Fauth and Progressive

I have done it twice now, on a Commando it's fairly easy once you have the donor parts, best is CBR600RR Showa inserts but most fully adjustable 20mm Showa will fit, you need a lathe to make new fork nuts with rebound adjusters and the adaptors with compression damping adjusters for the bottom. Then you need suitable springs as the standard springs are too long, cutting them shorter will increase the spring rate too much. The worst is the pre OIF BSA/Triumph as it all needs scaling down to allow space outside the inserts for oil to pass, the insert ID becomes 19mm with an OD of 21mm using some precision steel seamless tube.

Landsdowne forks and Shawa damper install makes all the sense in the world to me but I want/need the extra travel with more space to put progessive sections so must nurse what I got. For a sense of where Frauth kit land in dampening comparison, took me months to get comfortable compliant unoticed, by using up proper fork oils 20-10 weight-Labled, then grabbing every sort of thinner fluid I had around till got to Dextron AFT which was too bouncy so tried brake fuild for my sense of perfection but it allowed rust so did mixture of AFT and 5/20 motor oil. Yet to try the 0/20 extra mileage oils. We know the nonNorton upgrades race better than prior Roadholders so don't know how weird Roadholers might fair there.

Don't know if applies to nonRoadholders but they can twist/spring back on really fast switch backs or dodging hazards so robust fork brace needed to tame that. Took scary extremes to show up though.

Hobot

Must seal off damper holes, which Greg provides for but suggest creating new holes above the tapper rim to stagger new holes, ie: one biggest hole slightly above two smaller lower holes for more progressive stop dampening but retaining about same hole flow volume as 2 factory holes. I lucked out by guess/by golly placing top hole about 3/4" up, next ~1/2" up and bottom ~1/4" up. Let us and Greg know how ya like it or not.[/QUOTE]

This makes sense to me. My Fauth is on order along with the longer top bushing. Your suggestion to split and stagger the holes while maintaining the same overall flow size sounds right. Holes 120* around the tube? Why don't you tell me the hole sizes that you used and save me all that math.

The Fauth kit is inexpensive and simple, it extends the forks' travel, re-positions the damper rod holes, and adds a top out spring to eliminate clank on full extension. It does improve from stock with better damping, no topping clank, and more travel and ground clearance. Downside is loss of fork engagement. The Landsdowne kit is a better idea but more expensive, and since it does not extend the forks, it does not enhance travel albeit at the expense of less engagement. Not everyone needs more travel and ground clearance. The Landsdowne system's easy adjustability is a big plus. I imagine that a Landsdowne kit can be ordered with longer stanchions, longer damper rods, etcetera, to obtain the best of both.

In the end, it's the old silk purse out of sow's ear problem. Leaving originality aside, the best move is to find a complete modern front end with a four piston caliper clamping a thin large diameter light disc.

Hobot, as for the twisting, I was unaware of the binding problem you mentioned with the RGM type of brace. Long ago I bent steel tubing and welded up an effective over the fender double hoop brace.

Whoa Nelly! XTINCT. There are no bush extenders involved with Greg's kit so may be confused by stupid Convent cylinders meant to cover top holes for hydro stop before damper 'valve' cap impact clash -by limiting travel and tend to slip to bottom restricting damper tube ports and fork compliance. *2nd thing hobot frictional character solved after 6" travel was restoring factory designed hydro silent soft top out. Can not use/benefit from kit if bush extenders installed as main feature of the mod is 2" more travel, to use as you like by slicing dicing stacking spring sections till pleased. To me its the spring behavior more than mere dampening that makes a better fork. Again I mention me/team found much funny bussiness of Norton screwing up great original designs in several ways for various mysterious reasons. Best speak to Greg directly to get set straight and updated on his refinements plus absorbing his being.

Also another hobot feature I don't know if Greg provides for, extending the top threads of rods so can screw down or washer spacer pre tension/sag adjustment on springs that distinctly assists the feel.

Holes sizes are up for grabs as fluid weight and temperature and useage kind of skew their 'optimal' total flow. I guessed Norton sized holes for motor oil thick fluid so mine are tiny bit less total flow than the 2 factory holes and worked at treat on wide scope of uses. I'd suggest maybe start with 1 similar size factory hole up ~.70" from damper lip and another half size hole ~1/4" above lip. If reasonable thin fluid still seems too jarirng take apart and add another half size hole in between ~1/2" level. Best to place holes in vertical line mechanically as spread around is similar to cuting a horizontal slot but as damper tube ain't in much load when valve ain't impacting it - don't really matter.

Commandos are an ingenious abnormality any way viewed with uncomprehensible performance & smooth sensation by very obsolete stop gap designs, once slightly moded for factory over sights. Roadholders are similar, annoying to dangerous until small easy detailed attended too, may give the new comers good as they are a real run for the money.

I diddled the factory valves to seal and flapper a bit better but ain't put my hands on them but have thot about it for adjustable isolated two way mechanical dampening and instant action speed sensitive Lentz magnetic smoothing. Then might be able try ferromagnetic fluid w/o any electronics for automatic variable fluid viscosity. Some us die hards ain't gonna jump Norton fence completely so there may be more to future Roadholders than imagined.

hehe some vibes still get through on THE Gravel travel, not the jarring kind at all any more but the valve train like buzz moderns transmit so saw what the archery guys use and bought one of their type dampeners to mount on yokes to see if it dulls THE Grit below awareness too.

http://www.lancasterarchery.com/infitec-damper.html#fullDescription

Got it.

I installed the Fauth mod years ago. It's been great. I highly recommend it.