So a buddy bought me one of these forks a couple years ago, and I tried it, and hated it….
It sat in the garage until I recently started to rebuild my full suspension Beast. Because its 3 pounds lighter that the fork I was using before, I wanted to see if it could be improved at all….
So I took it apart….
Here is the only picture I took of it. Sorry, but you get the idea...
In one leg, there is a BIG spring that does most of the work. In the other is a smaller spring and a plastic block that allows you to lock the fork. In the pic you can see 2 long bolts, thats what holds it all together, and in my opinion they are not thick enough. To use thicker bolts is a trick because the nuts they thread into are welded into the bottom of the fork legs. The welds aren't good, and one of the nuts was spinning and I had to cut a large hole in the bottom of the fork leg to get it off.
I ended up welding in new 3/8 nuts in both legs, and using long 3/8 bolts to hold the fork together. FYI: The length of this bolt determines how much travel the fork has.
Also, in the top of the lower legs there are bushings that the sanctions slide on. In my opinion, when fully extended, these bushings should have the sanctions all the way thru then to avoid binding. After some measuring, I found that the travel of the fork can be extended to almost 7 inches while still having full overlap on the bushings. I ended up settling at about 6-6.5" for my setup. NOTE: when you increase travel, you loose the lockout feature.
Also, the grease they use is REALLY gummy. I put it back together with good grease on the springs, and SRAM butter on the bushings. The fork moves much better now.
One of the biggest problems that these forks have is that when they extend, and 'Top Out", it feels really harsh. There is a hard rubber bushing that goes under the head of the bolts that hold the lower legs on. I replaced these bushings with several layers of rubber cut from an inner tube. It made a BIG difference in the top out harshness.
Now lets talk about tire clearance. I wanted to put some big rubber on this bike. Here is a 4.8 tire on a 100mm rim. As you can see, the 4.8 rubs, but there is room for a 4.0.
Maybe a 4.25 or 4.5 would fit, but I don't have tires to test.
Once I get this bike on the road, Ill report back on how the fork works, and Ill try to get some video if it in action...
It sat in the garage until I recently started to rebuild my full suspension Beast. Because its 3 pounds lighter that the fork I was using before, I wanted to see if it could be improved at all….
So I took it apart….
Here is the only picture I took of it. Sorry, but you get the idea...
In one leg, there is a BIG spring that does most of the work. In the other is a smaller spring and a plastic block that allows you to lock the fork. In the pic you can see 2 long bolts, thats what holds it all together, and in my opinion they are not thick enough. To use thicker bolts is a trick because the nuts they thread into are welded into the bottom of the fork legs. The welds aren't good, and one of the nuts was spinning and I had to cut a large hole in the bottom of the fork leg to get it off.
I ended up welding in new 3/8 nuts in both legs, and using long 3/8 bolts to hold the fork together. FYI: The length of this bolt determines how much travel the fork has.
Also, in the top of the lower legs there are bushings that the sanctions slide on. In my opinion, when fully extended, these bushings should have the sanctions all the way thru then to avoid binding. After some measuring, I found that the travel of the fork can be extended to almost 7 inches while still having full overlap on the bushings. I ended up settling at about 6-6.5" for my setup. NOTE: when you increase travel, you loose the lockout feature.
Also, the grease they use is REALLY gummy. I put it back together with good grease on the springs, and SRAM butter on the bushings. The fork moves much better now.
One of the biggest problems that these forks have is that when they extend, and 'Top Out", it feels really harsh. There is a hard rubber bushing that goes under the head of the bolts that hold the lower legs on. I replaced these bushings with several layers of rubber cut from an inner tube. It made a BIG difference in the top out harshness.
Now lets talk about tire clearance. I wanted to put some big rubber on this bike. Here is a 4.8 tire on a 100mm rim. As you can see, the 4.8 rubs, but there is room for a 4.0.
Maybe a 4.25 or 4.5 would fit, but I don't have tires to test.
Once I get this bike on the road, Ill report back on how the fork works, and Ill try to get some video if it in action...
