ricerooster
New Member
Bit the bullet, hope it's all worth it...
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There is more to it than just the spring rate. The NC's springs are too soft for many riders, IMHO more than 170 lbs, but the basic design of the fork has too much damping so when riders of all weights hit large bumps or sharp-edged smaller ones the fork cannot compress fast enough and the bump is largely transmitted to the handlebars and on to the rider. A soft spring can feel very "hard" when the fork does not allow the spring to compress fast enough. I'm 150 lbs and the fork was way too harsh with the stock design using orifices of a fixed diameter to dampen compression and rebound. That is where the cartridge emulators like the OP bought come in. Race Tech and others like Cogent Dynamics make these drop-in devices that allow the orifices to vary their diameter based on the speed the fork is compressing. The larger the bump causes the orifices enlarge under pressure and allow more oil to pass quickly. Thus the fork feels softer when handling large or sharp-edged surface irregularities. These emulators are tuneable to rider weight and style and along with changes in the thickness or height of fork fluids transform the way the stock fork works. When people talk about springs being too hard or too soft they often are actually talking about how the fork dampens rapid compression. If changes to damping are made and the fork still uses all of it's travel when hitting a large bump or under heavy braking, the oil level can be raised 10-20 mm to "stiffen" the last 1/3rd of compression. If this is not enough the springs probably are too soft and a stiffer one is called for.A common comment by testers on the NC, and perhaps on other Honda’s as well, is that the fork springs are too soft. Along with that comment, testers rarely state their weight or their riding style/environment. To simply say the springs are too soft without some background info is useless. At my 165 pounds, and usually riding on bumpy roads, I find the stock fork springs to be good, if not a little too stiff. I tried the softest RaceTech springs available and hated them for being too stiff. It was like the forks were nearly solid and I had only two inches of suspension travel.
If I weighed 240 pounds and rode street only on the well maintained smooth roads of western North Carolina or SE Tennessee, I’d probably thing the stock springs were too soft, too.
To repeat myself a little, my point is that if one person says the springs are too soft or too stiff, it may mean nothing for you or your riding environment.
There is more to it than just the spring rate. The NC's springs are too soft for many riders, IMHO more than 170 lbs, but the basic design of the fork has too much damping so when riders of all weights hit large bumps or sharp-edged smaller ones the fork cannot compress fast enough and the bump is largely transmitted to the handlebars and on to the rider. A soft spring can feel very "hard" when the fork does not allow the spring to compress fast enough. I'm 150 lbs and the fork was way too harsh with the stock design using orifices of a fixed diameter to dampen compression and rebound. That is where the cartridge emulators like the OP bought come in. Race Tech and others like Cogent Dynamics make these drop-in devices that allow the orifices to vary their diameter based on the speed the fork is compressing. The larger the bump causes the orifices enlarge under pressure and allow more oil to pass quickly. Thus the fork feels softer when handling large or sharp-edged surface irregularities. These emulators are tuneable to rider weight and style and along with changes in the thickness or height of fork fluids transform the way the stock fork works. When people talk about springs being too hard or too soft they often are actually talking about how the fork dampens rapid compression. If changes to damping are made and the fork still uses all of it's travel when hitting a large bump or under heavy braking, the oil level can be raised 10-20 mm to "stiffen" the last 1/3rd of compression. If this is not enough the springs probably are too soft and a stiffer one is called for.
Thanks for the heads up.I recently installed a 2014 Tuono shock (Sachs); likely has the same spring as yours, which is supposedly a 95 N/mm rate. Earlier Tuono shocks (emulsion design) had 105 springs on them. Both are 160mm length springs. The early model spring coil measures 11.25mm in diameter; the 2014 spring is 11.125mm. If you find that you need a bit more spring and want to try the 105 N/mm, let me know and I'll let you have it cheap. Here they are side-by-side; you can just see the difference.
View attachment 38554
Good to know thank you.There is more to it than just the spring rate. The NC's springs are too soft for many riders, IMHO more than 170 lbs, but the basic design of the fork has too much damping so when riders of all weights hit large bumps or sharp-edged smaller ones the fork cannot compress fast enough and the bump is largely transmitted to the handlebars and on to the rider. A soft spring can feel very "hard" when the fork does not allow the spring to compress fast enough. I'm 150 lbs and the fork was way too harsh with the stock design using orifices of a fixed diameter to dampen compression and rebound. That is where the cartridge emulators like the OP bought come in. Race Tech and others like Cogent Dynamics make these drop-in devices that allow the orifices to vary their diameter based on the speed the fork is compressing. The larger the bump causes the orifices enlarge under pressure and allow more oil to pass quickly. Thus the fork feels softer when handling large or sharp-edged surface irregularities. These emulators are tuneable to rider weight and style and along with changes in the thickness or height of fork fluids transform the way the stock fork works. When people talk about springs being too hard or too soft they often are actually talking about how the fork dampens rapid compression. If changes to damping are made and the fork still uses all of it's travel when hitting a large bump or under heavy braking, the oil level can be raised 10-20 mm to "stiffen" the last 1/3rd of compression. If this is not enough the springs probably are too soft and a stiffer one is called for.