I'd like a second opinion on this. Anyone heard about before?
"Alright kiddies, here are some answers:
A very good idea on removing the air. The only problem that you run into is oil leakage and a pain to get the bolt back on. If the cartride moves in any way, you have to start over. An easier way is to loosen the top caps till the o ring is just sticking out, compressing the fork, and then tightening the top caps. (I did it to mine all the time) Now alot of you guys were wondering about creating a negative pressure in the fork and what that would do. This is going to be a long read.....
The pressure that you remove from the fork is not enough of a vacum to "pull" the fork down. What happens it that a regular fork has the regular air pressure from the last time you tightened down the top caps, and the only way that the pressure changes it through the age of the oil. more on this later. What happens in your fork when you compress it is that the primary action of the rising rate in the fork is from the build up of air pressure. Everything remains constant, the oil height, the cartridge adjustments, the amount of material the fork is made up of. the only thing that changes is the air volume in it. As the sliders compress into the fork, the air volume decreases thereby allowing the air nowhere to go but build up. this is where that "ramp up" feeling comes from. when you remove some of the air, there is less of a build up and your fork feels much more linear. Again this is where the fine tuning lives, not in cartridges. Cartridges are a constant when it comes to damping, (non spv forks) they just control the actions/reactions to the terrain and you. You can open up cartridges for better oil flow, you can add heavier weights which assist in the feel of the suspension but, it lies down to air pressure on how you want your fork to react. This is why forks have air valves on them. You can add or remove air to fine tune your suspenion. The 888's do not have this feature though.
Now the finer things to suspension. Have you ever has you fork hiss, smell a bit, and wonder what the hell that was? Very simple. As the fork ages, the oil decomposes. It becomes thinner and thinner due to internal breakdown. This is a major issue with forks and why seald always blow on marzocchi's. As the oil dies, it becomes a gas. When you do not onpen your fork up to release this pressure, it slowly builds up until it leaves by itself. Guess what part it aims for? The seals. Since the fork is magnesium and aluminum tughtened down, it focuses on the weakest part of your suspension. Seal is basically stiff rubber that it blows there. Why does it leak oil? Well, since on most models the oil height tends to be over the seals, the air pressure build up forces the oil out to make more room for itself. This is why forks piss oil when they blow.
Now, some fixes. A lot of people dont really think when if comes down to your suspension. Did you know that barometric pressure can actually affect your forks performance? Altitude also plays an important role to how your fork works too. This is why anytime you race, open your fork up previous to your day. allow it to climatize to the surrounding environment as well. You wont believe the performance you gain. "
"Alright kiddies, here are some answers:
A very good idea on removing the air. The only problem that you run into is oil leakage and a pain to get the bolt back on. If the cartride moves in any way, you have to start over. An easier way is to loosen the top caps till the o ring is just sticking out, compressing the fork, and then tightening the top caps. (I did it to mine all the time) Now alot of you guys were wondering about creating a negative pressure in the fork and what that would do. This is going to be a long read.....
The pressure that you remove from the fork is not enough of a vacum to "pull" the fork down. What happens it that a regular fork has the regular air pressure from the last time you tightened down the top caps, and the only way that the pressure changes it through the age of the oil. more on this later. What happens in your fork when you compress it is that the primary action of the rising rate in the fork is from the build up of air pressure. Everything remains constant, the oil height, the cartridge adjustments, the amount of material the fork is made up of. the only thing that changes is the air volume in it. As the sliders compress into the fork, the air volume decreases thereby allowing the air nowhere to go but build up. this is where that "ramp up" feeling comes from. when you remove some of the air, there is less of a build up and your fork feels much more linear. Again this is where the fine tuning lives, not in cartridges. Cartridges are a constant when it comes to damping, (non spv forks) they just control the actions/reactions to the terrain and you. You can open up cartridges for better oil flow, you can add heavier weights which assist in the feel of the suspension but, it lies down to air pressure on how you want your fork to react. This is why forks have air valves on them. You can add or remove air to fine tune your suspenion. The 888's do not have this feature though.
Now the finer things to suspension. Have you ever has you fork hiss, smell a bit, and wonder what the hell that was? Very simple. As the fork ages, the oil decomposes. It becomes thinner and thinner due to internal breakdown. This is a major issue with forks and why seald always blow on marzocchi's. As the oil dies, it becomes a gas. When you do not onpen your fork up to release this pressure, it slowly builds up until it leaves by itself. Guess what part it aims for? The seals. Since the fork is magnesium and aluminum tughtened down, it focuses on the weakest part of your suspension. Seal is basically stiff rubber that it blows there. Why does it leak oil? Well, since on most models the oil height tends to be over the seals, the air pressure build up forces the oil out to make more room for itself. This is why forks piss oil when they blow.
Now, some fixes. A lot of people dont really think when if comes down to your suspension. Did you know that barometric pressure can actually affect your forks performance? Altitude also plays an important role to how your fork works too. This is why anytime you race, open your fork up previous to your day. allow it to climatize to the surrounding environment as well. You wont believe the performance you gain. "
