Good Morning, All;
A couple of weeks ago, I took my V17 out on one of my favorite short trips. I head down I-25 to Los Lunas, then take Hwy 6 -aka Old (pre-1934) Route 66- west until it meets up with I-40, then I ride east back to Albuquerque. It's getting to where I like the 'beast' , I keep it in 5th or below and only use 6th when I'm on the interstate. This works well, but...There's a section of hwy 6 that has some pressure cracks in it, and my hands and arms were taking such a pounding that they were worn out by the time I got back to I-40. The lack of compliance in the front forks turned what is normally a fun ride into a 50-mile torture session. My hands and forarms were numb by the time I stopped to turn onto the freeway, it felt like I was on a solid (no suspension) front end. Question-What can I to to 'soften up' the fronty end a bit. I know it's not air-assisted (I wish it was), and I'm wondering what weight fork oil is used at the factory. At approx 235 lbs, I'm not a lightweight, so I don't think it was a lack of load issue. By the way, why did MaKaw not tie the rear shocks together to make setting the air pressure easier? I know this bike was built to a price point, but a length of airline and a Schraeder valve would not have added that much to the cost! Please reply with thoughts or advice, I welcome it all!
Hey Hank, I have experienced the same feeling you describe and I believe that is why Kawasaki recommends 28 lbs in the front tire. Of course 28 lbs wears the tire out faster than desired.
I ended up putting RaceTech Gold Valve Cartridge emulators in the front forks like I did on the XII. Big improvement.
The rear shocks don't bother me because I don't change the air pressure and check it once a month and no loss after almost 40,000 miles.
David;
What do the Race Tech Gold Valve Emulators do? I've heard of them before, but do not have a clue as to thier function. Also, couldn't a change be effected by using lighter weight fork oil? Thanks for your help!
Gold Valve Emulators make your suspension act similar to quality cartridge forks. Basically they handle the harsh bumps as well the normal bumps because they allow for multiple flow rates based on how fast the fork compresses.
Here is an explanation from Race Tech.
Damping rod forks are notorious for being both too harsh yet too easy to bottom. This is the nature of damping rod fixed orifice forks. In the past all that could be done to improve these forks was change spring rate, oil viscosity or damping hole size, until now.
Cartridge Emulators make damping rod style forks perform like well-tuned cartridge forks. These tunable valves sit on top of the damping rods and are held in place by the main springs. This makes them both simple to install and completely tunable for all conditions and rider preferences.
Track tests have consistently produce lap times that are 1 or more seconds a lap faster while Cruisers and Gold Wing owners rave at the increased control and ride quality.
David;
I checked out thier website and am very interested. A couple of questions-Will installing these affect my warranty (I still have 18 months left)? Also, do I have to remove stock parts to install these, or do they just 'drop in'? How do I adjust the orfices for the kind of ride I want?
Thanks for your help!
EVAHank wrote:David;
I checked out thier website and am very interested. A couple of questions-Will installing these affect my warranty (I still have 18 months left)? Also, do I have to remove stock parts to install these, or do they just 'drop in'? How do I adjust the orfices for the kind of ride I want?
Thanks for your help!
Ride Safe & Sane;
Hank & 'the Grey Ladies'
Hank, I pulled the forks and brought them to Traxxion Dynamics to get the full treatment done since my bike had over 30,000 miles on it at the time. New springs, bushings, seals, GVEs, polished, etc. The labor was very reasonable. I know on the XII, the oil flow holes in the forks had to be enlarged to allow for more oil flow and then the gold valves are used for the secondary oil flow or something like that.
I suggest you give Race Tech a call or go talk with a local shop who has installed them. Don Medina might also provide additional information becuase I know he did them on his XII. Not sure if he has on the 1700 yet.
I was also having the same problem, so I changed my fork oil to a 5w, I use Amsoil. Was a good choice I just returned from the Hill Country Tour, with the Lone Star Voyagers. The forks are working very smooth.
But the whole Race Tech upgrade is the very best. Maybe soon I'll be doing it, but for now just the fork oil change has worked.
Don Medina
President
NorCal Voyagers Club
AVA boardmember
I just got my taxes back and sent the V17 into the dealer for a check and an oil change. One of the things I asked them to do is to change the fork oil to 5wt. We'll see how that works. The Race tech Gold Valve emulators are on my 'bucket list', too, they look like the ultimate suspension upgrade for the V17.
I have been talking with RaceTech about this suspension option also. The rep stated that the front end would raise slightly but couldn't specify what "slightly" was or whether it would affect steering geometry. He discussed what the springs do and the cartridge emulators but didn't indicate whether I should install both? I was looking to upgrade because my main complaint with the Voyager 1700 is the poor steering and road feel entering high-speed sweepers, particularly if there are any road irregularities.
Has any Voyager 1700 owner done this upgrade? If so, just springs, emulators or both? It's a lot of money and it's great talking about what the upgrade should do but I really need to get feedback from someone who's done this on the 1700. Thanks!
I just did the fork springs from Race Tech. For my weight I use the second lights springs. After setting them up with 25mm of preload the front end dropped a bit. I used 5w amsoil oil, fork oil.
Now the 1700 rails in the corners. The ride is much smoother then stock.
