 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Not posted for a while and can't figure out why my forks are acting odd.
I noticed they weren't making full travel, probably only 100mm out of the 160mm they have. My first thought was they were hydrolocking as this happened to my pikes a few years back. So I popped them open expecting to find a shell load of damping oil in the lowers. There was a bit but nowhere near enough to cause the issue. So I let it all the air from the DPA spring and that compressed all the way. I then tried just pushing on the damper rod. It only went in about 100mm then stopped, a load of horrible oil came out of the seal in the bottom.
Obviously they need a service, that goes without saying. But what could cause the rebound roof to only go in 100mm, nothing should be obstructing it? Has anybody else had anything like this? I'm slightly concerned that a service isn't going to be enough.
TBH more investigation required, get one of the dampers out entirely and eyeball it
I pulled the compression damper out a couple of days ago just to see if there was any oil in there. I didn't inspect the damper but it seemed OK.
Sounds like too much oil in the compression/rebound circuit to me.
That can't be the case as some has leaked into the lowers.
Emulsified oil? Additional volume made up with water therefore reducing travel.
I_Ache - MemberI pulled the compression damper out a couple of days ago just to see if there was any oil in there. I didn't inspect the damper but it seemed OK.
With the compression damper out does the rebound move freely (careful you don't blow oil everywhere!) I suspect it will...
If it's going in for a service this might become a waste of time, but, if it were me I'd get both dampers out, give them a clean, make sure there's no visible damage or similiar, then reassemble with new oil- eliminate the basic. If that doesn't work then it's probably something non simple. But there's not really much in the R2C rebound damper that can cause locking out by itself unless it's mangled.
How much oil was in the bottom leg? Definitely more than could reasonably be in there as bath oil? (lyrik is pretty unfussed about overfilling, sometimes people recommend putting in 30ml)
I will do the service myself its not like its much harder than taking the forks apart is it.
I'll pop the compression cartridge off and see how the rebound moves then. I can always siphon out some oil, not like it will do any damage while i cant ride them.
There was definitely more than the recommended 15ml, probably closer to 30-40ml but its hard to tell when its in the bottom of the kitchen sink. I did wonder if a seal had come off and jammed the rebound but it wouldn't move freely at all if that were the case.
It didn't seem like emulsified oil, it was brown rather than the usual cloudy. I suppose it could have mixed with mud somehow. Although god knows how mud got in the damping oil.