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Andreani Cartridges - A Warning

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1183
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 1183

I have purchased Andreani Cartridges for my NC X. Currently I am having serious problems getting them to function properly (long story). They were fitted professionally, and as such the Technician is trying to sort them out. However my warning to NCX owners relates to the loss of approximately 1.25 inches of fork travel that comes with them. Regretfully the sales material does not highlight this. The same cartridges are used for the S and the X models. Normally the S has 4.75 inches of travel as standard and the X has 6 inches. When you fit Andreanis you get 4.75 inches regardless. I found this out the hard way, and am currently considering of returning my forks to oem condition. Regretfully this will require the purchase of a new set of stanchions. A hard lesson learned.:(

PS. Yes, I know. I should have gone with a set of Emulators. :(
 
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Thanks for the warning....I was seriously considering these...might go with Cogent valves instead.
 
Thanks for the warning....I was seriously considering these...might go with Cogent valves instead.

Probably a good decision. I am told they can be tedious to set up in that the forks have to be undone to make adjustments, but when the settings are achieved they are good. I think there is a thread on here either directly or indirectly related to them or their equivalents.
 
I had them in my dr650...however, I probably didn't ride hard enough to really tell the difference.
 
I had them in my dr650...however, I probably didn't ride hard enough to really tell the difference.

If you are referring to Andreanis, perhaps they were the correct length for the DR. My post only relates to the NC. However some folks over on the FZ09 forum had some issues with compression damping. Seems a lighter oil partly sorted that.
 
Ok, if I am to be fair to all concerned on this thread, it needs an update.

I am in contact with Andreani about my issue. I put it to them that apart from my issue with the poor operation of the forks currently, I have lost travel and that they are using the same cartridge for the X as the S. They tell me that there is only a cartridge for the X. I have accordingly asked them to explain why the material on Omnia Racing advertises the cartridge for both bikes. I await an answer to that.

Andreani suggest that Hondas statement of 150mm of front suspension travel is incorrect and that there is actually only 142mm of travel on the X. They state that the stroke of their product is accordingly 142mm. That does not explain however why after maximum braking pressure to compress the forks fully, I am consistently only getting 120mm of travel when I fully extend the forks (off the ground) after such compression. I still await a response to that.

Incidentally they suggest that the poor operation is due to something being wrong with the forks. The forks were as perfect as they could be prior to fitting the cartridges. One thought does occur to me though. I did have new seals and dust seals fitted. There is a possibility that they could be responsible for some stiction of the forks for a while. For that reason I am going to run these forks for a while to see if things improve. However that will not sort the loss of travel that still needs to be thrashed out.
 
Final posting from me on this subject, and similar to to that on a related thread on here. I have heard nothing further from Andreani. This is not too dissimilar to the experiences of a couple of others who had issues on the FZ09, ER6 and Triumph twin forums as far as I can see. In short, as far as Andreani are concerned their product is beyond reproach and part of their response to me was that they have not had any previous problems. The WWW is in direct contradiction of that statement, and we have all heard that response at some time or other in the motorcycle industry.

I am now going to live with these items for as long as they continue to function in the limited manner in which they do. To summarise, they have made no improvement whatsoever over the standard forks with regard to the application for which I purchased them. They may work for folks on smooth roads or racetracks, but on the back roads of Ireland they are a waste of the money that I spent on them. Fortunately the Wilbers 641 that I fitted to the rear end is functioning perfectly, as one is also doing on my Triumph. That is a superb product and well worth the money imho.
 
Dang, I'm sorry you've had to deal with all this mess. I always felt a little reluctant to go with Andreani, especially being on a different continent with no dealer/tech support. It seemed a little too good for the price. Now I know to steer clear of them in the future if they are having issues on multiple bikes...
 
There is a postscript here.

I decided to persist with Andreani to see if there was anything further that could be done. They again engaged with me positively. I sent them photos similar to many I have posted on here. My purpose was to show them the types of roads that I most frequently travel. I think they have seen my point, and they have agreed to re-engage with the Tech with a view to reviewing Compression damping settings and possibly softer springs again. Any improvement over the current situation would be most welcome at this point. At one point I had considered selling the bike as is, because on normal roads it is passable. Riding the Aftica Twin almost put me over that edge, but then again I remembered why I got the NC in the first place. I remain optimistic.
 
For the purpose of this particular thread I have heard nothing further from Andreani with regard to the amount of fork travel on their cartridges. I made points as outlined above that were never answered, and I still remain of the opinion that a degree of fork travel has been lost with these cartridges. However there has been an improvement in the overall situation otherwise, and in that regard I have posted in the relevant thread with regard to this improvement.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish Honda would have done a better job with the front forks from the beginning. I have heard they are much better on the 2016 model, but that doesn't help the rest of us. Honestly, after putting on a new seat and lower pegs I have nothing to complain about except the forks. I can live with the forks for now. No plans to upgrade my bike anytime soon since I bought it last December.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish Honda would have done a better job with the front forks from the beginning. I have heard they are much better on the 2016 model, but that doesn't help the rest of us. Honestly, after putting on a new seat and lower pegs I have nothing to complain about except the forks. I can live with the forks for now. No plans to upgrade my bike anytime soon since I bought it last December.
try putting different fluid in them, even stock this can make a big difference. What are you trying to achieve?
I changed my fork oil and put in 5w amsoil and with stock forks and it's slightly softer, still stiff enough for me and my wife to ride, even when breaking hard and driving on horrible California roads
 
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I suppose at this point the improvement in the function of the Andreanis makes the overall experience a little better than standard, but I had hoped to achieve much more than that, especially for the price paid.

A number of folks on here have had good results from Emulators of various brands. They are not as adjustable but when a setting is achieved it is reported to be very good.

With regard to the 2016 models I am reading here and there that one or two folks are finding the forks "hard" on them. There is always the aspect of putting some mileage on a new bike to allow suspension components loosen out so that aspect might work itself out in the longer term. One member on the UK site (and also on here) reports only being able to measure 125mm of travel on his 2016 forks. That has me wondering if there might be a glimmer of truth in the suggestion that the advertised travel versus the actual, might be a little off the mark.
 
It was me Griff. The bike was in yesterday for its 600 service and I asked them to check the suspension. They said it appeared to them like all the other new 750X's. I'm only half convinced that they did some proper tests as they squeezed me in to do the service and had to fit several accessories that weren't available when the bike was first delivered. I plan to pay a suspension specialist out at Hexham to do some checks and give me his opinion - I will ask him to see what he thinks the real travel is.
Mike
 
Thanks Mike. Perhaps some others on here might offer their opinions on what the practical fork travel is on their NC 700/750's in various versions ?
 
An update on this. I got the (2016 Showa SDBV) forks checked out by a specialist who found no faults with them. He changed the oil for Motul 5wt Factory Line but it made no difference to the harshness and unfortunately now the forks dive quite a bit under braking.
It's very difficult for anyone to find out tech info about these forks, although I see that Harley have adopted them too so maybe more info will come out and specialists will be able to modify them.
Mike
 
Hi Mike,I never got to grips with the Andreanis on my NC. They loosened up but at the end of the day they made no improvement over the original forks. My bike was a 700NC. My interaction with Andreani did not produce a solution. Fred on the UK forum had good results, but he was on a 750. I had found the 750 forks softer than mine. However, given the expense involved I would not take a chance with Andreanis again on any of my bikes. They were superb kit but didn't work on my NC. Some folks on here had good results with Emulators. I should have taken that route. It is more laborious but when the desired result is achieved it is more successful. If I had used Emulators I might still have owned an NC.
 
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