Genius or death trap?

[WandsworthRouleur]

The Boy has been riding around in his Zaskar a bit this summer (only just got tall enough to ride it – need to feed him better). Only real snag is that the forks are a bit stiff. Seems the springs in the RC36s are mediums (a tell tale spot of red paint).

Now, Pace have some softs, but want 50 quid. And he’s still a little under the lower weight limit for them, so not even sure it’ll fix things.

Then I though back to a cheapo set of RS Indy forks I bought, mostly for the elastomer. They only had the elastomer in one side. The other fork leg is totally empty. And of course, there’s the ‘Dale Lefty that does away with the other leg entirely! So, I’ve experimented with removing the left leg spring. A single medium seems to be about the right spring rate for him (damping could do with a lighter oil, but okay for now).

But, before I launch him down the Bedgebury trail centre red route, can anyone think of a good reason why this won’t work? I admittedly gave up mechanical engineering a long time ago, but I reckon it’ll be fine!

Maybe I’ll just spend the 50 quid I saved on some knee and elbow pads...

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Not sure if want to risk it, but sure I've read about this being done before on other forks.

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Re: Re:

Not sure if want to risk it, but sure I've read about this being done before on other forks.

And did any of them live long enough to report back?

 

[mattr]

They use to do it a lot for the elite ladies and juniors BITD.
They weren't heavy enough to overcome stiction and compress the springs (even the light/soft springs) at the same time. So taking one out is a standard fix.

Only potential issue was on really noodly forks that having support on one side and not the other could potentially cause issues. Never heard of these issues ever rearing their head though.

An RC36 shouldn't have any issues.

Shouldn't the Indy have two elastomer stacks though? The last one i stripped down did. Unless it's been modified for a lighter rider........

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Re:

Thanks Mattr, good to know.

Sounds along the lines of my thinking. If an RC36 can take my weight and abuse, it’ll be well over engineered for a 9 yr old.

I think the higher up the range Indys has two elastomers. This was very much bottom of the range (Indy C maybe) with one elastomer and no separate damping.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Many motorbikes are like this, spring in one leg, all the camping gubbins in then other. That said, the forks and yokes were deigned to withstand any unequak loading that might arise.

 

[mattr]

All my (modern) forks have air spring in one leg and damping in the other.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Wouldnt do just the one leg as it causes twisting and excessive wear. Try drilling holes in the elastomers, experiment to see how much softer they get. Did this trick with my 9yr olds Manitou 3 and they work really well.

 

[ultrazenith]

It shouldn't be a problem, presumably even when riding with two equal springs, unless the bike is exactly upright, one leg always receives a greater force than the other due to turns or flex in the hub axle.

 

[mattr]

Re: Re:

Wouldn't do just the one leg as it causes twisting and excessive wear.

Not unless it's an incredibly noodley fork. Sort of RS quadra levels of flex. The RC36 is not one of those.
Also, loads of early air forks would have had massive issues by now with spring on one side and damper on the other, mostly pushing in opposite directions to each other. I've got a couple of very heavily used air forks that are ~15 years old, both are on original bushes and no marks to stanchions either. (except where my wife crashed hers ~5 years ago.)

Try drilling holes in the elastomers, experiment to see how much softer they get.

It's a coil fork.