Help choosing an air fork

[PCeBiker]

Well, if absolutely nobody uses them or recommends them, including manufacturers and professional riders, that is probably strong testament to them being at least not helpful and potentially a downright bad idea.

OK I'll remove the boots and go back to just lubing them with fork lube, and I'll stop squirting grease under the seal lip.

 

[PCeBiker]

When my Monte Capro came New it was not tuned for me. Shock absorber wise.

When I have adjustable rebound/compression damping, preload adjustment, or any other adjustments on my suspension, I always play with all the buttons and dials and decide for myself how I want to tune it.
I used to crank up the preload on my dirt bike for the dirt then soften the ride for the road.

I'm looking forward to getting air shocks.
I just bought one of these so I can start adjusting and feeling out my new forks.

Now I just need to pick out a pair of forks.

 

[PCeBiker]

Find one that is digital gauge.

I hate digital.
I've got an analog fuel gage too,..

 

[Gionnirocket]

Find one that is digital gauge.

Yes that's what the pro use!

 

[PCeBiker]

Yes that's what the pro use!

Pro golfers use my gage on their carts.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Pro golfers use my gage on their carts.

Pro_stitutes use it with their toys

 

[m@Robertson]

Find one that is digital gauge.

Screw that. I'm moving back to analog with everything. I've had one too many experiences where I reach for the tool and the batteries are dead. And nope I don't have any in the house so I have to go to the store. But all I wanted was a damn caliper reading not an urban adventure.

 

[PCeBiker]

Screw that.
I've had one too many experiences where I reach for the tool and the batteries are dead. And nope I don't have any in the house so I have to go to the store. But all I wanted was a damn caliper reading not an urban adventure.

I hear that,..

I finally remembered to stock up when I was at the dollar store,..

That little 12V battery is pretty cool.
4 of them would run my ebike.
Now I have to go back to the dollar store.

 

[Gionnirocket]

My bike is not cheap. Your NEZ girly bike is cheap you can put Vaseline your forks lube chain with bacon fat. Do whatever to it. It's your bike.

I guarantee my bike came with better spec'd suspension and components and the Rohloff is the cream_dream.
No matter how many times you smash your controller with a mallet, I got you beat!

 

[Gionnirocket]

Detroit kicking some ass so far!

 

[Gionnirocket]

The low slung is a necessity... if you know what I mean.
and f*ck Bosch... Can't mallet a CX!

 

[Gionnirocket]

UART Ultra with a throttle.
Getting ready to drop it and Mobil shc100 red grease it.
Or maybe I use a combination fork grease and bacon

 

[Gionnirocket]

Detroit self destructing... smh...

 

[PCeBiker]

Well, if absolutely nobody uses them or recommends them, including manufacturers ,..

My 1982 XR200R had stock fork boots.

In the late 90's my freind bought a three wheeler similar to this,..
(It had been banned for over 10 years. You could own and keep one, but you weren't allowed to sell it. My friend managed to buy one though but I don't think it came with registration?)

He didn't like the fork boots. He said that they looked stupid. I said don't remove them, they protect the forks.
He removed them and sure as s*it within a few rides they started leaking oil like crazy.
We ended up removing and rebuilding the shocks, and put new boots on the forks.

That's my anecdote anyway,..

Perhaps the stanchion and seal technology wasn't what it is today or we worked the trike harder than all the previous owners but the forks were fine until he removed the boots. We had riden it a bunch of times before he removed the boots and they weren't leaking at that point.


I removed my fork boots though.
They were pretty ghetto.

 

[PCeBiker]

Thats pretty clean being so old.

Those are pictures I scored from the internet.
I don't have any pictures of my actual bike.
I'm not sure if cameras were invented back then??
If they were, they didn't take batteries.

Mine did have the black seat and plastic gas tank though.
It had a blue seat a year or two later.


My freind had purchased a Honda XL125. It was street legal with mirrors, lights, battery, etc. Then I bought my XR200R.

My friends little brother liked my bike and talked his dad into buying him the same bike, but his dad bought him an XR200, not an XR200R, so dual shocks and no Pro-Link.

My friend's bother bitched and moaned to his dad, so he took the bike back and got him the XR200R.

 

[m@Robertson]

My 1982 XR200R had stock fork boots.

None of those things are bicycles

You CAN find some crappy old bicycles that have boots. But look across the board at modern equipment and nothing worth a damn has boots. Wrong tool for the job.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Or use one of these...

They're lubricated so you can kill two birds with one stone!
And you know it's rubber safe!

 

[PCeBiker]

I decided to buy another ebike,..

I spent an extra $40 and upgraded to a geriatric saddle.

This is the EBR review of the Outback,..

VoltBike Outback Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $1699.00 | Model Year: 2019 | An ultra-affordable full suspension plus size tire electric bike sold online from Canada, comes with a full range of features including headlight, adjustable angle riser stem, and high capacity battery

electricbikereview.com

 

[PCeBiker]

Interestingly, the Outback has the same RST forks as my current e-bike, but the forks have a straight steerer tube.

So I might get the double shoulder air forks for the new bike instead?


My e-bike is on the way,..

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I'm thinking of buying an air fork but I'm having trouble finding something that will fit.

I have a 26"X4" fat forks with a 135 mm drop-out.



They are the TNL 26" version with the coil spring and the hydraulic lockout, 75mm of travel, and 1.5" to 1.125" tapered steel steerer tube.


View attachment 163076


I want to get a double shoulder downhill fork with as much travel as possible but my tapered steerer tube and 135mm dropout is limiting my options.

I like these and they are nice and cheap (I don't want to put a $10 saddle on a $2 )
$118 plus $59 shipping.

But they don't come with a tapered steerer tube, so I'm thinking of getting a 30mm to 38mm steerer tube/bearing shim.
The top of the steerer tube is 28.6mm and the bottom is 30mm.

Does anyone know if such a shim exists?

The closest I've been able to find is this,..

I'm thinking that I don't want a split shim?
I think that I want a one piece steel press on shim?

Does anyone know if such a beast exists?

Most fat tire suspensions you find in the $2.5K range are mostly coil springs with poor-quality seals and stanchions.
We found them inadequate to handle winters in Canada with salt on the road. We built some bikes with RST Guide, Zoom, and other forks and found within 1 winter, they were performing worse. So, we decided never to use such models.

I would suggest either SR Suntour, Rockshox, or KKE fork.

KKE is a famed motorcycle suspension maker in China and they maintain higher quality than most bicycle suspensions. They also make suspensions for Sur Ron: https://surron.ca/products/kke-front-fork

They also make a fat tire version and our team would be happy to help if you need one.