Just done a lower leg service on my 180mm Yari because it has felt incredibly harsh over roots, bumps etc since I got the bike. Now I’m not sure if it’s borked or I’m just having a “senior” moment regarding it.

When I removed the lowers from the stanchions the air spring rod was partially “sucked” back into the stanchion meaning it was only extended half as far as the damper rod, I couldn’t physically pull the rod further out. Is that right?

Thinking I was maybe helping (probably not) I removed the air spring fork top, this resulted in the air spring rod sucking back up fully into the stanchion. In order to re-assemble the fork I had to put some pressure back into it before being able to screw in the fork leg bolt (about 30psi if I recall)

Is the fork ok?
Does this explain why it feels horrible?
Have I knackered it further?
Is this a good excuse to use with the wife for purchasing a Vorsprung Smashpot?
Will I then want a coil on the back too?

It just sounds like there was air trapped in the negative spring I reckon.

As you’ve already got the fork apart, take the air spring out and give everything a good clean up. It’s fairly normal for the transfer port for the negative spring to have been blocked up by too much grease. The “port” is just a wee dimple on the inside of the stanchion. Re-assemble and see how you go.

However…… Yaris are on the harsh side. Especially if you’ve had something nicer in the past. You might find that upgrading the damper might work out for you (current £150 from Bike Discount)

On the coil note. I already have one and it still felt harsher than my old Pike. I’ve got a new damper to try instead, which should sort it right out. Wouldn’t worry about matching front and rear as they’ll never behave the same anyway

Slightly o/t – Is the Debonair spring a good upgrade?
Currently £25 on bike-discount.

Yes the debonair spring upgrade is good. Means you can run enough pressure for more midstroke support (cliche alert!) but have a more supple first part of the travel for more sensitivity.

Mines a 2019 so in theory has the new spring, had a luftkappe in my prior bikes 160 yari, from recollection that felt better than this. I feel like I’m getting beaten to shit by the front end.

Guess I’ll have to strip them back down again. The seals had little to no grease but the first rings had some oil in them at least.

If you have the new debonair shaft you’ll have a bright red anodised bit in the air side of the fork that the shaft comes through. It’s held in place by a circlip.

Have you got any tokens in the fork? I ran mine with all the tokens taken out as I wasn’t getting even close to using all the travel (160mm in theory). I weigh about 75-80kgs.

The moco damper in a Yari can spike under fast rocky abuse which might be what you’re feeling. Either a charger 2 damper or Yariup Fast upgrade are the main solutions.

I went debonair 170mm airshaft and charger 2 at the same time and the difference was amazing.

Lufftkappe is a great upgrade for Yari, especially for bigger riders – IME anyone over 15st on a standard (pre Debonair anyway) Yari has got to choose between rubbish small bump and decent midstroke or reasonable small bump and blowing through the travel with little provocation.

I’ll admit though, I am a big Yari fan, but the upgrade to a Lyrik RCT3 on my new bike has been a bit of a eye-opener,I’d pay for the Charger upgrade.

The same thing happened to mine and as mashr said it’s quite normal. If you secure the front end and add a small amount of pressure in the spring chamber you can pull the bars up and should hear a pop which unblocks the negative port so no damage done. Been running a debonair shaft which felt much plusher but Just recently upgraded my damper to a rc2 and such a difference, Supose it’s now a Lyrik or super Yari?😁

So is it the case of just swapping the air shaft for a longer/shorter one to change the travel?

Effectively yes. Travel change is done by changing the airshaft for the appropriate one. Usually just over £40 for a new debonair airshaft plus then either diy it in or pay someone to fit it.
It’s quite an easy job – you need a pair of circlip pliers, Allen keys and then either a 24mm socket or cassette tool to remove the aircap on the top of the fork leg.

I stripped the fork down again and the air shaft (it does have the red anodised bit so it is a 2019) remained fully extended so I decided to leave it without stripping it down and see how it felt.

Originally it had no tokens in and I had installed 2 already before the service.

Having ridden it first down Bunker in Staunton (steep with lots of rocks and stalling opportunities) it still felt a little hard but better so I dropped the pressure off a little to 72psi (I’m 85-90kg in all my gear), next down through Billys again steep with some tricky rocks and a couple of big hit drops including one that was a heavy front end first landing that took me by surprise and I still hadn’t used all the travel although I didn’t feel beaten up over braking bumps like I had previously so I backed it off to about 68psi and added a click on compression, it now feels much better and actually feels like it is soaking up some of the punishment rather than delivering it all straight through the bars.

Thanks all, I think I’ll ride it as is for now, get the damper upgrade at some point in the future and then if I still fancy going coil that’ll still work with the better damper.

Service your forks kids, even if they’re new. I suspect the majority of the difference is from the addition of liberal amounts of grease on the seals and more oil on the foam rings.

Eeep! I just ordered the RCT3 Charger Upgrade, the wife is going to kill me, especially after I had to get a new rear wheel last week because I cracked the old one with my horrendous timing on a gaps landing 😮

Where’d you get it? They’re around £155 from Bike Discount.de at the moment

yep, ordered it from them. Just gotta keep my fingers crossed it arrives on a day I’m working from home 😉

Where are the man skills – get it ordered to be delivered to work then no dramas (or click and collect where possible)!

I am a despicable mercenary IT contractor, current client doesn’t like stuff delivered to site.

Plus if it gets delivered home the wife then finds out and “It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission” 🙂

It seems I may have got over-excited and ordered from Bike-Components.de rather than bikediscount…doh! Hopefully they’re ok!