Gold Valve Emulators

I got a 1984 Husky 250 WR that is used to ride the boney trail here in New England. In an effort to get a slightly smoother ride, I need to do some upgrades to the suspension. Husqvarna Parts is selling a Gold Valve Enulator kit for teh forks, but I have not found any review of this kit. Has anyone got experience with the Gold Valve product, before I spend the money, I would like to know if they are worth the effort.

Also, dose anyone have a recommendation for a source to get the Ohlin Shocks services. In the past Husky Club had a service, but I do not know if they are still in business.

do it , you will not be disapointed ..do a search on here for gold valve emulators ,there are several post on it .

I too would like to do this on my 86. Interested in reviews. And you could send the shocks to Ohlins in Hendersonville, NC.

Well worth it,,, I had a pair of RACETECH emulators 4 years ago in my YZ, they are the closest thing to a modern shim stack in an old fork.

Yeah you wont regret fitting Race tech emulators, you cant go wrong with those.

For Ohlins, these are the guys you want to speak to
http://www.vintageohlins.com
http://www.mhracing.com
http://www.husqvarna-parts.com

All 3 support VMX/Vinduro/old dirt bikes

I have fitted the RaceTech on the front-end of the XC = very nice progressive indeed.
Then have a replacement set of Ohlins on the rear - but these are 1" longer end to end - and this needs some work. Wallowing in long fast turns...

For Ohlins work I go to Keytime Motorsports in Warrens WI. 608-378-4290

Fitted Racetech Goldvalve emulators and 43 forksprings. With a balanced rearend whereby the HA 0505 ITC were rebuilt, shimming altered, and different springs fitted on '84 510TE. To confirm I tested several different suspensions and setups on this machine and the above works best by far. Allround from MX to Enduros.
Well worth it.

Thanks for all the information, this will be part of the winter rebuild.

For those that did the Husky 40's with this......what holes and sizes did you drill in the stock dampener rod? Did you do the 2 5/16" additional and also enlarge the other 4 existing?

Am asking as I have and only did the additional 2 holes at 5/16 as recomended and left the 4 stockers alone and they feel harsh.

Pics would help

Joe

Will try dig out pics.
I drilled out stock holes, and added extra holes as per the specs.

Yellow stiffer spring with extra pre-load, need to dig spec for that too.
Using the valve holder placed upside down
and supplied ally spacer cut to length.

Feels very good. Need to sort jetting then its a shootout with HuskyHumm...

Would you mind sharing your set up. Rider weight / Skill level for comparison to other rider weight and skills, looking for a good starting point.
Thanks, Ron

@Ron:
HuskyHamm weighs about 95kg in race trim, and he's damn slow ! Bike is a 510TE.
Actually - he's pretty quick - probably classified as B in USA terms.

Well Said!

I bought the emulator and spring kit from Husqvarna-parts. The 175-210lb kit and the matching rear springs are Ohlins progressive OH83-0810. I read on another post here about doubts thus researched Racetech site, and that kit as supplied is correct. The forksprings dont get coil bind and give the full travel.

I weigh 95-7 kg in racekit.

The forks are the 40mm longtravel (300mm) ones from the CR/XC/TX/TC bikes and so are the rear shocks HA0505 with length from eye to eye being 475mm giving 340mm wheeltravel.

On the dampening rods I left the stock holes and drilled 8mm holes in the specified positions, chamfering them.
I installed the emulator as is without any adjustments, on top of 19mm tall nylon tubes i had machined. (as i didnt like the allu ones suplied, too much tolerance to the side of the forktubes.)
The allu spacers on top of springs I cut to 130mm.
Oil is BelRay 10WT and level with forksprings removed and emulators installed, forks compressed all the way in, is 150mm from the top. Thats very near to 500ml of oil per leg.

Static sag is 25mm front and back.

I use the same setups for 500 2T and 510 4T.

This is the best suspension setup I've yet had and it really works and is way ahead of what original was.

Who says I don't know my race-partner

I would pretty much ditto the above, especially how the fork work now comapared to before.
I also machined up different adapators for the damper rod- gold valve, and machined the a little off the top of the damper rods to accept the adaptor .

Not totally happy with the rear shocks on my 510 (revalved 3 times now) but they are close, and I am using the husky parts yellow HD, forget part no.

@Subaru, yep you know then matey.

@SA63 Yes I forgot, also machined the "step" on top of damper rod away so its flat.

My suspension guru won't tell me how he shimmed the valvestacks (trade secrets) But hes got it spot on. I do know he used Putoline 7,5WT oil, the Ohlins mob here are totally retarded with regards to "old" stuff and I won't support them.