Hey guys.

Putting some better rear shocks on my Fatboy Lo and was wondering if I should do the front end as well??

Got quoted $850 - $900 for racetech springs and gold valve emulators supplied and fitted...... Does this mod make a big difference in soaking up the bumps/more comfortable ride??  Is it worth the money??

Cheers, Berms.

 

 

 

They did for me on my 2008 SG.

Matt at ROSNAR Motorcycles worked it all out for solo, solo touring with tour pak and two up. Couldn't be happier with the ride performance now.

Go for it.

Hi Berms, gold valves and single rate springs for your weight and riding style set up correctly(and that's the key issue) will transform your front end, if you already have upgraded your rear shocks it is best to set your front end up to match the performance characteristic's of the rear, while not a difficult task to do it does require some knowledge of the how's and whys of it all, you quoted a price in your post of 850-900 fitted and set up for you, this is not an unreasonable amount to pay for the expertise provided as long as it is done correctly, may I ask who gave you that quote?
Add....a very good read on suspension ins and outs is Race Tech's Motorcycle Suspension Bible by Lee Parks, Mr Parks is a suspension guru.

Hi Berms, I seen your post on HTT just before, there is not much I could add to what Rick has covered there, I guess if you can tell me your weight, riding style and rear shock specs I could help you fine tune the set up, it is something you can do yourself with minimal effort and save a bit of coin, it really comes down to knowing what to do, and to a degree why.
Willing to help but need a bit of info first, as above it really isn't a one size fits all kind of deal.

Hey Berms, this is what I would do with your fat boy forks, pull the forks apart and drill the damper tube holes out as in the instructions that come withe emulators, from memory there are four 3/8 holes in them already, you dill these out to 7/16 plus add two more, it's in the instructions anyway, this enables the emulators to take over that duty.
Drill the emulator disc holes out so you have four holes instead of two and fit the yellow springs to the emulators and because your a lighter sort of bloke set the preload on those springs to 1.75 turns.
Get a set of .85 single rate springs and cut spacers to give you a loaded sag of 32mm, that is from fully extended to you sitting on the bike with your feet on the pegs.
The oil is a whole big bag of worms as different brands have different viscosities even when marked as the same W, so it's best to stick with one brand as then if you need to go heavier or lighter you have a base line to work from, I suggest bellray 15w to start with, the oil height is the next thing to consider, this controls the firmness of roughly the last 1/3 of the forks travel, I don't know what the recommended oil height is for a fat boy but it will be in the instructions, you can add some to firm up the last part of the stroke or deduct some to soften it, that will be something you will do once you have ridden the bike.
A couple of things to remember, when filling the forks with oil make sure you pump them through a few cycles to purge the air out, keep a record of exactly how much oil you put in to get the recommended level as this makes it easy to replace it down the track, you will need a seal kit for your forks as well.
It's late, I might have missed something so I will re-read this later and adjust as necessary.
Cheers

Thanks locks, much appreciated mate!

i didn't realise that you had to drill out the damper tubes holes as well.... Thanks.