Cartrige emulators in a 650G, seeking advice

[Wizard]

Head Shake

"Head Shake" can also occur from a Front Tire worn Flat in the middle.
More pronounced on roads with pavement worn into 2 tracks by heavy trucks.
Though the roads around your area are more likely to wear your tire sides.
Check Tire Pressure too.

[salty_monk]

The ride will be much more compliant with lighter oil & emulator adjusted etc.

If you want to leave the oil for now I would try the emulators with 1.5 turns instead of 2.

You now have 2 separate damping circuits instead of one piston trying to do both (not particularly well).
You can now adjust oil weight to adjust rebound damping and adjust the emulator to adjust compression damping (remembering that you need to adjust the emulator to compensate for a different oil weight if you want the same level of compression damping you had before you changed the oil... )

The harshness is likely too much compression damping (hence the reason you can change oil & emulator adjustment or just adjust the emulator).

By the way there is usually 2 or 3 springs in a GS fork. The bottom short ones are top out damping springs. Then there is usually either a long progressive wound long spring or 2 shorter straight rate springs stacked one on top of the other. In the latter setup the lighter spring is usually about 4" long & you'll notice the wire will be lighter (smaller dia) and the coils will probably be closer together.



Good comparison of progressive versus dual rate on this link: http://www.baggersmag.com/tech/1006_.../photo_13.html

Dual rate springs