The 49mm front end, with its modern, large-diameter tubes, has tons of performance potential. However, as a unit with conventional damping, there's lots of room for improvement.
The factory suspension is a compromise for many styles and built to a price point. If you want the conventional appearance of a 49mm fork but want to modernize the performance a bit, Race Tech Gold Valve and Spring kits from TC Bros. are the complete solution. Especially if you're rebuilding a fork with a set of our fork tubes, why not improve the internals?
RaceTech's cartridge emulator kits are the benchmark for keeping stock appearance but ratcheting up the performance. The heart of the kit is the spring; Race Tech offers several options to ensure you get the appropriate rate for your scenario and preferences.
The Gold Valves, known popularly as cartridge emulators, offer tunability that the factory suspension can't. Conventional damper rod forks offer primitive damping control that's not very dynamic; it's difficult to make this type of suspension perform well at both high and low cycling rates. Coupled with springs that are often inappropriate, it's no wonder that a stock 49mm fork leaves something to be desired performance-wise. Cartridge emulators are how you convert your damper rod setup behave like a modern upside-down suspension—the valving responds to the speed of the tubes during their stroke.
Don't swap your fork. Make yours all it can be with internals from Race Tech!
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