[buildyourown]

I've got a 36 Talas on the wife's bike. The OG poo brown one.
I'm looking to turn it into a 80mm fork for my hardtail. I'm pretty sure I could do it if I bought the Float conversion kit but I'd like to save the money if possible. Anybody done it? I can make whatever spacers I need.

If I do need the Float conversion, where do I buy it? Only places I could find online are in the UK.

 

[Steve M]

Unfortunately it's pretty well impossible to lower those, as you can't just shorten the spring shaft - it interfaces with the top cap through a thin needle (also if you have an old TALAS fork, they are not fun to work on). Would recommend purchasing the relevant Float parts - your LBS will be able to order it from Fox or one of their distributors.

 

[buildyourown]

I found this video and tried it.
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/276917/

It works. I don't really understand why, but it does. My travel adjust doesn't work anymore but the fork is down to 80mm and it works.
The rebound seems a lot faster so I'm not sure if it's actually position sensitive and the shaft is too deep in the travel. Whatever, it works and at 80mm damping quality isn't critical.

 

[tacubaya]

Your rebound seems a lot faster probably because the negative air chamber hasn't pressurized and you are now running your fork with only positive air chamber pressure. I advise you not to continue running your fork this way and (as suggested by Steve) convert to a Float system.

 

[Steve M]

Your rebound seems a lot faster probably because the negative air chamber hasn't pressurized and you are now running your fork with only positive air chamber pressure. I advise you not to continue running your fork this way and (as suggested by Steve) convert to a Float system.

I'm with this guy. Your fork is now either completely unable to pressurise the negative spring, or equalises pressure at the wrong point in the travel which can cause topout issues among other things. I would highly recommend not running your fork like that.