fork exploration

[mountainrider]

I realize there are no revelations here. Others have reported the findings of the supension gurus they are working with. I just had to find out for myself.

I have had one of the front forks apart this weekend. I have photos on my cell and can upload them if anyone is curious, but this is the fische from the FSM.

The fork springs are unconventional. The drawing is not totaly accurate but they are similar enough to depict how they change diameter and are progressively wound. as a result, there is no way to know the weight without a very expensive tool.

Within 3 weeks, I will have a few custom straight wound springs to experiment with.

The cartridge is crimped at the top and the bottom and there is no access to the shim stack.

Springs are the foundation and need to be addressed first.

News as it develops.


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[GHEZZI]

Mountainrider, I do not want to explore YOUR fork with you , but I can share anothers experience.

One of my local suspension Guru's removed a spring (from my fork) and commented that the taper would technically give it a progressive action, but the variation in diameter is such that it would feel closer to a linear spring in action.

He measured the Hyper spring against known products and in his opinion would rate it very close to .80kg/whatevers, (I can never remember, cm or mm).

The reason for the taper is more likely to just keep the spring centered in the fork to stop it wearing the inner surface of the outer fork tube.

With the sealed cartridges, he has previous experience of cutting the bottom crimp off, and machining a new end and silver soldering it back on. This end has a circlip groove on the inside which locates a plug that is threaded in the centre for the bottom cap screw that holds the lot together.

There is one problem that could arise. The piston that holds the shim stack could be an odd size which means Race Tech would not have a replacement. Re shimming may be of limited value, however we could always machine our own piston, ....................... development time and cost could be excessive. Once the original cartridge has been cut its fate is sealed, there is no going back.

Call Scottyspeedshop and see if he will donate his original cartridges to science.