Fork very stiff
- Thread starter GV2013
- Start date
the guys at JensonUSA.com - Your Mountain & Road Bike online parts supplier! might help you out. i bought from them a replacement spring for another model of Rock Shox fork.
Presuming the fork has the same travel as when it was new, but that it simply isn't moving smoothly, you may just need to lube the sliders ...GV2013 said:
If stiction is the problem, then you can either buy some SLICK HONEY from your bike shop OR you can make an approximate equivalent by blending some Petroleum Jelly with some 30w Motor Oil ...
Add a DROP of motor oil to a dab of "vaseline" to create a concoction which has the consistency of HONEY on a warm day (undoubtedly, hence, the name).
Clean the sliders with some rubbing alcohol, then apply some Slick Honey on the sliders where they enter the Fork's Lowers.
Its not stiction, I think the springs are just very stiff. I have read online that other people have had the same problem with the fork, but I have never found a solution. Im thinking about just getting a new fork, most likely a dart 2, dart 3, or tora. Will putting a 100mm fork on a bike that came with an 80mm have a negative affect on handling? or would it just make it handle a bit differently?
FWIW. If you don't think the problem is stiction & the fork feels very stiff to you, then I guess it may be due to your body weight ...GV2013 said:
How much/little do you weigh?
There may be a rebuild kit, but if your LBS doesn't know of one, then the odds of getting the information from SRAM is pretty low OR one with softer springs just doesn't exist and your option may be to buy springs intended for another fork (as vspa suggested).
IMO (and, in this area it probably isn't worth too much because there is little that is cut-and-dried about suspension forks and/or rear linkage design ... rear shocks are improving, but at a great dollar cost to the consumer), I would rather have a suspension fork which is very difficult to bottom out than one which can be easily achieve its full range of travel.
One thing you may want to do is to have both you and a buddy (who is standing in front of your bike while you are astride the bike) grab the handlebars & jump up and then fully load the fork to see how much it compresses AND how smoothly it rebounds ... and, to see if it does/doesn't bottom out.
One time, when I was in one of my LBSes, the co-owner (i.e., the wife) was showing an entry level Gary Fisher to a prospective customer ... she can't have weighed more than 140 lbs.
She stood in front of the bike & WITHOUT jumping up, simply pressed the front of the bike down!
Now, IMO, that fork is/(was) WAY TOO SOFT for semi-/serious off-road riding (well, the rider doesn't have to be serious ... think of that as a description of the trail as being more than a rolling path) ... and, a fork that soft may be good for the bike path where the rider is incapable of avoiding 1/2" deep pot holes, but FATTER tires & less air pressure are a better option (IMO) if that is the type of riding which is being pursued because of the added weight of a suspension fork over the weight of a rigid fork.
I was standing more than 15' away, and didn't take note of which fork was on the particular bike.
As far as installing a fork which has slightly more travel, 'I' don't think it matters appreciably ... the head tube angle will be about 1º slacker if you go from a fork with 80mm travel to one with 100mm travel. So, the steering may seem more lugubrious when you are riding around in a parking lot ... but, if the terrain dictates more travel, then slower/(less-twitchy?) steering is probably a good thing.She stood in front of the bike & WITHOUT jumping up, simply pressed the front of the bike down!
Now, IMO, that fork is/(was) WAY TOO SOFT for semi-/serious off-road riding (well, the rider doesn't have to be serious ... think of that as a description of the trail as being more than a rolling path) ... and, a fork that soft may be good for the bike path where the rider is incapable of avoiding 1/2" deep pot holes, but FATTER tires & less air pressure are a better option (IMO) if that is the type of riding which is being pursued because of the added weight of a suspension fork over the weight of a rigid fork.
I was standing more than 15' away, and didn't take note of which fork was on the particular bike.
BTW. If you go to a fork with more travel, then you may want to change your saddle's angle + its the fore/aft position.
I weigh about 155 lbs. It took both me and roommate jumping with all of our weight on it to get it to use up over 90% of the travel, still didnt bottom out, which I guess is a good thing. I would definitely rather have a stiff fork than one that can be bottomed out by someone weighing 140lbs just pushing it a bit. Thanks for the info.
GV2013 said:
Ah, there's always a way around such things. Of course you can always seek out a spring with a lower spring constant (or in suspension parlance, spring rate). All you really need to do is find a spring of the right diameter (coil diameter, not wire diameter) and length. Another thing to check is whether there's already preload on the spring. I don't mean dialed in preload but rather a spacer inside that preloads the spring. Cutting such a spacer down would work so long as the spacer doesn't leave a gap between spring and spacer.
The best option would be to call Rock Shox and ask if there's a spring with a lower spring rate for your particular suspenders. The beauty of getting a spring with a lower spring rate is that you can preload said spring to get the right sag (er, right compression when you're sitting on the bike) while the spring force increases more slowly with compression. Note that going with a lower spring rate will probably mean that your compression and rebound damping will be too high, and thus the front suspension might tend toward packing down over a quick succession of bumps. That can be easily solved just by going to a lower weight suspension oil or by backing off on compression and rebound damping. If external compression and/or rebound damping aren't available on your forks, then they can be changed by either re-valving or altering the shim stack a bit. Again, these are things that can be discussed with Rock Shox.
You realize, don't you, that by using all the travel you run the risk of hitting the bump stops or even coil-binding, right? Once you hit the bump stop, you're out of suspension......suddenly, which is a less than ideal situation. Is there something about the ride or suspension action that is not grappling nicely with your grollies? You might be surprised by the actual travel you're getting when out doing the rough and tumble stuff. Methinks you should do a check to see exactly what sort of travel you're getting. To do this, fasten a zip tie around one of the fork sliders, with the zip tie pushed up against the wiper. Go for a ride on the wild side (literally.....and I guess figuratively if you're into that...), and when you return, prop the bike up so that the front wheel is off the ground, and measure the distance from the wiper edge to the zip tie. Presto chango, you have the travel for that given ride. Note that having a couple o' people pushing on the suspension doesn't replicate what happens out on the trail. Big, sharp bumps taken at speed can put a hell of an impulse into your suspension. You want to have a bit of travel in reserve for those "Oh sh1t this is gonna hurt!" moments. Running out of travel and hitting the bump stops can quite often be synonymous with putting your body on the ground in a less than graceful and quite possibly painful way.
I know that 2 people forcing the suspension down doesnt replicate a real situation on a trail, I just wanted to see if the fork could even use its supposed travel. When I put a tie on the uppers to see how far it went down it only goes about 60-65 on an actually ride.
FWIW. If your Fork uses oil to dampen the rebound, then I suppose you could change to a lighter oil ... ask your LBS what other riders in your area do-or-use.GV2013 said:
If your Fork uses air, then I think you actually want to add more air.
How cold are the temps which you are planning on riding in?
To state the obvious ...
Riding in Alaska in the Winter is very different from riding in Florida in the Winter.
I think stiction is more of a problem in moderately cold weather than the weight of the oil (that is, presuming your Fork uses oil).
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