fork air balancer

[robertob]

Does anyone still make the kit that ties both fork air caps together?

[PAULYBOY]

i'm in the process of stripping down an 83 gs850 frame, and itlooks like thats what is behind the chrome Suzuki strip between the lower part of the triple tree. at first i thought it was just me looking sideways at the brake hoses, but the valve is on the left side, and the hose connects both forks together.

[Mark M]

Best thing you can do is to remove all the air stuff and put a set of Progressive forks springs in along with new oil and bushings. Air is a crutch for too soft springs and causes significant issues compared to just running the proper rate springs in the first place.

Mark

[robertob]

That's what I've discovered after doing a bit of research. The reason is one of the forks I got had such a kit and I was wondering about it. I'll just run the stock air caps w/o air.

[49er]

Best thing you can do is to remove all the air stuff and put a set of Progressive forks springs in along with new oil and bushings. Air is a crutch for too soft springs and causes significant issues compared to just running the proper rate springs in the first place.

Mark

To true. Get rid of the air. Progessive springs are the way to go. It's like tyre pressures. How often do need to check them? You need to regularly to keep your handling at an optimum level.
Go progressive springs and ride it, end of story. One less air pressure to check!! Take the time to set the correct preload and rebound parameters and ride.

[p_s]

When you put in progressives, do you remove the air valves completely or just not pressurize them?

[49er]

When you put in progressives, do you remove the air valves completely or just not pressurize them?

You can leave them in place. If you doubt that your pre-load is right, you can add some air and check the ride. If it improves the ride, you need to bleed the air off and increase the pre-load some!!

[gsgeezer]

air setup

To true. Get rid of the air. Progessive springs are the way to go. It's like tyre pressures. How often do need to check them? You need to regularly to keep your handling at an optimum level.
Go progressive springs and ride it, end of story. One less air pressure to check!! Take the time to set the correct preload and rebound parameters and ride.

On most of the old bikes I have had over the years, I remove the air setup when I service the forks. Then I install aftermarket springs, with spacers for preload adjustment and remove the schrader valves and replace them with bolts.

[PAULYBOY]

On most of the old bikes I have had over the years, I remove the air setup when I service the forks. Then I install aftermarket springs, with spacers for preload adjustment and remove the schrader valves and replace them with bolts.

huh? what? where? how?

[mac1170]

progressive springs are good but if your doing a full rebuild,look into a set of gold valves,i put a set in my 1100et and they just transformed the front end, also i would leave the air valves in as if you check them after a month or so even if you dont put air in you will find they will let out some pressure,proper air shocks are actually meant to use nitrogen, as it is an inert gas, which means its a lot more stable under extremes of use,regards

[themess]

Dennis Kirk used to sell air valve balancing kits. I bought one but never bothered to install it.

Here's a suggestion, for those who have air compressors with substantial tanks: Turn off the compressor, and bleed the tank down to 15psig (or whatever pressure you want). Then fill each fork leg until air stops flowing. The volume of air in the compressor tank is so much larger than the volume in the forks that the pressure in each leg should be identical.

[posplayr]

themess

Nice idea, You can also move back and forth between the shocks a couple of times just to get them exactly the same. The big air tank is going to have the same pressure after a quick check on the one side.

Great Tip.

Posplayr