PP140 forks...

[ash.onmtb]

PP140 forks - what oil weight to change to?!

My PP140 forks are broken in and working nicely, but they don't seem to run to the full range of movement. Judging by the dirt on the slders, they stop about 50mm from full compression - is that normal??

 

[01nutracing]

Why would you want it to be at full compression? That would mean that your bottoming out all the time. Sounds like their working fine to me unless your jumping big and their locking up suddenly near the bottom of the stroke.

 

[ash.onmtb]

Why would I want them to be at full compression?? If I said you could have a fork slide thats say 100mm long, and then give you the option of covering 50mm of that, or covering the whole 100mm of that, which would you choose? Pretty easy choice for me - its there, why can't I use the full range of movement on my forks...

How could I be bottoming out 'all the time?' What would make you infer that?

The dirt thats been swept off the fork could have been on just one huge hit - the point is that there seems to be no possibility of the forks going any further, and I want to know if that's 'normal'..

Also, for anyone out there, the gold flat blade screwdriver adjusters on the top of the fork - what do they do?? Compression damping? Can the preload be adjusted? Whats the go? Is for compression, one for rebound? Or are they simply cosmetic?

 

[pbk]

um i think what he was trying to say was that how do you know that your using all of your fork with out bottoming out??? therefore how do you there is 50mm of unused fork

 

[SnItChY]

the screws on top are airbleeders ,if the work for you ,you undo them to let air out ,becarefull as lil china man likes to get these to snap on you when you try

"got you again round eye"

 

[ash.onmtb]

air bleeders? Never heard of them, what do they do? Does air build up and create pressure in the forks or something?

Re the forks, as I said, there is 50mm of unused slider visible on the fork. Worst case, if I have bottomed them. the dust wiper mark shows there is still 50mm of FORK SLIDER left to travel. Can that be used...? Judging by the responses, I'm starting to guess no...

 

[foolsp33d]

air is used to assist the fork in its movement.. well thats what im lead to believe, im going by information I know about how a MTB fork works.

this is basically what I mean..
SUSPENSION: Air/oil fork

but googling or looking at a manual for a high end bike will give you a more detailed specific answer.

 

[twisties]

Re the forks, as I said, there is 50mm of unused slider visible on the fork. Worst case, if I have bottomed them. the dust wiper mark shows there is still 50mm of FORK SLIDER left to travel. Can that be used...? Judging by the responses, I'm starting to guess no...

what they're saying is theres 50mm left for the day you absoloutely f*k up and case the front end of the bike. that leftover 50mm is going to soak that up.

you probably can adjust it so you've got no leftover slack there but it sounds like theyre probably set up ok as it is.

do they actualy feel too stiff for you at the moment? or do you just want to use the whole range of travel?
if they dont feel stiff then i'd probably just leave them alone.
"if its not broken don't fix it"

p.s. when 01nutracing said "That would mean that your bottoming out all the time." he was saying that if you soften it up so your using the full amount of travel your forks will be bottoming out over every bump.

 

[ash.onmtb]

I just want to know that I'm getting the most out of my forks, thats all...

I'm reasonably happy with the spring rate, although I think the crap stock oil could be replaced with some slightly lighter stuff, but I just want to ensure I'm getting the full amount of travel possible!

Re the air - I would assume that they are a coil sprung fork?! They couldn't be air sprung as there is nowhere to add pressure....!? So I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what they do!?

 

[ash.onmtb]

educated guess's required?!

I'm after some newer, slightly lighter fork oil than comes in Pitpro140's from stock...!?

Any idea roughly what they come with, or conversely I'm about 80 kg's, a smooth rider and more interested in supple active forks, than jumping out of windows. What weight oil would you recommend I change to?!