Tiger 1050 Racetech Fork Gold Valve Kit
If you own a Triumph Tiger 1050 you may or may not be happy with the front suspension and the ability of it to dampen the way you would like, Some say it is perfectly fine and others say it needs work. Some complaints I heard of range from excessive brake dive to a mushy feeling in the front end.
The first course of action when dealing with improving the forks is get the proper springs for your rider weight. I am going to post a table with what springs are suggested for a particular weight below. After you get new springs then the damping should be addressed as chances are you will be getting a stiffer rate spring and will probably need more rebound control. This is where the Race Tech FMGV S2053C kit will come in. With that kit you will get (2) new G2R base valves that already come pre-assembled. (2) new Type 1 gold valves (1) for the rebound and (1) for compression, They are the same valve you just flip it for one or the other. You will also get the shims necessary to valve the rebound for your spring rate and the compression for your weight and riding style.
What this kit does is address some issues that the stock forks have, Cavitation is a issue on the stock forks as well as a harsh compression stroke. Let's take a look at the compression leg first as it is the one that needs new holes drilled in it, The stock compression cartridge has no base valve (Standard cartridge forks do have them on both lower cartridge tubes)so you are relying on the one valve attached to the damper rod for all the compression damping, The issue is the valve can only flow so much before it will become so progressive that you get harsh compression damping. Since there is no base valve and no exit at the bottom of the tube the damping will get harsher the higher the shaft velocity. By drilling holes in the lower section of the cartridge tube and installing a new base valve you now have another entry point for the fluid into the cartridge tube as well as a outlet sort of speak for the fluid when the valve on the damping rod basically becomes too restrictive.
On the compression leg there are (2)holes located at the top of the cartridge tube itself so no rebound can be made in that leg, Since there are no holes in stock form located at the bottom and no check valve to allow fluid flow in but not out it will cavitate and cause a mushy compression stroke until all the air is out. I am posting a image of what the stock compression cartridge looks like and one with the Race Tech components below. What I would like to mention is that some are under the impression that it is the new gold valves that go on the damper rod that correct the cavitation issue when in reality it is the combination of the cartridge tube mod on the compression side and the new base valves.
Stock compression components top and Race Tech bottom.
So let's go to the rebound side of things, With the stock plug at the bottom of the cartridge tube and the plug being lower than the 4 holes that are at the bottom of the rebound cartridge the rebound leg will not build compression but rather flow fluid out and that in turn will have a cavitation affect on the rebound side. With the new Race Tech base valve in place and basically blocking the ports at the bottom of the cartridge tube on the compression stroke it will build compression as well. On rebound the check valve on the base valve will allow fluid to enter through the bottom and make sure the chamber is cavitation free.
Here is a image of the rebound cartridge also showing the stock base plug at the top and the Race Tech base valve at the bottom. As you can see in the image the stock base plug does not cover the holes and that is what prevents that leg from building compression and having cavitation issues.
