DMr Cartridge Kit
 

Has anyone out there in SH land tried these kits in the stock forks? What were your results? I'm thinking these, heavier springs, and some SKF seals, might be just the ticket.

I should mention I don't race or do track days anymore. Just hard charging canyons and the freeways to get there.

The primary advantage of his cartridge option to my understanding is time savings because you don't have to ship your forks to Jamie for the valving upgrades.

To me it's a high price for a short term inconvenience elimination. I plan to send mine in for the same work over the winter when I won't ride anyway for a lot less $$.

Do you have the correct springs in the forks with fresh oil yet? That's step 1.


I put the correct springs in my forks for my weight, dropped the forks 10mm, and shimmed the rear 6mm, and the bike was transformed from a sled to a sportbike.


Total cost $110 for springs and oil. Could it be better, with re-valved forks and aftermarket shock - yes. But that's another $500 to $1,000 away.

I've done the heavier springs (need heavier 'cuz I'm getting portly), new bushings, and I refresh my oil twice a year. Even played with oil levels. Found slick way to shim the rear shock 6mm, body shims, they come in various thickness and are slotted so removal of the top nut is not necessary. And you can get them at most hardware and parts houses. Just looking for a little more without resorting to a swap.
I'm assuming that you meant dropped your triple clamps (slid forks up)10mm
I'm in So Cal so riding is a year round bonus so, no time for shipping. Just Ride!

That is correct - I raised the forks 10mm - effectively lowering the clamps.


My thoughts about the cartridge kits - it's a lot cheaper to send your forks to Jamie and have them re-valved - I would go that route if you still feel the forks are inadequate.


What are the forks doing that you don't like, that a re-valve would fix?

I've bought springs, compression valves/shims and new shims for the stock rebound valve off Jamie. He'll hate me for saying this but the compression parts are basically the same as you'd buy off RaceTech, but the rebound shim stack is different than RT would recommend. Jamie is a SH owner so you're buying some of his IP when you get his rebound stack. His pricing is very reasonable, and you're benefiting from his model-specific knowledge. The drop-in cartridge certainly would make for a stress-free fork upgrade.

The hardest part of working with these forks is getting the damper bolt out of the bottom of the fork. A pneumatic impact gun makes short work of these.

Yes, that is the primary advantage for the VTR owners (on other models it is a much bigger deal). I've noticed over the years there are a lot of owners who view sending their forks in as a barrier. For them it is a good option, if you don't mind being without your forks for a couple of weeks I can get you the same performance for less by installing the internal parts for you.

And at least in my case, by shipping them I get expert evaluation of any other needed maintenance that you would recognize and that I might not notice. (I am doing all I can to drum up some business for you.;))

His expert eyes, general experience, specific Suspension experience and Specific SH experience are all excellent reason to send in your forks.
Plan on a month, be surprised when they come back in 10 days.. DON'T be like me and impatient.

User your 4 weeks of planned downtime to detail clean the bike, change the oil and clutch, order some new levers and install that used Brembo front brake master cylinder and new custom lines from CORE Moto. Or rebuild that clutch master cylinder and slave, instal some new wheel bearings..
Well you get the idea

I'm sending my forks and shock in as soon as the holiday shipping crunch goes away.