Damping rod forks are notorious for being both too harsh yet too easy to bottom. This is the nature of damping rod fixed orifice forks. In the past all that could be done to improve these forks was change spring rate, oil viscosity or damping hole size. Cartridge Emulators allow compression damping to be tuned for more low and mid speed damping, to prevent fork dive and wallowing, without the excessive high speed damping that causes harshness. These tunable valves sit on top of the damping rods and are held in place by the main springs. This makes them both simple to install and completely tunable for all conditions and rider preferences