26″ RCT3s. Northwind’s old ones…
Up until a couple of weeks ago they were working fine. Then I had various other issues with the bike, and only then rode it again on Friday. Forks felt awful – really harsh and unresponsive – kept cocking up hops – I’d try and pop the front end up and it was like the front wheel was full of lead and I’d just plough into the thing I was trying to hop.
So I stripped them down yesterday. Full fluids change. Splash oil and wipers were clean enough (done relatively recently). Spring shaft was a little sticky and I made sure the air balancing notch in the LH leg was clean of gunge. Damper oil was a bit manky, but not too bad. Rebuilt, pumped them up 10psi at a time and cycled them a few times to balance the spring chambers, before adding more air.
Spent 5 1/2 hours riding today and whilst they weren’t too bad initially, they got worse again quite quickly. No small bump sensitivity (riding on fireroads felt like I was on rigid fork), and if I pushed them properly hard I got really bad rebound spiking. Sag was spot on at 30%, but on the whole it felt like they were way too hard – I was a good 40mm off full travel, despite normal pressure (48psi, with 1.5 tokens). All compression damping wound off (again as usual), haven’t touched rebound since I lost the adjuster 18 months ago.
I think every descent I did today had a full on “save” moment when the bike tied to kill me, and my wrists are bloody sore now (I’ve inherited my old man’s crap joints).
So any guesses what’s up with them…?
Cheers,
Jon
