fliier
Dirt Disciple
I just pulled apart a 1995 Manitou Comp fork. Elastomers and extension bumpers are shot.... The compression bumpers are in one piece but need to be replaced as well...
Anyhow, as I was cleaning and looking over the internals I couldn't help but think that an increase in travel of 35mm or so was not only possible, but fairly easy to accomplish. This would put total travel in the 80-90mm range. I suspect this is true of all of the Elastomer based forks of this vintage. Has anyone tried this?
I'm away from home at the moment, but when I get back I'll post some pictures with my thoughts on how this could be done. It would require a change to springs instead of elastomers which means no rebound damping. That would have to be overcome. Still the fork is so nicely made that I feel compelled to give it a try.
I understand why the early forks used elastomers, compression and rebound damping all in one unit... Still they didn't stay around long once the designers figured out a good way to do rebound damping...
What do you guys think...?
Anyhow, as I was cleaning and looking over the internals I couldn't help but think that an increase in travel of 35mm or so was not only possible, but fairly easy to accomplish. This would put total travel in the 80-90mm range. I suspect this is true of all of the Elastomer based forks of this vintage. Has anyone tried this?
I'm away from home at the moment, but when I get back I'll post some pictures with my thoughts on how this could be done. It would require a change to springs instead of elastomers which means no rebound damping. That would have to be overcome. Still the fork is so nicely made that I feel compelled to give it a try.
I understand why the early forks used elastomers, compression and rebound damping all in one unit... Still they didn't stay around long once the designers figured out a good way to do rebound damping...
What do you guys think...?
