Took it for a proper ride this morning (out of the house at 7am :?). I went over to my local wetlands reserve which, handily, has a good few miles of empty trails in the woods around it
The forks STILL retain their original pressure after 2-3 weeks, which would be good for a new set of air forks, let alone a 16 year old pair! They have a small amount of stiction initially (I don't think negative air springs were invented back then
), but I actually really like it as it acts as a crude pedalling platform, so they don't bob around when I'm riding, but get nice and active as soon as I hit a few bumps.
After riding this around the singletrack, down a couple of techy descents and threading it through the trees, I'm wondering why I ever thought I needed 4-5-6" travel at both ends! I'm going to take great satisfaction out of passing people on climbs and descents when they're aboard their 6" travel "enduro" bikes, which they bought because their LBS told them to
Anyhoo, here are a couple more pics: