I recently returned to the FZS600 after being on the 1000 for four years. Upon return I was struck (literally) by the poor damping characteristics of both front & rear suspension. Admittedly, on a bike with 42k on the clock & no signs indicating that the forks had ever been off to enjoy an oil change, I should not have been surprised.
Nonetheless, being a serial suspension modder, I decided that it was one area of these bikes that can ( and should) be easily improved. I started with the rear, fitting an recent R6 shock & aftermarket dogbones. This provided superb results for around £150-180.
http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,8167.0.html
Now to concentrate on the front-end. I had a set of 5SL R6 forks in the garage from my Fazer 1000 conversion
http://fazer1000.yuku.com/reply/23677/Re...cBnQdhq-MI but the electronic speedo setup of the FZS600 is prohibitive & machining surfaces of fork legs ruled this conversion out from being cheap & easy. So, that left modding the standard forks. The common route of adding Hagon progressive fork springs & heavier oil masks the inadequacies of the damper-rod fork setup, but usually result in an overly harsh ride in order to regain handling.
As a few of you may be aware, I had previously modded a pair of FZS600 forks with Race Tech’s Gold valve Emulators, along with a set of linear-rate fork springs from a TRX850:
http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,71.0.html
No point going into detail regarding the benefits of emulators here, there's plenty of info out there on the web regarding technical details. Anyway....although the experiment was successful, unfortunately it was relatively expensive. Furthermore, from what I have gathered, there were four aspects that limited the mod’s potential in people's minds.
CONCERN
1) The Race Tech (RT) Gold Valves were expensive (£150)
2) The appropriate linear-rate springs were expensive (£75-90)
3) Fork surgery was necessary & drilling holes weakened the damper rods
4) The mod was permanent
SOLUTIONS
1) Since my fork mod I have noted that others have found a viable, cheap alternative to Race Tech’s product – emulators from Debrix: http://www.debrix.com/41mm-Fork-Damper-V...361-vt.htm .Cynics rightly point out that they are cheap Taiwanese knock-offs that lack instructions and are made for Harley Davidson forks. However, some SV650 riders have fitted them, followed Race-Tech’s instructions and were surprised to find that when setup properly they worked just as well http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112643 . These Emulators / emus cost about £30 instead of RT’s £150.
2) Although RT rightly point out that linear-rate springs work best with their emulators, a wide variety of hard-up riders (from Suzuki Burgman http://burgmanusa.com/bkb/650+Race+Tech+Installation to Kawa KLR 650 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126358 have run these emulators successfully with progressive rate springs fitted, usually the standard spring setup for budget bike forks. This means that the Debrix emu setup would still work very well with springs from Hagon, Wilbers or even the standard FZS fork springs. I’m currently running standard, progressive springs from a Honda VFR750 and it still works very well. Admittedly, the FZS springs are too soft for the average sized European rider & an option here would be to shorten the fork springs, making the springs firmer, but that will be info for another thread....
3) As per RT emus, it’s still necessary to drill out the compression holes in the fork damper rods. Do a search on Google for failed damper rods after doing this mod right – I couldnt find any so I assume it's an absolute non-issue if done correctly. I have realised, however, that the size of the holes do not have to be as large as I originally recommended. I have modded mine with variable-sized holes & the setup appears to be working just as well. Of additional interest is that the Debrix emus fit STRAIGHT on top of the FZS600’s damper rods, meaning that widening them with cutting stones (as per my original Gold Valve instructions) is no longer necessary.
4) The mod is still permanent. Permanently better suspension, how awful! Still, at least this time round the cost of parts for modification is more like £50 instead of £250, so you won’t lose much should you sell the bike on.
Having fitted & used this modded suspension in anger, I can wholeheartedly vouch for these Debrix emulators as a very cheap & effective alternative to RT’s Gold Valves. I probably sound like I’m on commission from them, but again just thought that spreading this info might encourage some FZS owners to proactively improve their forks immeasurably. The main problem with the emus is the cost of postage from the US, effectively doubling it, but I noted that the SV650 owners resorted to group buys in order to minimise postage costs http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=174548 http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=175607 . Indeed, I picked up my Debrix Emulators from one of them! This 'Group Buy' approach would undoubtedly also be the cheapest way for FZS owners to get these emus, but only if there is sufficient interest in such fork modding......
