[Berkley]

I have my F100RL apart right now because I'm painting the lowers and the crown. It looks like the bushings are pretty worn so I searched here and found this thread: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=89035&page=3&highlight=fox+f100+travel

The jist of it being that if you move the spacer and pin, you can go from 80mm to 100mm and vice versa. Well my 2005 F100 has three holes, one at 100mm (stock), one at 80mm and one at 130mm.

I measured the damper and fully compressed, it measures 14.25", fully entended it measures 19" (a difference of 4.75", or ~120mm).

In theory I could move the spacer and pin to 130mm, with a 10mm spacer underneath and have 120mm of travel. Ideally I'd like to grab some spacers and make it 110mm since none of my frames are designed for more than 100mm. 110 would allow me to run a bit more sag and slacken the head angles just a bit.

Discuss.

 

[Berkley]

Success!

So I finished painting the lowers and crown and then clear coated it (pic 3). I used duplicolor automotive spray for both. My air spring isn't like most F100s, since it has the 3 holes that I mentioned before (pic 1). I punched out the pins on the air spring and machined a 20mm spacer out of a material called polyethylene, rather than buy one from Fox. I inserted the pin and black spacer into the 130mm slot along with the polyethylene spacer I made (pic 2).

This sets the travel at 110mm. To offset the added volume, I did some rough math and added 160ml of 7wt instead of 155ml. I doubt it would've made a big difference if I hadn't. When I was reinstalling the footnuts, the damper shaft was twisting with the nut and wouldn't stay. So I busted out the dremel and made a slot in the end of the shaft (pic 4). Using a flathead screwdriver, I was able to get it back together.

Photo 5, my bike reassembled. I haven't hit any trails yet (18" of snow here) but it feels fine. I don't know why my F100 is different, maybe because it's OE.

 

[rockyuphill]

Maybe they had a different damper in the older forks. This is from the 2008 service instructions where they caution against extending travel of the F series forks.

 

[Berkley]

Ride Report

Final feedback on the travel change. I have a 7" disc on the front, and it was never a problem with the fork at 100mm. With the decreased amount of stanchion in the lowers and the greater leverage on the fork, the disc causes the fork leg to flex and shudder. It occasionally happened before, but frequently happens now. I like my 7" disc too much to give it up, so I'm switching back to 100mm. The main difference between the F series and the Float line is the lowers - mainly the fact that they aren't as stiff, and you can definitely tell the difference. I imagine with beefier lowers it wouldn't be a problem, but the F100 lowers are not up to the job.