sorry saml01 for the hijack.
i'm curious. racetech says to measure your oil with everything out except the emulator. using the level method, it seems to me that i can achieve the proper amount "per the book". but for me, it would seem that i wouldn't be able to get the correct amount as stated by the manual if i used the cc method. right? don't you measure out the oil first before pouring it in? or did you put the emulator in a measuring cup and then pour the oil in to account for its displacement? not trying to discredit you, if your setup works, fantastic! i'm at the stage of tailoring my ride, which will obviously diverge from the manual. just trying to see if i can use your technique to achieve what i want.
what do you mean 1.25" of preload? how is measurement taken? forgive me, i just do what the installation steps say and by using these steps i never came up with that number. the closet to a 1.25" measurement was the 1.5" of thread at the top of the stachion.
progressive said no PSI, so i have no PSI at the moment.
cool thanks
it's not a pioneering setup, i've read and heard others install this configuration with satisfying results. but like you said, there probably isn't much analysis to fully understand the dynamics.
I'll try to take 'em one at a time, beginning with the statement that fine tuning these setups will for sure get you off the beaten path and that that are several answers to any problem as well....
When I said, "don't do that" I merely meant -don't use the "level-inch" method when the forks are compressed, using it is fine, but the references I've sen for inches is measured with the forks extended unless I have completely lost my mind, which is possible on some days : ), and yes you are correct that the racetech I.B. says with some of the pieces not in place. In actuality I used thier method exactly, and then fine tuned it from there, and then ended up going back in and measuring the level I had that was working for me and recording it as a baseline, that was with the springs and emulators in place but not the pre-load spacer....In truth it doesn't really matter whether you use CC's or inches as long as it consistent and makes sense to you........
Pre-load; my pre-load measurent was the amount of Spring compression that took place when installing the top cap with the front wheel off the ground, I.E. The amount I had to compress the spring to engage the cap threads, plus the amount of compression that took place while tightening the cap.....this was after several different variations of set up in which I can't remember if I have more or less pre-load than the starting point..........
I also have 1" lowering spacers in the bottom of the forks which probably made my whole setup different, and for sure was against racetechs recommendations, I'll pull them out maybe some day, but the reason they are still in there is due to the fact that the reallly nice Works shocks I bought for cheap are about and 1" shorter than stock and I wanted to pull the front down to match...didn't want the handling to get to wierd, and 1" wasn't low enough to cause me any clearance isssues so far......
Once you get it all together you can then decide how much to adjust the pre-load to fine tune the static sag and race sag, which are sag numbers from fully extended, bike wieght, and bike and rider wieght if I remember correctly.....I've forgotten the details of this since I did it but I know I ended up changing the pre-load spacer length several times getting the sag to be whatever the recommended percentage of total travel that race tech or whatever resource it was that I found was recommending.....once I was done I felt that the overall stiffness was a little much so I ended up going to a 10 wt oil and it all feels OK to me now....
I have no idea where my emulators are set, I remember taking them out and adjusting them several times, and "think" they are set looser than the racetech baseline....??
Ultimately how you set it up is really up to you and how it feels to you...My only "don't do that" opinion was that using the inch method with forks comepressed or not extended is probably going to send you in the wrong direction unless the inch number you are using is one you came up with your self using that method, since most numbers others and the manuals are quoting are for the forks extended.....
hope this helps..
