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The KYB forks are a great fork, but they are not equal to or better than the cone Valve forks.
There is a reason they are getting CV's for their KTM's. I know the AER forks are much better than the previous 4CS forks but a lot of people still don't like the AER(just because they don't like air forks). I'm almost certain that LanghamMX will back me up on this.
Honestly man, take the time to get your KYB's setup for you. If you still don't care for them, get the CV's. I haven't ridden with CV's or any kind of kit fork, but the SSS KYB's are more than enough for a big chunk of people.
I'd love to hear why you think the internals of the cone valve are better than the stock production KYB's. Yes they have a DLC lower tube and some shiny billet lugs.
I've seen a build or two of yours and know you've had showa kit suspension (which I also have had a set of on a 16kx450, and now the shock guts in my 19 kx450, and showa kit shock +49mm showa forks on my yz250), even like 2012 era Showa kit stuff has larger internals I believe than the cone. Not trying to derail this thread but the branch swinging about cone valves seems misguided. Maybe i'm out to lunch on my understanding of the internals and am getting them mixed up, so please correct me if i'm wrong.
I’m not a suspension tech, nor do I pretend to know much about the internals of the forks. But what I can tell you is that I’ve owned many sets of SHOWA A-Kit stuff over the years, including the forks and shock on my RMZ 450. The forks were from Davi Milsaps bike and the shock came from RCH, so they are the real thing. A SHOWA Tech set them up for me when I bought them and they were pretty good and better once I backed out the compression and got use to them. I had ENZO revalve them for me when I got them serviced. They are even better now and I’m happy I had them redone.
But I’ve had Cone Valve forks and Trax Shock on my bikes for the last 5 years. I had them on my ‘14.5 and ‘15.5 FE 450, along with the 3 KTM’s I currently own.
Granted I’ve had great settings from the get-go, which is 90% of the equation. The suspension is only as good as the set-up. A properly set-up set of SSS forks are going to be a much better fork than a set of Cone Valves that don’t have a good setting, all day long. I won’t argue that.
But in my experience, when Billy @ PowerBand Racing has valved a set of suspension, I’ve yet to hear any negative feedback. I can honestly say that his settings (for me on multiple bikes) have worked substantially better than any of the SHOWA A-Kits that I’ve owned. (Which have been set up from FC, RG3 and Enzo) So maybe it’s the tuner that has swayed my opinion, more so than the Cone Valve forks themselves ?? Not sure.....
Btw- I’ve owned Yamahas w/ SSS forks, but I never even had them valved for me. I wasn’t riding much back then and didn’t have the extra money to spend. But the fact that I rode with them straight outta the box, says something about them too.
I’m not knocking them, but to say they are equal to, or even better than the Cone Valves is something I just don’t agree with.
Pretty much how I feel about it. But being Kris compared it directly to the SSS stuff is even better. Kris is a great tester, he rides a lot and has a great feel for changes. He’s unbiased, which ya what I really like about him.
Back to what I posted and what Kris also mentioned, is that the Cone Valve forks are only going to be worth buying, if you get them set up properly. If your not sensitive to changes, getting them properly set up could be challenging. In my case I’ve always been happy with Billy @ PowerBand Racing and would suggest anyone using WP suspension, to give him a try.
And in case anyone is wondering, I have ZERO ties to PowerBand, I'm just trying to spreading the word on his work. I’ve referred a bunch of friends and others from here and everyone is extremely happy with them. Whether it’s stock forks/ shock revalved, or CV / Trax purchase, he’s good at what he does !
If I was riding a Yamaha, I’d be sending my stuff to Enzo, before buying Cone Valves for it.
Hopefully the OP takes some sense from this in that setup is 90+ percent of the equation, and if you're after better internals for the last ~10% or so, the cones arent actually the answer.
Yamaha called the new forks in 2006 the "Speed Sensitive System" forks because their TCV design flopped in 2005. Credit to Slipdog for teaching me that.
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My cone valves stiffness lasted longer than kyb, the rebuilding intervals are shorter on kyb but feel better, and the cone valves stay fresher longeer.
Post a reply to: WTB: Yamaha Cones & Trax Shock