A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

Well it's been a long time since I wrote that post! I finally bought a set of Race Tech "gold valve cartridge emulators" via TW Suspension tech up in Preston last November, having talked about them with Kaos for a while. He got on really well with his and seemed very happy with their performance.

They shipped them direct to me from the States despite my having made the decision to get TW to install them for me. After filling in the questionnaire about usage, ability, rider weight and bike modifications, Race Tech actually specified the same spring rate as stock, for me and my skinny butt, and a specific shim stack setup based on my requirements.

As shipped, shims not installed: (Mmmm, shiny!)

The weather was a bit drier for my second run and I had a really good day out, but the result of the test was, well, a bit meh (as the young people say) to be honest! On the road there was hardly any perceptible difference, not that I was expecting much. Once I hit the dirt I did feel maybe slightly more comfortable through/across the ruts but nothing earth shattering. What I was really hoping for was more control on rocky hill climbs. When I hit the hills there was, I think, slightly less ricocheting off the rocks, but again, nothing so different that I could say "wow, £450 well spent".  I did spend the extra for adjustable valve bodies, so there is some compression damping adjustment, and I will have a play with those next time I go out and see if less damping will make for a plusher and more controlled ride. I have heard that RT tend to spec things on the stiff side - for race pace at higher speeds more damping is needed, and maybe my steady approach is not optimal for this setup.

I am not saying that others positive experience is wrong, but I do wonder whether the spring rates have a more noticeable effect when people upgrade their forks. The majority of riders are not as scrawny as me and the Japanese fellows the bike was designed by/for, and I was told by DLee that his bike rode much more nicely after he just put in heavier springs, and then there's Mr Ballard's opinion that the standard forks work pretty well as they are... (Again, iirc, with just a slight increase in spring rate) Certainly comparing the 2 valves, there is a clear resemblance in design which suggests to me that the Kayabas were quite advanced for their day and small improvements in valving are all that it is possible to make.

When I think back to the profound difference the Cogent kit made to the Serow front end, I have to remember that the forks on the Serow were of a much more basic technology, and therefore easy to improve noticeably with a bit of modern more advanced tech.

Nice photos.

Great write up Simon and a very honest opinion.

I have 2 racks in the garage the same as yours, i had forgotten about them, will dig them out now.

Maybe gilding the lily Simon? 

Good for you having a go. It's the sort of madness that infected me back in the day 

I never really did much with suspension though as I was insensitive to changes - much to the chagrin of my friend Cap'n Paul who spent a while trying to educate me and making adjustments to my TTR that I didn't notice the difference from  

Case in point was when a trail riding buddy saw me mount my TTR and the rear suspension didn't move. Turns out the bearings on the link arm were all totally seized and I hadn't noticed! 

Brian

PS Love the tank decals. Was that TTR from Devon perchance?