Author Topic: Fork equalizing tube  (Read 1152 times)

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maxvmx

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Fork equalizing tube
« on: November 06, 2010, 11:51:05 am »
Hi All,
I recall seeing a feature on a bike in a dirt bike magazine some years ago that had a flexible air tube fitted between the top fork caps to equalize the fork pressures. I haven’t seen or heard of anything like it since – has anyone seen it before? Or does anyone know if it has any merit?

Offline brent j

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Re: Fork equalizing tube
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2010, 12:10:28 pm »
I've seen this done where air pressure is being used to replace or assist the springs.

Would I do it? no. (that goes for air pressure or a bridging pipe)
I can't see the differences between pressures in the fork legs being enough to be a problem but I can see a situation where most of the oil ends up in one fork leg.

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Offline Canam370

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Re: Fork equalizing tube
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2010, 01:18:56 pm »
Pretty common on Marzocchis 80-81. They always leaked the air :)
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Offline sudman

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Re: Fork equalizing tube
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2010, 01:31:07 pm »
I have run a sub tank on my Gasgas forks before, which is a small volume tank linking both forks, made them a lot plusher in the 1st part of the stroke, just made it up out of PVC pressure pipe with a small needle valve to control the rate in & out of the tank.
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Offline LWC82PE

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Re: Fork equalizing tube
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2010, 03:04:37 pm »
Yes i have got NOS S&W and Goki equal fill kits that have hoses that join into one T-piece with a schrader. Ive also made my own home made kit before when i was really enthusiastic about it. It makes it so much easier to either add equal amounts of air or to easily bleed the air out both forks at the same time. Some people like to add air some people like to remove it, its just a personal preference thing and depends on the terrain, and what your forks are set up like eg springs, oil weight, air gap etc. Also it it adds a bit of trickness to your bike if you want to do that. So my answer is yes it does work and is worthwhile to do if you dont want the hassle of stuffing around to try and get exact right pressures in each fork or want to be able to bleed the air out quicker by just needing to depress one valve instead of 2. Just make sure all your connections are tight and dont leak.

Here is the thing sudmans talking about
http://www.tootechracing.com/Home%202nd.htm
half way down the page. Other brand do them aswell but i like the design of this one best.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2010, 05:17:58 pm by LWC82PE »
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