REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

02 Black Super air with some tweaks ?

550 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by DH_WP, Jul 19, 2004

DH_WP

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2004

Hi
I have a old black super air 100/120mm , and ride it in the 100 setting.
The problem is with my new bike "Titus Switchblade" with a 4.5" rear travel the back of the bike is outperforming the front.
I can either upgrade to a Talas RCL . or a minute 3 .. (cant decide) or I can try and tweak my black.
I first noticed my black was "off" when I took my bike to the LBS and they guy there was playing on my bike , he asked if I like my rebound so slow .. I was like .."but that is the fastest it can go"..
Since then I have replaced the 5wt oil with 3wt and installed Evil-G seals.
I took the fork apart and re-lubed it , then i created my own sort of semi-bath system by pouring about 10cc or 3wt fork oils in the lowers. "Not sure if this was the right thing to do or not ?" could somone please assist ?
I am also wondering if it will be possible to pump oil into the fork via the micro-port lubes ? to keep the fork running smoothly with the standard manitou clear type grease.

any help would be great thanks

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Trajan

· #2 · Jul 19, 2004

DH_WP said:
Hi
I have a old black super air 100/120mm , and ride it in the 100 setting.
The problem is with my new bike "Titus Switchblade" with a 4.5" rear travel the back of the bike is outperforming the front.
I can either upgrade to a Talas RCL . or a minute 3 .. (cant decide) or I can try and tweak my black.
I first noticed my black was "off" when I took my bike to the LBS and they guy there was playing on my bike , he asked if I like my rebound so slow .. I was like .."but that is the fastest it can go"..
Since then I have replaced the 5wt oil with 3wt and installed Evil-G seals.
I took the fork apart and re-lubed it , then i created my own sort of semi-bath system by pouring about 10cc or 3wt fork oils in the lowers. "Not sure if this was the right thing to do or not ?" could somone please assist ?
I am also wondering if it will be possible to pump oil into the fork via the micro-port lubes ? to keep the fork running smoothly with the standard manitou clear type grease.

any help would be great thanks

I would not put fluid into the fork if it was not designed for it. You will get hydraulic lock-out and you won't get full compression. Just keep the fork clean and check to make sure you have the rebound knob attached correctly.

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Hecubus

· #3 · Jul 19, 2004

There must be something wrong with your fork. Substituting the oil with 3w is not the solution. At the fastest rebound with 5w oil the fork should be almost like a pogo stick with no damping at all. The Black rebound adjuster typically has a very wide and very noticeably effective range of rebound damping. It should be ok to convert it to a semi bath system using the new seals but 10cc of 3w oil is too little and too light. The 5-40W synthetic they recommend is notably more viscous and you should use 16cc per leg as per Manitou's recommendation.

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Trajan

· #4 · Jul 19, 2004

Hecubus said:
There must be something wrong with your fork. Substituting the oil with 3w is not the solution. At the fastest rebound with 5w oil the fork should be almost like a pogo stick with no damping at all. The Black rebound adjuster typically has a very wide and very noticeably effective range of rebound damping. It should be ok to convert it to a semi bath system using the new seals but 10cc of 3w oil is too little and too light. The 5-40W synthetic they recommend is notably more viscous and you should use 16cc per leg as per Manitou's recommendation.

I don't think so. Without the bushings being modified to allow for the oil to move around, you will get lock out.

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DH_WP

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 19, 2004

Ok ..lesson # 1

You cant convert a older black to a semi-bath unit .. ffork would not fully compress and when I forced it down my Evil-G seals blew out the fork ...
What I have done now is mix some heavy duty oil "Shell-Helix" with the M-prep to get a nice juicy flowing liquid and inject that in my fork.
My fork has alsot less sticktion now , but the rebound hasnot yet been resolved,I took it apart to see if perhaps somthing wa blocking the flow ... Nothing .. the 3wt seems to be going ok now with.

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