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So I finally got my RT springs and emulators installed last week, and had a chance to actually hit some twisties earlier today.
W
H
O
A
Major difference in handling. I know I'm not the first person to say this, but it's true. This is easily my favorite mod I've done, and I've done quite a bit. While I've liked all my mods, and think they were all worthwhile and worth the $, this is the only one that has given me a shit eating grin.
Springs: Properly rated for me weight, they were either .95 or 1.0kg (dont remember off the top of my head). The bike is MUCH more predictable. I had ~77k miles on it and the original springs/oil. Going through turns, the bike would almost drift wide. I've heard people describe their bike corning on rails after upgrading, I now know what they mean. It goes exactly where I point it, and stays on that line. I don't drift wide after passing the apex of turns. If I hit a crest or dip in a hard turn, the suspension isn't unsettled, I don't have a floating/diving sensation. Brake dive is drastically reduced. It is not eliminated, but what remains is very linear instead of happening as soon as I lightly apply brakes. Over all, the bike is more predictable, more stable, inspires much more confidence, and is a shitload more fun.
I'd honestly go so far as to call this a safety upgrade. Sure it's a performance upgrade too (duh) but it makes the handling so much more precise and predictable that I think it would make learning to ride easier and safer. If you only have ~$100 to spend on modding your bike, get proper springs.
Emulators:
I actually oopsied on the install a bit. I misread something and didn't drill the holes on the damping rods large enough. As a result, I don't think they're really doing anything/much yet. So that needs addressing. The purpose of them is to make the ride more plush - didn't happen. I pulled out the install instructions to reference the tuning guide (they are highly tunable and it's easy to do) and noticed my damping rod mistake. So I have to go back in at some point soon and get that taken care of before I can really comment fully on the emulators.
While corning, the bike felt more stable and planted and less upset by minor bumps/dips. Straight line, I don't notice a difference. But again, that's on me. Once I get the rods taken care of, I'm sure I'll notice a difference.
I currently have the yellow spring installed on the emulator which is more intended for racing purposes, and have 2 turns of preload on it. I'll leave that when I fix the damper rods, and see how things go. But I'm expecting to swap to the blue spring (recommend for road use) because I honestly don't ride very aggressively and commute more than 95% of the time I'm on the bike. I'd rather have the slight bias towards comfort instead of performance.
All in all, super happy and I know it will only get better. If you can rebuild forks, you can install emulators. (and obviously install springs) I don't consider this a complicated mod.
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