Suzuki GSX650F Forum - www.GSX650F.biz

About a month ago I posted up what suspension options are available to put into the front forks that can make an improvement without too much expense. Obviously Gold Valves, Pro Valves, new springs, different oil, full insert kits were the options and vary quite a bit in price also. I chose none of these (except for the oil) & went with a product from Ricor Shocks called an Intiminator. I won't go into exactly how it works as it's all on their website but it is basically a shimstack with a built in inertia valve which is where the difference comes about. They effectively differentiate between wheel movement & chassis movement due to the way the valve works.
I had heard about these when I was looking at buying an SV before I got the GSXF. They were developed as the SV's were known to have very average suspension & most people who put the intiminators in raved about the transformation of the front end. I emailed Brian at Ricor to see if they could be done for our bikes as I had not seen it mentioned on any of the forums. The deal that Brian offered was, they supply the intiminators to me at a reduced price (normally $300) in return for me posted up a review on how I found them. So here's my review.......

First off, customer service & communication is great. Ordered & payment cleared & I had them in 8 days from the States. Installation is straight forward. Drop the forks out, empty the internals & drain out all the oil. Push the intiminator down to the damper rod & set oil level, put everything back together & back on the bike. No additional drilling or tuning is required. The use of 5wt oil is recommended by Ricor to effectively bypass the damper rod holes, letting the intiminator take care of the damping instead. Took me about 2 hours to do the first time as one of the nylon collars was a bit tight & I had to shave it down a little to fit properly.


As per the instructions I set the oil level to standard height (132mm gap) & took it for a ride. Came up to the first roundabout leaving home & the damn bike didn't want to go around it. Front didn't compress & wanted to go wide. Went a bit further through the estate & same thing. Thought this isn't right so back home & on the web to find out why. Now the SV sites state their standard gap is 92mm but most people were using between 120-140mm gap. The reduced gap is used as the intiminators have high compression damping in them which allows a larger air gap (reducing standard compression damping). It seems the standard air gap with the intiminators effectively locks the front end from compressing. Out they come again.

145mm gap. Turns in well, holds the line through the corner while remaining very supple over bumps. But I had a noise in the front going up & down driveway curbs & bouncing the front in the garage with the front brake on. Maybe too little oil. Out they come again.....

140mm gap. A lot firmer on compression & a bit harder to turn in & mid corner. Increased rear preload from 3-4 which helped turning but made the rear too harsh. Try again

150mm gap. Very supple & tips in well. Stays planted through the corner. Can hit repairs in the road mid corner & not get bounced further out wide. Tracks the road undulations & bumps & reacts instantly maintaining traction & line. Brilliant. But I still had this noise.

Back to the internet & trawling through forums & some people on adventure bike forums had noticed the noise & said it was the valve moving back & forth in the lighter oil. Emailed Brian at Ricor & he said the same that you will sometimes get the valve noise as it moves up & down. Noticable in some, not in others & sometimes goes away after a while. Made sense but this noise seemed different. More of a clunk going up & down. By now I could dump the forks & have them back into the bike in about 40 minutes so I thought I'll check everything once more. Decided I would try a different oil this time also.

There are about 5-6 different oils Ricor recommend to use & I was using the Shell 5wt as the shop had that in a 5wt. Different shop this time & got Motul 5wt, changed the oil over & the noise has now gone. I can hear the slight click of the valve which I don't mind but the bigger clunk seems to have gone. The 5wt Shell oil looked like water when it goes in & very thin. The Motul does look a bit thicker which may make the difference.

You still feel the bumps in the road, but they don't seem as harsh. And it doesn't matter what speed you hit them at either. The bike doesn't track off line & I seem to be going quicker around the corners now with much better feel in the front following the road.

For the record I'm 87kg in gear & previously had the front preload set at 4 (7.5mm). The intiminators are 13.5mm tall & preload is now set at 7 as I didn't cut the spacers. This gives me a rider sag of 46mm which is just over 1/3 travel but the front feels softer than it did previously even though I've increased preload. I'm yet to bottom out the forks & even with a couple of hard brakes the closest I've come still leaves 20mm travel. Keep in mind I just changed oil & bled the brakes & they had even more bite too.

Overall for an easy suspension improvement over stock I would definately recommend these that anyone could do at home. I don't think the change was as dramatic as what the SV forums made it out to be, but maybe their standard suspension is a lot worse than ours standard.

Now I just need some better weather to be able to ride more to really see the differences.

Al.

Funny thing is,i have been looking into this and will be getting a set for my v-strom first,but will get some when cash allows for the fixxer at a later date.in the mean time let me know how you are getting on with them,
.....update.... sold the strom.,also good write up will look into this when cashflow improves.
i did check out some adv~v-strom sites and there were some mixed feelings on this product,and seeing as most adv type bikes are longer in the forks hence the mixed views.ricor do state they are really road~race suspension mods but look like a worthwhile mod.

Meeeeeeeeee too. The gold valves way too much fuss, Yet with the RICOR's u get cartridge type part
in a convention fork, and to me the BIG plus is the fact the EXPOSED inner fork WOO HOO, is up and away from the road, and has deflector.

Sooooooooooo with the LSL clip ons and Metzler Z6 interact tires should really be sweet.

Ok got most of how to do whitey, use Motul 5wt fork oil, one thing How do you set150 mm GAP, ie procedure.

And do you have the part number of the Ricor valve you install. Final question, can this be done with
forks in place and work top down, with the front of bike supported ??

