interesting stuff thanks for sharing!
Spears Racing Intiminator review
This review will be broken into 2 parts; Road and Track.
First lets start with the road review:
When starting our R3 project Erika an i knew that we were on a budget and were prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of the best package that we could afford. We were prepared to do a lot of our own homework and costly trial and error that would definitely hurt our pocket books. We were ecstatic to find that a lot of the hard work, countless hours, and testing had been done for us with regards to the rear suspension; the Gregg spears rear shock was ordered and installed with the bike raised to specs that Gregg freely shared with us and we were off to look for an affordable option for the front end.
Cartridges for the front were not in the budget, emulators would have to work for now but we were surprised that Gregg was not carrying them, he had the cartridges ready to ship but a budget option, the intiminators, could not yet be ordered. When we asked Gregg he had mentioned that they were still in development and that they were part of a race winning package that a racer was testing. So we went with plan B our back up plan as a stop gap (Harley extra heavy duty fork oil in one fork leg) and hit the track a few more times to shake down the rear / front dampening challenges.
A few weeks back we decided to pester Gregg, once again as to the availability of the intiminators, He said he would ship a set to me and my brother Steven who was putting together a large parts purchase from Gregg of his own. The Intiminators arrived, were installed using a Gregg's home brewed instructions for oil level and type / grade of oil, our R3 was buttoned up and a test ride was planned.
Erika took her on her maiden voyage but like quite a few of our recent rides, through the aid of our Senna communicators we were able to relay road / bump conditions and affects on each bike, me on a 2010 R1 with the suspension setting dialed in for our last trackday at Chuckwalla her on the R3. After a quick warm up on our favorite road Erika was exuberantly passing word forward to me that the Intiminators were sucking up bumps with little to no transfer of bumps to the chassis or chassis upset when bumps were encountered mid corner. I, on the other hand, had my hands full, as usual when taking the R1 on a spirited street ride full bump to chassis transfer, mid corner bumps causing me to go wide. We got to our favorite semi deserted mostly smooth and otherwise fun part of a SoCal Road called Mesa Grande AKA the Isle of Mesa Grande due to the straights, sweepers, and more to the point tribal land that it crosses with little to no patrol.
We parked, Erika setup for some video of the suspension action, slow-mo and other, and i began a the first of my runs to the top of Mesa Grande's east side. It was quickly apparent that the R3 had been reborn once again. I was instantly confident in the front end getting feedback and getting little to no chassis input from bumps in the road, i started to brake harder and deeper into corners feeling the front load smoothly and unload at the apex without the pogo that was apparent with the stock setup and less apparent but all the more annoying with the heavy oil imbalance on the front with the cheap Harley fork oil bandaid.
There was literally a night and day difference in ride and handling between stock ride, the Intiminator setup and even the R1's firm 'track' setup.
Bottom line: we are very impressed with the Intiminators so much so that we will be hard pressed to upgrade to cartridges if and when the budget ever allows. We will probably put our hard earned bucks towards our last in the list of planned modifications: Engine Performance and Exhaust.
Other parts of the Suspension test are posted on Erika's youtube (Erika Becerra). In this video you will hear that i'm a blisper (blipper and a slipper) with some suspension action slowmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKaBrN2pn3w
Our next track weekend will be the the 11th through the 13th of January. Erika will be the first on the track as the 11th is Femmewalla, she is spoiling for a mock race where she can really stretch the R3's legs and put herself out there as a contender CVMA. Her New Racers School will be in January by that time we hope to have the Track Plastics painted, plated, and sponsored!!
Thank you Gregg Spears - Spears Racing for all your hardwork that went into perfecting the intiminators.
Links -
Technology behind the Intiminators: https://nebula.wsimg.com/82c234e039...AE99832969DF1A2A1&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Other Testimonial from a real winning racer:
https://nebula.wsimg.com/68c943d2d0...AE99832969DF1A2A1&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
First lets start with the road review:
When starting our R3 project Erika an i knew that we were on a budget and were prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of the best package that we could afford. We were prepared to do a lot of our own homework and costly trial and error that would definitely hurt our pocket books. We were ecstatic to find that a lot of the hard work, countless hours, and testing had been done for us with regards to the rear suspension; the Gregg spears rear shock was ordered and installed with the bike raised to specs that Gregg freely shared with us and we were off to look for an affordable option for the front end.
