a pretty in depth thread in this setup that explains why it works. The link is below. I talked to many suspension companies and none of them agreed on what was best. This is my 5th fork setup and is by far the best. I don't think it would compare to Ohlins cartridges, but it cost about $600 vs $1500.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-glide-models/764904-front-suspension-upgrade.html
Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 147
Likes: 0
They are cool. Never seen them on anything but sport bikes. I really can't see spending that kind of money on the adjusters when you could use it for better springs. Like someone said, once you get your pre-load doped in then there should be no reason to touch it (at least I can't think of any).
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,535
Likes: 42
From: Bossier City, LA
The issue is that with "good springs" it's extremely difficult to compress the springs enough to gain the proper amount of preload. The adjusters allow you to use a shorter spacer which makes it easier to compress the springs and then adjust the preload to properly set the sag. I think I said that already.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,791
Likes: 57
From: N Texas
Hey ryderbiker, I think you are using the Intiminators modified by Fabrik8r? How does this help on the Dynas vs Touring that his thread is written about and how much is the mod? Sorry to sidetrack this thread a bit.
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Novice
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
From: Victoria, Australia
Same here. Just got an email saying another month before in stock.
