Damper rod forks are cheap to make, and prevent the SV650 from competing with the pricier Suzuki 600cc sport bikes equipped with cartridge forks.With fixed orifices in a damper rod, compression damping force is proportional to the square of bump velocity, and can deliver punishing jolts to the rider hands and arms on sharper bumps. The idea is to enlarge the existing damper rod holes so they no longer affect compression damping, which is then taken over by the cartridge emulators. Emulators use a spring-loaded blow off valve to reduce harshness by making compression damping roughly proportional to bump velocity.

To add emulators, you need to get the front end off the ground. With the bike still safely on the side stand, I loosened all the bolts holding the front end together and lifted the rear with a paddock stand. With a couple of car tires on the seats to keep the back down, a hydraulic jack under the engine raises the front end nicely. Brake calipers removed and supported by bungee cords, allowing wheel removal. Once the wheel is off, you can stick a 31" long 2"x4" brace from the floor up to the frame behind the triple clamp, anchored by a couple of cinder blocks to act as a safety if anything goes wrong with the jack.

Undid the pinch bolts, removed the forks. Turned the preload adjustors all the way in to put as much spring force as possible on the damper rods. Using a length of 6mm allen key, 1/4" drive 6mm socket and ratchet, loosened the bottom bolts. Set preload to minimum. Then removed the fork top cap, drained oil and removed spacer, washer and spring. While putting tension on the upper tube against the rebound spring to keep the damper rod from turning, removed the bottom bolt, then the damper rod and rebound spring.

Drilled the 4 existing 5/16" damper rod holes to 3/8" then 7/16", doubling the effective area. Drilling through the curved damper rod surface is tricky, the drill bit often sticks and stalls. A drill press would have been handy. Left the rebound hole unchanged.