Fork emulators

[TM BILL]

I recently bought some RM 250/ 370 forks that had just been rebuilt and had emulators fitted .
Yesterday rode my RM 370B at a modern club day with the std forks  fitted . after the 2nd race I remembered the new forks on the bench at work so nipped back and fitted them to the 370 (local track is less than a Km from my yard  )

Rode the last race with the new forks with the emulators fitted and couldn't believe the difference 

By the 3rd race the track was very very rough ( its a Pumice sand based track ) hitting  the nasty square edged holes was where I really noticed the difference . At the end of the day they are still 30 odd year old medium travel forks but those little valves really make a difference .

Possibly some of it is a placebo effect having spent the money I wanted to see a difference , but I don't think so .
Always wondered if it was all talk about these things , but now im convinced they are a good thing .

The old 370 got a bit of attention at the event , especially as I rode it to and from the event with a backpack with my riding gear in and back again to refuel and change the forks between races 

[brent j]

You're preaching to the converted here Bill

Depending on springs and current settings there is probably as much improvement as you already have found so far still to go 

[jerry]

Bill love the concept of riding to and fro with no rego, a backpack and a can do attitude. Everything I love about Kiwis. More power to your arm sir! Cheers Jerry

[Richo52]

Hi Bill how did you go against the new bikes or was it a vintage class?
Do you know what brand emulators they are ?Got the TM 250 motor in the frame,just waiting on gaskets to fire her up.Cheers Richard.

[TM BILL]

Thanks Jerry if I had to load the van etc I probably wouldn't have gone ,as it was a spur of the moment thing . As it was I missed practice , but its alight I have ridden there before so I know where the track goes 

Richard that's great news about the TM  ( for the other viewers I have recently sold Richard a bit of TM 250 stuff inc a motor , for a cool TM GP replica hes building  )

Started off good against the moderns but I haven't ridden since early April so I faded a bit 

The old 370 gets great starts , I tell them modern buggers don't get in my way cos these drum brakes don't work to well  but these 18" tires get great traction on modern perimeter frames if you get my drift 

I love winding kids up on the start line , those young buggers are a bit gullible  one kid on his new 450 SX next to me asked how old my bike was so I told him about 10 yrs older than him  I asked him what year his bike was and he said 2013 , all proud like . So I said to him " you have obviously had yours back in for the hub recall then " he asked what hub recall , so I told him that all 2013 KTM 450s had been recalled as the front hubs were exploding on landings from big jumps . He said he knew nothing about it , so I assured him that his would probably be ok as it was only a few that had actually broken and most of them were overseas . I checked his lap times at the end of the day and he had slowed a bit after our little chat 

[jerry]

Legendary psyching out Bill, a long lost art. Get your mate Richard to post some shots of his GP replica build, sounds very tasty. J

[JohnnyO]

I love that part about riding your RM to the track and racing Bill, it reminds me of the 70's here..

[torm92]

What a cracker story, we used to do the story thing to punters when I road raced . Did you see the oil at turn 3 on the inside line? Always knew where to pass them then.

[Paul552]

Hey bill

Are they racetech ones?

If so what springs are you running in the emulator (yellow 64lbs blue 40ls)

Just interested as I reckon mine are real harsh and I am thinking of changing mine as racetech recommend the blue ones at 2 turns on most vintage forks

Just interested in your take on them

[DR500]

I used to ride my yz465 to local race events in pommie land in the early 80,s. Had trouble keeping the front wheel down on the bitumen. Can't imagine what would happen now if you did it.

[Lozza]

$1200 fine