Gold Valve Racetech Fork WR250X
Racetech Gold Valve emulator is an affordable way to customize a fork individually and add progressive compression. Together with the valve, it is recommended to change the spring selected for the corresponding parameters. This modification significantly increases the effectiveness of the suspension setup. When upgrading the brakes, it is a mandatory upgrade that allows you to use them to the maximum.
We have already installed a similar valve and spring in the shock absorber — there is a separate article about that. In the shock, compression and rebound are tuned by selecting the appropriate shims. In the fork, there is only compression, and the rebound remains standard and is adjusted by restricting the ports with the adjusting screw in the top cap. Rebound is fine-tuned by choosing the oil. Due to the fact that the Racetech valve is customizable, you can keep the same compression behavior with oils of different viscosity.
Highlights and subtleties when installing the valve
- To install the valve, it is not necessary to knock out the oil seal and disassemble the tubes.
- A special tool for unscrewing the damper can be made of plastic pipe.
- When cleaning, it is advisable to unscrew all settings — this will open the ports to the maximum for better purging.
- After tightening the lock nut on the valve, you must wait 15-20 minutes for the threadlocker to cure.
- When filling the fork leg with oil, Racetech recommends that you fully extend the fork so that no air pocket remains between the tubes where the oil might not reach. In any case, it is better to pump the fork leg and damper as shown in the manual.
- If you don’t have a damper rod holder, you can tie a string to the rod beforehand in order to pull it out when installing the top plug.
- When installing the top plug, it is easiest to compress the spring by rotating — as shown in the video.
In general, the procedure is simple, and you can do it without special tools. Different forks use a different number of spacer washers and different thrust bushings, but in principle, the assembly is no different.