Cartridges for the front were not in the budget, emulators would have to work for now but we were surprised that Gregg was not carrying them, he had the cartridges ready to ship but a budget option, the intiminators, could not yet be ordered. When we asked Gregg he had mentioned that they were still in development and that they were part of a race winning package that a racer was testing. So we went with plan B our back up plan as a stop gap (Harley extra heavy duty fork oil in one fork leg) and hit the track a few more times to shake down the rear / front dampening challenges.
A few weeks back we decided to pester Gregg, once again as to the availability of the intiminators, He said he would ship a set to me and my brother Steven who was putting together a large parts purchase from Gregg of his own. The Intiminators arrived, were installed using a Gregg's home brewed instructions for oil level and type / grade of oil, our R3 was buttoned up and a test ride was planned.
Erika took her on her maiden voyage but like quite a few of our recent rides, through the aid of our Senna communicators we were able to relay road / bump conditions and affects on each bike, me on a 2010 R1 with the suspension setting dialed in for our last trackday at Chuckwalla her on the R3. After a quick warm up on our favorite road Erika was exuberantly passing word forward to me that the Intiminators were sucking up bumps with little to no transfer of bumps to the chassis or chassis upset when bumps were encountered mid corner. I, on the other hand, had my hands full, as usual when taking the R1 on a spirited street ride full bump to chassis transfer, mid corner bumps causing me to go wide. We got to our favorite semi deserted mostly smooth and otherwise fun part of a SoCal Road called Mesa Grande AKA the Isle of Mesa Grande due to the straights, sweepers, and more to the point tribal land that it crosses with little to no patrol.
We parked, Erika setup for some video of the suspension action, slow-mo and other, and i began a the first of my runs to the top of Mesa Grande's east side. It was quickly apparent that the R3 had been reborn once again. I was instantly confident in the front end getting feedback and getting little to no chassis input from bumps in the road, i started to brake harder and deeper into corners feeling the front load smoothly and unload at the apex without the pogo that was apparent with the stock setup and less apparent but all the more annoying with the heavy oil imbalance on the front with the cheap Harley fork oil bandaid.
There was literally a night and day difference in ride and handling between stock ride, the Intiminator setup and even the R1's firm 'track' setup.
Bottom line: we are very impressed with the Intiminators so much so that we will be hard pressed to upgrade to cartridges if and when the budget ever allows. We will probably put our hard earned bucks towards our last in the list of planned modifications: Engine Performance and Exhaust.
Other parts of the Suspension test are posted on Erika's youtube (Erika Becerra). In this video you will hear that i'm a blisper (blipper and a slipper) with some suspension action slowmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKaBrN2pn3w
Our next track weekend will be the the 11th through the 13th of January. Erika will be the first on the track as the 11th is Femmewalla, she is spoiling for a mock race where she can really stretch the R3's legs and put herself out there as a contender CVMA. Her New Racers School will be in January by that time we hope to have the Track Plastics painted, plated, and sponsored!!
Thank you Gregg Spears - Spears Racing for all your hardwork that went into perfecting the intiminators.
Links -
Technology behind the Intiminators: https://nebula.wsimg.com/82c234e039...AE99832969DF1A2A1&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Other Testimonial from a real winning racer:
https://nebula.wsimg.com/68c943d2d0...AE99832969DF1A2A1&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
Awesome write up. Great video. Very cool stuff!!!
This was supposed to be the next big thing in suspension awhile ago but it never got anywhere in vehicles due to a court battle if I recall.
It's also patented and I think Specialized owns the patent if this is a inertia valve system (which from the doc it looks to be?).
Edit: I suck at looking up legal case files but it's Specialized Bicycle Components v Onsport-llc-dba-Stratos
Debbie Downer bit: I'd be wary of legal implications since S is pretty well known as an aggressive defender of their patents.
It's also patented and I think Specialized owns the patent if this is a inertia valve system (which from the doc it looks to be?).
Edit: I suck at looking up legal case files but it's Specialized Bicycle Components v Onsport-llc-dba-Stratos
Debbie Downer bit: I'd be wary of legal implications since S is pretty well known as an aggressive defender of their patents.
Erika rode to school on a very rough road today and was happy to report that the front end sucked up all the bumps, we'll have to record and post some 'suspension cam' videos.
I have meet the man that made and invented the concept, Don Richardson this was something that was a "Battle" if you will back in the 70's I believe with the factory Suzuki. I do believe that this concept was around way before specialized Bicycles...This was supposed to be the next big thing in suspension awhile ago but it never got anywhere in vehicles due to a court battle if I recall.
It's also patented and I think Specialized owns the patent if this is a inertia valve system (which from the doc it looks to be?).
