GVEs - Worth it?

[LR44]

Has anyone installed GVEs in their forks? If so, I'd love to hear your before/after experiences and whether they're worth the expense.

[cbreater]

To get right to the answer for you, over a stock set up, yes they are very much worth the investment. I would personally suggest something for the rear at the same time (either a new gen shock swap or GSX-R shock swap).We did ride them bone stock for a short period and while soft, and bouncy, they are serviceable for track riding even bone stock and soggy.

To give more detail though and offer a second solution:

We have a slew of pre-gen 250’s in our camp with various states of tune but here is what we have and my personal take on the set ups. I have not ridden any of these on the street, only at the track. YMMV
All have GSX-R rear shocks tuned to the owners riding preference for feel and tire wear. Front suspension is set up as follows:

1 with GVE, cut stock springs to get roughly .70 and if I recall, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running RS10 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up.

1 with GVE, .75 Sonic springs, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running Alpha 13 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up. Essentially the same set up as above but with different springs. They feel very similar to each other (as they should being set up almost identical).

1 with Ricor Intiminators, 2” cut off stock springs, 5wt oil. This bike is pretty well sorted and offers good feel on the front. This is running Alpha 13 tires. This is a softer sprung but very well damped set up. Stiffer would be nice on this set up to hold the front up under hard braking better but otherwise a good set up with lots of feel.

1 with Ricor Intiminators, .75 Sonic springs, 5wt oil, forks lowered in triples, Big Boy links to raise bike 1” at the pegs. This bike is running SuperCorsa tires. This bike offers the best compromise (in my opinion, the others may chime in and prefer their own set up) of stiff yet compliant. Offers fantastic front end feel and bump compliance while supporting the front end well under hard braking. This is my personal choice for best feeling setup for fast laps. This set up offers almost the same feel as above (as it should being set up almost identical) but with better chassis support with the stiffer front springs.

IMO, the Ricor set up is the way to go. No, you cannot tune them like you can the GVE, but in my experience it looks like you don’t need to in order to achieve a great feeling front end. If you spend enough time with the GVE I’m sure they can be tuned to be as good or better than the Ricor but to get going with little fuss, get the Ricor and enjoy your new suspension.

[LR44]

Originally Posted by cbreater

To get right to the answer for you, over a stock set up, yes they are very much worth the investment. I would personally suggest something for the rear at the same time (either a new gen shock swap or GSX-R shock swap).We did ride them bone stock for a short period and while soft, and bouncy, they are serviceable for track riding even bone stock and soggy.

To give more detail though and offer a second solution:

We have a slew of pre-gen 250’s in our camp with various states of tune but here is what we have and my personal take on the set ups. I have not ridden any of these on the street, only at the track. YMMV
All have GSX-R rear shocks tuned to the owners riding preference for feel and tire wear. Front suspension is set up as follows:

1 with GVE, cut stock springs to get roughly .70 and if I recall, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running RS10 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up.

1 with GVE, .75 Sonic springs, 30wt fork oil. Not sure what pop off spring is being used. This is stiff, hydraulic stiff. Originally it had 2” cut off the stock springs and a lighter weight oil but was somewhat softly sprung. This setup offered good compliance and feel but was soft for hard braking. Stiffer springs were added but then the rebound wasn’t enough to slow down the return stroke. Thicker oil was added to calm the rebound and that worked great but now it feels hydraulically stiff on compression and does not offer the feel of the softer set up. This is running Alpha 13 tires. I’m sure this will get sorted out over winter to soften it back up. Essentially the same set up as above but with different springs. They feel very similar to each other (as they should being set up almost identical).

1 with Ricor Intiminators, 2” cut off stock springs, 5wt oil. This bike is pretty well sorted and offers good feel on the front. This is running Alpha 13 tires. This is a softer sprung but very well damped set up. Stiffer would be nice on this set up to hold the front up under hard braking better but otherwise a good set up with lots of feel.

1 with Ricor Intiminators, .75 Sonic springs, 5wt oil, forks lowered in triples, Big Boy links to raise bike 1” at the pegs. This bike is running SuperCorsa tires. This bike offers the best compromise (in my opinion, the others may chime in and prefer their own set up) of stiff yet compliant. Offers fantastic front end feel and bump compliance while supporting the front end well under hard braking. This is my personal choice for best feeling setup for fast laps. This set up offers almost the same feel as above (as it should being set up almost identical) but with better chassis support with the stiffer front springs.

IMO, the Ricor set up is the way to go. No, you cannot tune them like you can the GVE, but in my experience it looks like you don’t need to in order to achieve a great feeling front end. If you spend enough time with the GVE I’m sure they can be tuned to be as good or better than the Ricor but to get going with little fuss, get the Ricor and enjoy your new suspension.

Thanks cbreater. I never heard of Ricor before you mentioned it.

I realize I should have defined my current setup in my original post. I have 0.75 Sonic Springs and my damper rods are unmodified. Based on my read of the Ricor website, it appears you can drop in the Intimidators without modifying the damper rods. Is this true? If so, that makes them far more appealing than GVEs as far as ease of installation is concerned. Also, it seems that with my springs, 5wt oil is the way to go - do you agree?

[cbreater]

Originally Posted by LR44

Thanks cbreater. I never heard of Ricor before you mentioned it.

I realize I should have defined my current setup in my original post. I have 0.75 Sonic Springs and my damper rods are unmodified. Based on my read of the Ricor website, it appears you can drop in the Intimidators without modifying the damper rods. Is this true? If so, that makes them far more appealing than GVEs as far as ease of installation is concerned. Also, it seems that with my springs, 5wt oil is the way to go - do you agree?

That is true. I installed mine exactly as the instructions directed. Drop might be a stretch as they do fit pretty snug in the forks to force the oil through it's own passages. Drain the old oil, pump it all out, slide the valves in (i had to use the spring to get them all the way down, it did require pushing them down) fill with 5wt oil (i purchased the oil direct from their site). They presumably use the 5wt so that its thin enough to render the stock damper holes useless and force it to use the Ricor valving. I personally dont know what affect thicker oil would have on the way that they work but it works so good as the suggest i dont see any reason to modify it.

I forget the oil height I went with but will find out and post it up for you to try. If Z1R Rider sees this, he can post it because I went the same height as his.

They are as easy to install as you read.

[greg737]

it's been a while since I modified my EX250's suspension but I clearly remember how completely awful the OEM suspension was. a wallowing, floppy cow really.

but I also remember my feeling about the bike when I first upgraded the front suspension. I immediately realized that only doing the front wasn't enough. doing the front without doing the rear shock only made me constantly aware of how bad the OEM rear shock is.

after I upgraded both the front and rear the EX250 suddenly became a great bike. you have to do both ends of the bike.

[LR44]

Originally Posted by greg737

it's been a while since I modified my EX250's suspension but I clearly remember how completely awful the OEM suspension was. a wallowing, floppy cow really.

but I also remember my feeling about the bike when I first upgraded the front suspension. I immediately realized that only doing the front wasn't enough. doing the front without doing the rear shock only made me constantly aware of how bad the OEM rear shock is.

after I upgraded both the front and rear the EX250 suddenly became a great bike. you have to do both ends of the bike.

Already done - I chucked the stock rear shock put in a ZX600 shock with ~8oz of 5wt fork oil.

[Ceeloo Yello]

I did it but at the same time I also upgraded the springs and the weight of the fluid so not sure which is the most important. Do know I would never go back to stock You might consider just upgrading the springs and fluid first and seeing how you like it.