Thanks for any help

150mm gap is measured with intiminator in & fork compressed. Measure down from the top of the fork leg to the oil height. ie more oil = less gap (air) at the top of the fork. You will need to take the forks out to drain them properly & get everything setup correctly. I made up a front stand to use for this out of timber (you can see in the first pic) which worked ok for what I needed & kept the bike stable.

I have since taken the intiminators out as I couldn't get the feel tipping into some corners to a point I was happy with for MY riding style. I have upgraded the springs & oil instead & have found a setting although not as supple, gives me more confidence for my style of riding. I do miss having the responsiveness of the intiminators but with the light oil I think there was possibly too much rebound for me.

Al.

Hi Al did u follow up with RICOR your findings and feelings about the product.

Thanks for your fast reply

Steve

I had spoken to Brian at Ricor about the oil heights when I was playing around with the settings but keep in mind they had not tried these on our bikes so I was the test case. I more got sick of pulling the front of the bike in & out & felt that the difficulty could be in the additional weight of our bike & the lighter oil. You can get shim kits to change the characteristics of them but honestly I couldn't be bothered stuffing around that much. One day I might try them again & play around.

Al.

wonder then if the emulators by race tech, i think they mod the damper rods thus preventing the use of one type of fork oil, hey i will email Brian and see if mods to dampers would help.

Still thinking on this for me 650 handels well yet, i want my 650 not be outdated, in some areas. I reviewed the gold valves and ricor.Looks like both companies are addressing the V twin crowd, ver us 650 owners. The ricor makes more sense to me, one the damper rod is now a long spacer. And the viscosity thing, a lighter oil might be better for sure cold day, the oil will be great, BUT on a hot day, that might change.

And imo Race tech drilling holes bad idea, you can file the outside, yet when drilling hardened steel burs will be formed INSIDE the damper rod.

Ricor and Race tech did focus on one Suzuki model the SV. I think if either company does a little work for the 650, i think all the bugs could be worked out. I will contact Ricor again and see if improvements have been made to the valve, i think the greater front weight requires, change in shim stack as well as different spring rate on valve load check valve.

I did a email to Ricor, here it is. If i get a response back i will post.


Hi Ricor; not sure if Brian is still in the building. I did a post to the GSX650F forum group re Ricor and Race Tech. emulators

“Still thinking on this for me 650 handles well yet, I want my 650 not be outdated, in some areas. I reviewed the Gold valves and Ricor.

Looks like both companies are addressing the V twin crowd, ver us 650 owners. The Ricor makes more sense to me, one the damper rod is now a long spacer. And the viscosity thing, a lighter oil might be better for sure cold day, the oil will be great, BUT on a hot day, that might change.

And imo Race tech drilling holes bad idea, you can file the outside, yet when drilling hardened steel burs will be formed INSIDE the damper rod.

Ricor and Race tech did focus on one Suzuki model the SV. I think if either company does a little work for the 650, I think all the bugs could be worked out. I will contact Ricor again and see if improvements have been made to the valve, I think the greater front weight requires, change in shim stack as well as different spring rate on valve load check valve.”

So that’s my feelings and opinion , thinking about my statement “The DAMPER ROD is a long spacer” would be very cool if that was replaced with a gas charged snubber then the emulator on top and custom springs. Can Ricor do that?. Can Ricor offer fork springs for a specific model as does Race Tech ?

I like the conventional fork on the 650 for two reasons first was pointed out by Joe Bondad Amateur pro dirt racer and Sale department head @ Contra Costa Powersports, the forks take a little more of the highway unevenness and make ride a little smoother. Next the inner cylinder has more protection from road sand and rocks.

Of course the big thing a “BEAN COUNTER” made the call for conventional forks, yet Suzuki should have led the way by putting emulators in.

I did correct three other boo boos by the bean counter and engineers, put on clip ons added the Bandit 1250 oil cooler and changed the exhaust can.

By the way, I am a potential customer please listen to me and every one who writes You.

Cheers

Steve

I would think it is mainly the shim stack that would need to be changed & possibly drill out the holes in the centre to allow more oil flow. The ADV forum have a few guys that have reshimmed for the Stroms to get the right feel but have also had them apart many times ( I think I read one of them was over 40 times). Problem is it still wouldn't change the rebound due to oil viscosity. Gold valves/emulators normally change to 20wt with modified damper rods to get the rebound correct. There is no way you could run this with the intiminators.

I have thought about pulling them apart & playing around a bit more but at the moment can't be bothered & would rather just get out and ride the bike. Might try to find another set of forks to play with that will save changing internals all the time. FWIW I've got the front feeling OK with different oil & springs for my style at the moment but that could change in the future.

Al.

Hi Whitey, I agree with what u post after mine. I do think Race Tech and Ricor, have not really completed the product to full potential. Needs more work.

Given that they are both designed to be a relatively cheap upgrade to damper rod forks, I think they do what they are designed to do. The development potential is there, however as each riding style differs, so does the setup & feel of the suspension. Ie. Fully adjustable suspension has standard settings for a general feel, but can then be adjusted for individual style. Intiminators/emulators have a standard setting, it's just that the adjustment needs more than a screwdriver to change. The intiminators I used were designed & developed for an SV650 which weighs 50ks less than ours. I'm sure with some playing around a good setup could be found.

Al.

you know what be cool Al, would be the Ricor on top of a reserve oil tube, then a spring that is designed for the bike and rider then on top a gas charged snubber then dual adjustment for preload and rebound.

Then make it so, if u support the bike and unscrew the the preload and rebound unit the snubber comes out then the spring then the Ricor disk stack. So to change fork oil u just, use tube to drain and fill. Just a idea.