Gold Valve Emulators for Ceriani

Laverdalothar

Laverdalothar

Hero member
Location
Germany
Hi there,

someone on the german forum asks if there is a drawing/installation description of what to change on a Ceriani fork when Gold Valve Emulators are installed. I think to remember that Paul did that once for the Marzocchi (can't find the drawing though), but maybe someone has some info for the Ceriani that the german mate can make use of, please? Pics/drawings prefered, we are all men and looking works better than talking/writing/thinking...  ::)

thanks
 
Everything you need to know about fitting emulators is in the RaceTech website and/or comes in the instructions. From memory the only thing that actually needs modifying is to drill out the holes for compression damping. It needs a very sharp drilllbit and best in a drill press to avoid getting a burr on the inside which is very hard to remove. On my Cerianis the recommended height for the lowest of the holes would have put it inside and blocked by the bottom out piece, so it would pay to check that on his setup. Other than that it is just to assemple as per instructions. A valuable tool is a long grabber for removing them easily while mucking about with them. Setting up the spring sag is probably trickier than fitting the emulators themselves. I?ll try to add a pic of the my setup.
 

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Here's Doug Home's instructions for fitting to Marzocchi.
http://www.laverdamania.net/emulatorgb.htm
I have an issue with some of Doug's technical info but this article isn't too bad. There's only a couple of errors in it! Nether are critical and won't affect how the forks will perform with gold valve emulators.
Error 1 - you don't need to drill the lower pair of holes in the bottom of the damper rod. It's no problem if you do drill them, it's just that they won't do anything because they are blocked by the lower damper rod socket.
Error 2 - he omits to mention that the thickness of the valve will affect spring preload, so you will need to re-set the suspension sag.

I've converted several sets of Marzocchi forks for gold valve emulators but I've never done Ceriani forks. Although I believe they're basically similar, as is any damper rod fork. I've got a set of Showa forks to do at some stage.
I don't use Doug's method of making a new top for the damper rod. I just modify the top that's already there. Saves quite a bit of time and effort, and produces exactly the same result.

author=rpm-bert link=topic=94198.msg344932#msg344932 date=1452851532]
are they really worth fitting ? :-\
Click to expand...

Yes. Probably the best modification you can do with old damper rod forks. If you do the installation work yourself, they're not expensive.

However, if your forks aren't working as well as they can before installing GV emulators, you probably won't notice any difference. So the first thing you should do to improve fork performance is to set them up properly. None of this is modification, it's just making the best of what you've got. Make sure they're not bent, have the correct grade springs and pre-load for your weight, are clean inside, have clean oil of the right quantity and grade. Also check that bushes are not too worn, seals good, and they're assembled correctly to minimise stiction.



 
"Yes. Probably the best modification you can do with old damper rod forks. If you do the installation work yourself, they're not expensive."
+1 and worth every cent.
No doubt about it in my opinion, no matter how you ride.
 
The first set I fitted was to a set of non Cartridge Kawasaki 43mm disc brake forks I was using on a drum brake Husky. They were fantastic for big bumps and jumps but were absolutely useless on small square edged bumps. After the emulators went in I couldn't complain about any type of bump at all. There great at making the fork work in all types of conditions.
 
I have uploaded a guide line for the Ceriani fork gold valve installation and a summarised set up guide to the library. I have published this some time ago in the German forum and received a positive feedback. Been too lazy to modify my German comments in the images though. However the translation of those comments can be found in the image description underneath the images.
 
All interesting info above since I'd like to improve the 38mm Cerianis on my 750 SF2. I was thinking of buying better springs but perhaps the emulators are the way to go?
 
TeddyG said:
All interesting info above since I'd like to improve the 38mm Cerianis on my 750 SF2. I was thinking of buying better springs but perhaps the emulators are the way to go?
Click to expand...
Definitely.
Correct springs for your weight is important, but emulators are fantastic, once everything else is set up.
I used Sports Valves from here in NZ, they ship anywhere so another possibility for you.
 
When I had my chassis and suspension shop I took the classes and got Race Tech certified. Installed a lot of emulators back then and always had good results. The adjustment process is messy and a PITA, since you have to pull out the springs and fish the emulator out of the tube to make a change. At a certain point the tendency is to just say “good enough” on your own bike.
 
That's the Sports Valves advantage: they stay in the fork, and you use a tool to adjust them after pulling the fork cap. Plus, they work on Compression and rebound, where Emulators only work on compression, but they are twice the price of Emulators. Yes the springs must be correct or your pissing into the brezze.
 
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