New forks and just put two bottomless tokens in and pumped them back up. Noticed they were sat below the sag indicator without the rider and they feel harsh.
I've read something about cleaning grease from the port that balances the solo air between positive and negative but not sure where this is to sort. I've done lower leg services before but not sure this was part of it?
Just had to do this last night on the GF's Revelations. Took the whole air spring apart and regreased everything, but to be honest, you can get away with just taking the Allen bolt out the bottom of the air spring side, then poking something up inside there to release all the negative air pressure.
The fork is likely to lose travel again but it is a quick temporary fix.
Could be an issue with blocked transfer port or could be caused by a vacuum in the lower legs sucking them down.
You could try pushing a cable tie or similar down past the dust and oil seals this will allow the pressure in the lowers to equalise with atmospheric pressure, seems a common issue if the lowers have been off and re-inflated without them being fully extended. I appreciate your lowers have not been off but it's worth a try and will rule out the vacuum theory meaning it will be almost definitely be caused by a blocked transfer port.
My first set were like that from new. Sent back and replaced under warranty.
First, try extending them by holding the crown and pushing down on the arch. Often, this will push the grease out of the transfer port and they'll be sorted. Next, the cable tie trick. If neither of these work then back they go.
My advice (based on more than a few years in the cycle trade) is that you send them back to Sram Tech (Fishers) for a warranty inspection. It could be something simple like dodgy seal or something more serious like a scratch on the inside of the CSU.
Having a tinker at home may do more harm than good and void any warranty if you later have to send them off and there's signs of tinkering. Plus you'll have the peace of mind that a UK technician has inspected and repaired them and alleviated any factory assembly issues.
Forks are brand new and came on my new bike, but from Germany.. It's a Giant Reign. Do I need to go back To Germany or go through Fishers?
Sram Tech (fishers) will deal with worldwide bought items.
I let all the air out of mine then pumped them up really hard . That sorted it
I am gonna give Fishers a call tomorrow. No point in docking around with brand new stuff.
Looks like the Reign will get some extra slackness with some Pike 29 fokrs
AFAIK, the pressure equalisation can only happen at the very top of the travel, so it would be worth a try at fully extending the forks (per 'getonyourbike') to see if that sorts it, assuming they were fine before you opened them up.
The reason I popped the tokens in was because the fork felt low in its travel!
I let all the air out of mine then pumped them up really hard . That sorted it
This sorted mine.
Tried the tricks and still no better. Going back tomorrow 🙁
Dropped forks off at local bike shop on Tuesday and they sent them to Fishers. New forks at shop Monday morning ready to collect!
Thanks to the Edge in Lancaster and thanks Fishers.
, wow, I'd have laid good money on it being merely vacuum in the lowers (resolved by either mboy's or dirtydog's solutions)New forks at shop
My concern with a new fork was that even with getting rid of the negative air in the lower leg that it would reoccur if it was actually being caused by grease blocking the equalisation port. Going down Garburn with 60mm of travel took some of the fun out of the first ride out...
However if the fix was a simple job I can't see why they wouldn't of sent me my ones straight back - especially as I had just encased them in helicopter tape. I'm not complaining anyway as all I want is a working set of forks!
Bonus is the RC Pikes were replaced with RCT3! Also full set of seals, foam rings and tokens as well as a shock pump.
Not surprisingly they made no comment on what was wrong.
Never found out what was wrong with mine.