If there is enough demand, I will do another Debrix emulator installation thread with relevant pics, modifying it where necessary.
Nonetheless, being a serial suspension modder, I decided that it was one area of these bikes that can ( and should) be easily improved. I started with the rear, fitting an recent R6 shock & aftermarket dogbones. This provided superb results for around £150-180.
http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,8167.0.html
Now to concentrate on the front-end. I had a set of 5SL R6 forks in the garage from my Fazer 1000 conversion
http://fazer1000.yuku.com/reply/23677/Re...cBnQdhq-MI but the electronic speedo setup of the FZS600 is prohibitive & machining surfaces of fork legs ruled this conversion out from being cheap & easy. So, that left modding the standard forks. The common route of adding Hagon progressive fork springs & heavier oil masks the inadequacies of the damper-rod fork setup, but usually result in an overly harsh ride in order to regain handling.
As a few of you may be aware, I had previously modded a pair of FZS600 forks with Race Tech’s Gold valve Emulators, along with a set of linear-rate fork springs from a TRX850:
http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,71.0.html
No point going into detail regarding the benefits of emulators here, there's plenty of info out there on the web regarding technical details. Anyway....although the experiment was successful, unfortunately it was relatively expensive. Furthermore, from what I have gathered, there were four aspects that limited the mod’s potential in people's minds.
CONCERN
1) The Race Tech (RT) Gold Valves were expensive (£150)
2) The appropriate linear-rate springs were expensive (£75-90)
3) Fork surgery was necessary & drilling holes weakened the damper rods
4) The mod was permanent
SOLUTIONS
1) Since my fork mod I have noted that others have found a viable, cheap alternative to Race Tech’s product – emulators from Debrix: http://www.debrix.com/41mm-Fork-Damper-V...361-vt.htm .Cynics rightly point out that they are cheap Taiwanese knock-offs that lack instructions and are made for Harley Davidson forks. However, some SV650 riders have fitted them, followed Race-Tech’s instructions and were surprised to find that when setup properly they worked just as well http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112643 . These Emulators / emus cost about £30 instead of RT’s £150.
2) Although RT rightly point out that linear-rate springs work best with their emulators, a wide variety of hard-up riders (from Suzuki Burgman http://burgmanusa.com/bkb/650+Race+Tech+Installation to Kawa KLR 650 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126358 have run these emulators successfully with progressive rate springs fitted, usually the standard spring setup for budget bike forks. This means that the Debrix emu setup would still work very well with springs from Hagon, Wilbers or even the standard FZS fork springs. I’m currently running standard, progressive springs from a Honda VFR750 and it still works very well. Admittedly, the FZS springs are too soft for the average sized European rider & an option here would be to shorten the fork springs, making the springs firmer, but that will be info for another thread....
3) As per RT emus, it’s still necessary to drill out the compression holes in the fork damper rods. Do a search on Google for failed damper rods after doing this mod right – I couldnt find any so I assume it's an absolute non-issue if done correctly. I have realised, however, that the size of the holes do not have to be as large as I originally recommended. I have modded mine with variable-sized holes & the setup appears to be working just as well. Of additional interest is that the Debrix emus fit STRAIGHT on top of the FZS600’s damper rods, meaning that widening them with cutting stones (as per my original Gold Valve instructions) is no longer necessary.
4) The mod is still permanent. Permanently better suspension, how awful! Still, at least this time round the cost of parts for modification is more like £50 instead of £250, so you won’t lose much should you sell the bike on.
Having fitted & used this modded suspension in anger, I can wholeheartedly vouch for these Debrix emulators as a very cheap & effective alternative to RT’s Gold Valves. I probably sound like I’m on commission from them, but again just thought that spreading this info might encourage some FZS owners to proactively improve their forks immeasurably. The main problem with the emus is the cost of postage from the US, effectively doubling it, but I noted that the SV650 owners resorted to group buys in order to minimise postage costs http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=174548 http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=175607 . Indeed, I picked up my Debrix Emulators from one of them! This 'Group Buy' approach would undoubtedly also be the cheapest way for FZS owners to get these emus, but only if there is sufficient interest in such fork modding......
If there is enough demand, I will do another Debrix emulator installation thread with relevant pics, modifying it where necessary.