Genius or death trap?

[M-Power]

Re:

iirc RC36s were originally elastomer, which are lighter and easier to fine tune for much lighter kids weights than ‘conversion springs’. Elastomers are much cheaper to buy for a few ££s and easy to drill out to fine tune
I have 80mm travel Magura ‘double crown braced’ forks from 2010 and had issues with twisting and steering when i removed spacers to adjust travel - in one leg. They are incredibly stiff, much stiffer than early 90s forks with the extra bracing but it still really affected the steering when one stanchion would compress upto 1cm more than the other but then im a heavy fkr

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

Hmmmm.....I tuned a pair of Spinner forks for my bantam-weight youngster but I found something interesting was possible. On those, only one leg came with a spring, and it turned out that the original far-too-stiff spring was near identical in length and circumference to old Judy springs - and I had a huge box of those. So in went the super soft grey spring. Then the next season in went the soft, then medium, then he grew out of the bike so it was over to a 12 inch orange p7 with SID SL dual air spring.

But I think you wil have to try to see whether the twisting issue is present. It was on my RC35s. I needed the soft elastomers to get sag - I was only 135 lbs at that point - but they behaved badly. Horrible spring rate. So I tried one hard in one leg. Result: awful characteristics of both fork and spring. I think this is an empirical question which you will only solve by trial and error.

 

[mattr]

Re: Re:

iirc RC36s were originally elastomer, which are lighter and easier to fine tune for much lighter kids weights than ‘conversion springs’. Elastomers are much cheaper to buy for a few ££s and easy to drill out to fine tune

I've got an RC36 stealth on my raleigh which was coil out of the box. The RC36 (non stealth, maybe evo?) i had was also coil out of the box (sold that years ago though). Thought it was the 35 that was elastomer and the 38, air.

it still really affected the steering when one stanchion would compress upto 1cm more than the other but then im a heavy fkr

I suspect your weight may have more to do with it than mucking around with travel! My modern, extremely stiff, forks feel far more noodly than forks i used to race on 20 years ago. But then, i'm 30 kilos heavier. So even single crown trail forks (pike, fox 36 etc) can twist when i give it beans. They never did that when i weighed <60 kilos. Nothing did.


This mod is for a 9 year old.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Yup....packing on the lbs doesnt help with handling I have a few sets of Mani forks, one with springs but even experimetnting with 40 Durometer elastomers, they were not doing much for my 9yr old until i started to drill a few holes in them. They work perfectly now and you can see the confidence that inspires, plus its much safer as they can attack obstacles at odd angles sometimes and the sus thankfully allows the wheel to compress enough to go over it safely. Her bike is crazy light, Ti steerer, alloy bolts, Pauls, elastomers ( lighter ) and she absolutely love it. :mrgreen:

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

I think you are spot on M power re weight. I took a bare Kona hula and put everything on the scale before I hung it on. Isla bike front wheel - vv light, 150 thorn cranks, hope road rear hub, ti B.B., and so on. 9kg and my then 10 year was hooked.

 

[mattr]

I keep telling the wife this, that's why I've got 3 or 4 top end groupsets stashed away. And some frames, wheels, forks.

They're for the kids.........

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Thanks for all the advice folks.

Having put my weight behind the forks trying to see if there’s any flex, I’m pretty confident they won’t get noodly and cause too much sticktion.

I think we’ll go out for some light off reading this weekend to make sure there’s nothing weird about the handling. I can’t really think why there would be...

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Its fiddly to get them working properly but well worth it or its best to leave their bike fully rigid and drop the pressure in the tyres a bit. My kid loves riding over tractor tyre ruts. Proper working forks makes it much easier for her to stay in control on fast descents, which she loves and even when climbing on bumpy hills. The benefit is longer rides for you and so much more fun as they really get into it properly and the bike handles right for their size and strength.