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hi guys
first time on here in a long time apologies! I was wondering if anyone could help me out...
i recently bought a set of 2011 55rv forks second hand. I appreciate they are not the most exciting of the range but They are very plush and all adjusters work as they should.
i have serviced them with (initially 5wt as I like to drop a grade usually but not thick enough as had to have rebound on max to get any) new 7.5wt oil, according to the website (200ml one side, 80 the other) and found I could not get full travel so removed one spring at a time and worked out it was the damper leg that was the issue. Removed about 30 ml and solved, full travel.
However...:
the rebound is very poor at high speed and beginning stroke. If you adjust it it is nice and slow when mulching around a car park etc, but even then you get the occasional stroke that feels quicker and more squishy sounding, but for fast rebound I.e when you compress into a root which has a small drop the other side they top out hard occasionally with a clunk and feel uncontrolled.
I am stuck as the oil level must surely be right or I can’t get full travel, but it feels like the oil doesn’t return to the damper after a couple of fast strokes or cavitates badly or is just too low
can anyone shed any light on these forks? Tf said they have no compression in them and the damper is basic which I agree with, but surely even a lower range fork should be able to supply at least some damping to the faster hits and beginning stroke?
Thanks all
The rebound damper is only in one leg? I'd concentrate on getting the oil exactly right in terms of level and viscosity. Light oil and a small port opening will give the same performance as a heavier oil with a larger port, but the heavy/large combo might be less likely to cavitate. Try 10wt?
Yeah it’s an odd setup isn’t it. Think they are the only ones to have 2 springs too, most seem to have spring one side damper the other. Tf seemed to think the shaft on the non damper side was just a means of channeling oil up the fork. Could be a fixed rate compression or rebound I guess. I didn’t dig that deep when I stripped them.
Good call on 10wt that was going to be tomorrow’s job if I have the oil. I still find it odd how the damping performance varies so much. If it was this sensitive loads of people would be having problems from new given they spec 7.5wt