Edit: I suck at looking up legal case files but it's Specialized Bicycle Components v Onsport-llc-dba-Stratos
Debbie Downer bit: I'd be wary of legal implications since S is pretty well known as an aggressive defender of their patents.
I/Spears Enterprises, have had the honor to be allowed to do all of the race R&D for the ricor company (this has give us the exclusivity to sales on all of their lightweight race products) we have won so many races,championships on this product, not to even mention all of the other racers/riders around the world.
Found this : http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-28/news/mn-699_1_patent-suit
Just a little inside....
Track Review (done at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway December 12th and 13th):
Feeling the front suck up bumps on the track was almost as amazing as watching the front end suck up bumps!
As the shadows grew long on the second day of a track day weekend I was finally on the back of the R3 marching my lap times down as my confidence with the tires and suspension grew.
The only adjustment I made was to a little preload to the rear to put more weight on the front since we had recently installed track plastics that took nearly 25lbs off the front and get it to bight a little better on the throttle exiting the corners thinking this would keep me from running wide. What actually started to happen is that I could tighten all my corners up a bit on entry as the weight shifted fwd giving me a bit more trail.
Then came the high speed bump test in the bowl, a place where the stock front and the Harley fork oil band-aid had made the front feel like it was going to wash as the bumps upset the chassis and the lack of rebound / compression reduced the contact patch. Dragging knee to give me one more point in contact with the road, getting down low in the bowl the bumps were sucked up and the front stuck and the feel was there the whole time! Shadows grew and I could see the front working in the bowl and up the climb into and through 11. Freaking track felt glass smooth…
Feeling the front suck up bumps on the track was almost as amazing as watching the front end suck up bumps!
As the shadows grew long on the second day of a track day weekend I was finally on the back of the R3 marching my lap times down as my confidence with the tires and suspension grew.
The only adjustment I made was to a little preload to the rear to put more weight on the front since we had recently installed track plastics that took nearly 25lbs off the front and get it to bight a little better on the throttle exiting the corners thinking this would keep me from running wide. What actually started to happen is that I could tighten all my corners up a bit on entry as the weight shifted fwd giving me a bit more trail.
Then came the high speed bump test in the bowl, a place where the stock front and the Harley fork oil band-aid had made the front feel like it was going to wash as the bumps upset the chassis and the lack of rebound / compression reduced the contact patch. Dragging knee to give me one more point in contact with the road, getting down low in the bowl the bumps were sucked up and the front stuck and the feel was there the whole time! Shadows grew and I could see the front working in the bowl and up the climb into and through 11. Freaking track felt glass smooth…
What are you/Erika's rider weights, if you dont mind me asking? Also, did you guys use Ricor's recommended 5W Amsoil oil or what?
I am wondering why the R3 intiminators cost more than "regular" ones available for other 41mm forks?
I am wondering why the R3 intiminators cost more than "regular" ones available for other 41mm forks?
I've got 40lbs on Erika, the sag and rates are perfect for her and i just ride around them same as on the CBR250r. The only bike setup for me is the R1 and i still haven't raised it as recommended by the R1 forums and just about everybody racing one.
Gregg sent us Motorex 5wt.
The difference in cost i can only attribute to the the different settings / weights/ springs and other variables in the Intiminator that Gregg did the R&D on; guy wants to get paid, who can blame him.
Gregg sent us Motorex 5wt.
The difference in cost i can only attribute to the the different settings / weights/ springs and other variables in the Intiminator that Gregg did the R&D on; guy wants to get paid, who can blame him.
There is no "Regular" ones for the R3, your basing it on a fork diameter of 41mm and that is an outside number there are several 41mm forks and they all do not have the same ID.What are you/Erika's rider weights, if you dont mind me asking? Also, did you guys use Ricor's recommended 5W Amsoil oil or what?
I am wondering why the R3 intiminators cost more than "regular" ones available for other 41mm forks?
So to be a little clearer on this product, Spears Racing has done a LOT of R&D for the Intiminators over the years, and the ones we sale on our website are our valving and our product to sale, yes there is a different in the valving along with countless hours of R&D and knowing that we will give you the direct set up numbers and the necessary changes to your geometry.
I know that xbhobx set his bike up as we suggested and it seems like it is on rails.
As far as the cost, if the product was less expensive to me,I would adjust the cost...but also understand that the cost of an item is not in the product only, it is in the knowledge and the support that adds the real value.
I know that xbhobx set his bike up as we suggested and it seems like it is on rails.
As far as the cost, if the product was less expensive to me,I would adjust the cost...but also understand that the cost of an item is not in the product only, it is in the knowledge and the support that adds the real value.
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
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