Posts
2566
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
Edited Date/Time
4/22/2022 5:16pm
My 2019 KX450 has been an awesome bike. Being that I’m a bigger guy (6’3”, 215) and race motocross in the B class, I have always thought that despite raising the oil level and purchasing the correct springs, my forks still feel like they blow through the stroke and spend way too much time in the harsher bottom half of the stroke. This past winter, I decided to try my hand at revalving and installing Gold Valves. I purchased the Gold Valve kit through Race Tech and gave them the information necessary to get my setup specs. After watching the installation video on the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC website about 10 times, I rebuilt the forks (new seals, bushings, and oil) a installed the Gold Valves. Not only did I save a ton of money doing the work myself, but it was really cool to take everything apart and put it back together to see how it all works. I rebuilt the shock as well, but since I felt like the shock worked better for me, I didn’t mess with the valving. This past weekend, I tried it out at my first race of the year. After racing 4 motos, I was very happy with my purchase. The bike worked much better, and I felt way less fatigued at the end of the day than I expected. Overall, I learned a bunch and came away a satisfied customer.
Yeah, always immensely more satisfying doing it yourself and learning some things along the way.
The others have suspension work done to them by another company, but the Race Tech Gold valves are the shit
The Shop
WOW.... I could not believe how good they were. They rival modern SSS stuff, and that's not an exaggeration.
Again, I thought this was all marketing fluff until I tried a set. Paul Thede's a smart guy!
As for coming up with the setting, you tell them your height, weight, type of riding you do (MX, GNCC, desert, etc.), and your racing classification and they send you a list of shims in a specific order to achieve the setting they think will work best based on the info you provided. In the past I have sent my suspension out to have it resprung and revalved. They ask you the same questions and do the same process. I just decided to try it myself this time. As for the price, the Pulp MX show has a discount code to bring the price down quite a bit. Either way, if you do the work yourself you are saving money as opposed to paying someone else to do it for you.
If you were happy with everything but you wanted it a little bit more softer on the top and they speced a setting of bsv low 37, you could just go down a setting on the chart to 36. Same if you wanted more holdup you could go from a midvalve 10 to a midvalve 11.
When you studied the stacks it was interesting to see if they changed the clamp size or went thicker shims or more face shims or less float etc.
Those sheets really helped me understand valving.
The sheets are on Google if you search images but only for older bikes now.
In saying that I have found racetech super helpful in sending you a revised setting no questions asked, I just liked testing them all my self.
Pit Row
As far as the sheets and tuning...
An updated DVS (digital valving search) was created which is why the sheets went away. With the new system, the unique identifying code is utilized to create a log of any feedback on the setting, changes/updates made to the setting, which allows us to have an even larger database of rider feedback (REAL WORLD TESTING!) to continue to evolve our products and settings.
The Gold Valve and the DVS settings are constantly evolving to be the best they can be. To continue to be a leader, you have to continue to move forward.
As you said, if you want to make/try changes, we have Tech Support available and happy to help get you a new setting/direction to fine tune your suspension to exactly what you want. Although, most riders are happy with the first setting; largely because the database of feedback is now so large.
When it comes to theory, here are a few key points...
1) The Gold Valve is designed to create optimal flow based on what our R&D department has learned through years and year of experience. It continues to evolve as do our settings for it.
2) Using the Gold Valve removes any limitations of a stock piston design, and yes, in many cases it puts more emphasis on the valve stack for control versus the piston itself. The valve stack is velocity sensitive, the piston is the piston. This means more tuning/control of what is going on for the tuner to create the exact feel you want.
3) Utilizing the Gold Valve means less variables when tuning.
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