I just got a 2005 FireFly, but I am having some problems with the travel adjustment feature. Whenever I crank the travel down (so lower the travel from 150mm to 110mm), the spring on the inside is rubbing the inside of the fork making a grinding sound. I can't imagine that riding a fork that is making a grinding sound is a good thing. But I have no expereicne withe newer manitout forks so if someone could shed a little more light on the possible causes/solutions to this. I would take it apart, but I have yet to get a response from manitou if it is ok to follow the 2004 service steps or not. My guess is that they just did not properly fill the fork with oil and/or failed to sufficiently lube the srping.
Help with 05 FireFly
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Actually its called a Firefly Plus or Super something like that. It does have 150mm of travel and a steel steer tube. I am guessing you can still get a 130mm one, just won't have the plus or super on the name. I am probably going to send it back though. The travel adjustment on it works like crap. As I stated in the previous post the spring rubs the stanctions and randomly locks up when in any travel other than 150mm.MARider said:
Hopefully I can get these bugs worked out because it really looks like a nice fork.
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Try repositioning the spring by turning it few degrees inside the fork. I guess if the spring isn't seated correctly it will tend to bend to the side when compressed. I came accross the same problem with my 04' firefly and that fixed the rubbing.AKBiker said:
Maybe this can help
Anyhow, it turned out to be way the switch mechanism was aligned with respect to the switch itself: the switch sits on a hexagonal shaft, held there by a small screw. If the switch is incorrectly positioned on the shaft, the range of movement will be insufficient to fully activate the RT mechanism (which is simply a ratchet that catches the successive spring coils as you compress the fork) in the bottom of the stanchion and you get the horrible noise.
Try removing the switch, spinning the shaft on which it sits in the Lock-down direction (clockwise from the top, I think) one 'face' with a set of multi-grips and replacing the switch. This should ensure that the RT mech fully engages the spring.
Best of Luck
I had an 03 Firefly with the Rapid Travel (RT) switch atop the left leg and made the same horrible noises with the travel 'reduced' (often it wouldn't actually reduce the travel when I hit the switch, just make those horrible noises).AKBiker said:
Anyhow, it turned out to be way the switch mechanism was aligned with respect to the switch itself: the switch sits on a hexagonal shaft, held there by a small screw. If the switch is incorrectly positioned on the shaft, the range of movement will be insufficient to fully activate the RT mechanism (which is simply a ratchet that catches the successive spring coils as you compress the fork) in the bottom of the stanchion and you get the horrible noise.
Try removing the switch, spinning the shaft on which it sits in the Lock-down direction (clockwise from the top, I think) one 'face' with a set of multi-grips and replacing the switch. This should ensure that the RT mech fully engages the spring.
Best of Luck
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