Shocks worth keeping? (now about Halson Inversions/PDS)

[justjustin]

Keeping the poly in good shape:
Not storing with abnormal weight / preloaded for any length of time.
Keep chemicals, cleaners, etc. off them.
Do not store in the sunshine, or let the forks sit in a hot car for too long,
can hit 120F-150F range easily I bet. Bad for poly, boots, etc.
not sure about low temps. The PDS poly is much more consistent
as the temperature varies than the inversion poly.

Once the cellular structure has been compacted, there is no way I know
of to "fluff" them back up.

I just remembered, a touch of the teflon grease between each poly
helps the fork travel a little more smoothly. Odd, but noticeable difference.

 

[justjustin]

Steerers on the Halsons:

They came with 1" , 1-1/8" , and 1-1/4" steerers, Cromo or Aluminum steerers on the PDS.
The inversion had threaded or threadless, I assume the PDS did, in Cromo, but never saw one.

The steerer is removeable on the PDS, but I think it was a bit tougher with the inversion, maybe even aircraft epoxied into the crown like the uppers are.

Hope that helps.

J

 

[nimbus]

Here's my fork. Sag (with no rider, or even bike) is about 3/4" inch. Total stack height of the elastomers (very hard poly) is about 6" versus ~8" length of the kebab stick.

Steerer appears to be held on by a bolt with a Torx head. I've given it a soaking in penetrating oil and will see if it can be removed, however the crown looks like it would only take a 1" steerer anyway.

 

[justjustin]

Each of the shorter poly pieces should be 1" long (25mm)
Not sure how long the long, skinny, red piece is supposed to be
but that is a bit more sag than I remember having. They may
have run 1/4" from the factory but we cut a sliver off one
piece and just slightly preloaded each side the same.
Your poly must be a tad shrunk?
Looks to be sprung around 165 pounds, what is your weight?

The PDS steerers were interchangeable between all sizes,
I read in the brochure, but not sure about the Inversion -
you may be right about it only being a 1" crown.

 

[mattbrown]

i have a pair of both types of halsons, if you dont want them, pm me, and ill offer to buy them off you

 

[RockiMtn]

Here are my measurements I gave when I was sourcing replacements. There's very little play/sag in my forks. Maybe 1/8" or less.

short stubbies
I.D.: 1/8 inch
O.D.: 3/4 inch
length: under 1inch, 25mm more accurately

long narrow
I.D.: 1/8 inch
O.D.: 5/8 inch
lenght: 49mm (can't get a good read in inches)

What's the difference if any between polymers, elastomers and MCUs? Are they one in the same? Or would putting these in your shocks make it behave differently?

 

[RockiMtn]

Here's my fork. Sag (with no rider, or even bike) is about 3/4" inch. Total stack height of the elastomers (very hard poly) is about 6" versus ~8" length of the kebab stick.

Steerer appears to be held on by a bolt with a Torx head. I've given it a soaking in penetrating oil and will see if it can be removed, however the crown looks like it would only take a 1" steerer anyway.

Those long red ones definitely look too short, and 6" total stack is too short as well. if you check my pics, my stack height clears 6.5" easily.

My steerer also has a bolt through it holding it to a crown. It also looks off centre a bit!

Are you running without boots too?

 

[nimbus]

Those long red ones definitely look too short, and 6" total stack is too short as well. if you check my pics, my stack height clears 6.5" easily.

My steerer also has a bolt through it holding it to a crown. It also looks off centre a bit!

Are you running without boots too?

Agreed - the elastomers look non-original, especially the yellow ones. Beyond the initial sag, the Inversions barely move, even under my weight (~190lbs). Hardly surprising, since the elastomers are rock hard, much more so than medium Pace elastomers, for example.

Having done a search on here, I think the previous owner was monsterfatuk, although I bought them on ebay 'BR' (=before Retrobike).

Ran the forks without boots, although I have considered modifying some Lizard Skins neoprene boots to fit. I would probably do that if the forks were going to get used off road, but at the moment I don't have a suitable frame, so may sell them if I can't change the steerer.

 

[BarneyRubble]

I am working on a source of spares for the Halson Inversion's and will update as soon as I know if it's likely to come to anything.

 

[justjustin]

Cool.
I started making a few calls today on the road to try to find
my old buddy and his brother from Halson again.

The manual was messed up when I scanned it so if you downloaded
it earlier, you will need to redownload it from that link I provided
upstream.

Here is my revisit to the MPFS I had with the PDS.
Just hung parts mostly, not really built, yet.

Specialized Ti BB, Raceface Forged (square taper of course)
Mavic 217/TiDyed Ti Spokes/ Carbon Nuke-proof hubs.
(Mine were 217/Ti/96XTR cause the carbons were $300 more!
my first PDS was Ti then I had a green one, I had Arch Supremes
but have not been able to land a set of those again so brakes are SD1.
That is my original saddle! The speedplay Frogs and Sidis are still here
too, but I have a Thompson Post on here and left the old raceface XY
off for now as it was added in the late 90's and this one looks just like
the control tech I had on it in the first place.
Ti bar, Stubbs bar ends, kooka racha copies (my rachas were lighter
than these but flexier) and a Dean stem for now.
Getting closer!