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Just been reading about this so gave it a go. I had my 150mm pike serviced a little while ago, but I'm now not getting near full travel. The service was last year sometime, but I don't ride a lot, maybe 10-15 days out since then.
I've read about pumping up the fork to high pressure and poking a zip tie in the seal. I tried it but nowt happened. Is it literally a case of poking it in to lift it away from the stanchion, or does it need to pushed right down!!?
What’s the intended outcome from said “burping”?
This aside did you check the sag / pressure after the service? If not maybe too much air in there. Otherwise maybe you had too little before and were getting full travel when you shouldn’t have done. Im no expert but I wouldn’t expect full travel to happen unless you were casing a jump or really hammering a rock garden...
I've just had this problem. It progressively worsened until I was only getting not much over an inch of positive travel up from sag point.
My damper bladder needed burping ,rather than lowers as it had been drawing in lubricating fluid from the lowers over time which was stopping it from working as it should.
You dont need to push the tie far in.
You defo did the check on the air spring side?
IMO if the air pressure is still in the spring side (measured with the pump at the valve) then the issue is with the damper.
Googled pike not getting full travel and various threads popped up suggesting "burping."
Simplest explanation for it I found is this.... It's not unknown for forks to have a build up of pressure in the lower leg, this acts as an additional positive spring causing the for to ramp up, preventing bottom out.
To 'burp' the lowers, with the fork fully extended slide a very small zip tie down past the wiper seals and listen for any escaping air.....
I've tried various pressures, 1 or 2 tokens, I usually aim for 20% sag. The fork feels plush, but at around 50psi, I can bounce up and down on the bike and get close to the point where it stops in it's travel and goes no further (maybe 80%ish of the travel)
What happens if there is no air in the spring?
I'll check tomorrow! In take it it should compress all the way down?
Yes - just do it in stages : let some air out and then cycle the fork up and down to eqaulise the + and -.
Then let some more out and repeat.
there is no way I would break a seal by doing that. Just sets my teeth on edge
Only relevant if you have air in your lowers. Handy after a lower servive as without proper leg installation it's easy to create negative pressure and get suck down. Or sometimes after a trip where you're at a high elevation as this can change the pressure in the forks. If you are going to do it use the flat side of the zip tie against the stantions and you need to push it down past the oil seal not just the dirt seal. You should hear any air escaping. However in your case it seems the issue is in the spring itself so the zip tie hack would be of little consequence. As above try dumping air out then reinflating gradually while cycling the forks to equalize pressure. If your still having issues it's possible the port that transfers air to the negative chamber is gunked up with grease. in which case you'll need to dissasemble the fork to clear the port. However if your fork feels good then maybe just forget about it or adjust your pressure. Such a minefield, ask whoever serviced your fork if they changed your settings?
As above try dumping air out then reinflating gradually while cycling the forks to equalize pressure.
Does this simply mean adding say 10psi, then pushing the fork down half dozen times and repeat up to desired pressure?
There was a well-documented issue with the seal-head on the original Charger damper that allowed damping oil to leak out into the fork lower on the damper side which limited travel. The other giveaway for me was that the quasi lockout dial at the top of the damper side, the three-position thing, more or less stopped working.
The problem may not be with the air spring at all, if you pull the lowers and find lots of oil in the damper side lower leg, then it's potentially a damper issue needing either a bleed or a rebuild.
Well I've just let all the air out and I could compress the girls all the way down. I pumped it up 10 psi at a time, pushing up and down a few times in between. I've got it at 50 psi right now, but I need to go for a ride to experiment a bit with it. There's not much on my doorstep so the best I can do is find some steps in the park to ride down!!