How to adjust spring forks absorbers?

[Boyntonstu]

I would like to loosen them up a bit.

When I remove the rubber top cover I can hardly see down a dark tube.

Is there a Allen key or a nut to adjust the spring tension?

 

[nutnspecial]

It'd prob be best to goog by your fork make.
It would be rare to have internal spring tension adjustment, and mostly forks and riders just swap different spring 'weights' in and out. You could also try stretching and trimming your spring, but that could an experiment in failure.

That's why people like the air shocks - high tunability, with ease. They sell cheap ones for like 100 that would prob suit your bike. If it's a walmart fork you're dealing with, anything around that price point would be a large upgrade, and you wouldn't need all the extra adjustable features.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Just remember that if you cut a coil spring it will get stiffer in rate. A coil spring is a torsion bar and the shorter a torsion bar is, the stiffer it is. The length and thus the preload is less and that makes people think that the spring is softer. It is not.

 

[Boyntonstu]

Just remember that if you cut a coil spring it will get stiffer in rate. A coil spring is a torsion bar and the shorter a torsion bar is, the stiffer it is. The length and thus the preload is less and that makes people think that the spring is softer. It is not.

Exactly correct. How do I remove the spring in order to stretch it?

 

[dogman dan]

You can't on a cheap fork.

 

[Punx0r]

Stretching the spring would also achieve nothing other than increasing the preload...

 

[Boyntonstu]

You can't on a cheap fork.

If someone made it, can'r someone take ir apart?

 

[WoodlandHills]

You can't on a cheap fork.

If someone made it, can'r someone take ir apart?

Certainly, someone with access to a well equipped machine shop and who is a skilled welder and fabricator could probably get the spring removed....... They could even make the forks useable afterwards too, it would probably be at least 5 to 10 hours of skilled labor. You could buy several good forks or a dozen like yours for the money though, if you had to pay someone.

Not everything that comes apart goes back together: ever try to reseal a beer can?

 

[Boyntonstu]

You can't on a cheap fork.

If someone made it, can'r someone take ir apart?

Certainly, someone with access to a well equipped machine shop and who is a skilled welder and fabricator could probably get the spring removed....... They could even make the forks useable afterwards too, it would probably be at least 5 to 10 hours of skilled labor. You could buy several good forks or a dozen like yours for the money though, if you had to pay someone.

Not everything that comes apart goes back together: ever try to reseal a beer can?

Everything assembled by screwing pieces together can be diassembled and re-assembled.

But, I get your point.

 

[amberwolf]

The only cheap fork I ever took apart had an allen-head bolt at the lower end next to the dropout, threaded up into the bottom end of the fork, inot the elastomer/plastic core the spring was mounted onto. Undoing tha tbolt let me pull out the spring and core.

If I had had a different spring to swap out, I would've been able to change how the fork behaved, but without that I just used the bits for other things.

(the fork had been bent up and broken anyway, taken off a wrecked bike being tossed out by an LBS).


I have another cheap fork that does have a preload adjustment, but all it does is squish the springs or let them expand. There's no rebound/etc adjustments.


The only fork I've had that does have any real adjustment is an old pneumatic/hydraulic Manitou Skareb (which leaks air and has to be repumped up every ride, and also has broken dropouts from testing a hubmotor in it without torque arms/tight nuts ).

 

[dogman dan]

In the really cheap forks, the spring is actually welded into the bottom of the fork. So no,, that type you cannot unscrew or un bolt. the next level up,, it's possible to change the springs on them.

Most next level up spring forks just have a preload adjustment on the top of one of the forks. Spring in one tube, oil in the other, is how they work.

 

[E-geezer]

I've pulled apart forks in the old days that you accessed using an allen from the top, but you needed an allen wrench that was @ 10" long. Without a picture, who knows on this one.

Fork upgrades are always worth the money IMO

 

[dogman dan]

Agreed, if you need fork adjusting,, what you need is a bit better fork. One that has pre load and rebound adjustments built in. Something like a bottom end rock shocks, even though those suck balls, will be much better than what you have now.

BTW,, I just saw a picture of your fork in the other thread. It's the cheapest piece of shit made. The kind with the spring welded in place in the bottom, and no oil or anything to make it a shock absorber. Typically called a pogo stick shock. I bet it bottoms out almost completely when you mount the bike, making it in a way, worse than a rigid fork. You need a better front fork really bad.

Fatter tires and lower air pressure should help that bike some though. Replacing the rear shock on that bike with a much better one would really help too.

 

[Boyntonstu]

Agreed, if you need fork adjusting,, what you need is a bit better fork. One that has pre load and rebound adjustments built in. Something like a bottom end rock shocks, even though those suck balls, will be much better than what you have now.

BTW,, I just saw a picture of your fork in the other thread. It's the cheapest piece of shit made. The kind with the spring welded in place in the bottom, and no oil or anything to make it a shock absorber. Typically called a pogo stick shock. I bet it bottoms out almost completely when you mount the bike, making it in a way, worse than a rigid fork. You need a better front fork really bad.

Fatter tires and lower air pressure should help that bike some though. Replacing the rear shock on that bike with a much better one would really help too.

The 2.125" beach cruiser tires have done the trick and the bike rides.

The spring fork shocks are so stiff that they do not bottom with only my weight. They move about an inch over a bump.

The rear shock seems useles under most circumstances except when going over a mild dip into my driveway.

 

[dogman dan]

Both shocks on that bike are shit. But if the tires do enough to help, great.

Someday, treat yourself to a real FS bike, or a longtail. Those $2000 FS bikes are a world of difference from your bike shaped object.

 

[Boyntonstu]

Both shocks on that bike are shit. But if the tires do enough to help, great.

Someday, treat yourself to a real FS bike, or a longtail. Those $2000 FS bikes are a world of difference from your bike shaped object.

I have a bike length issue in the garage and that is why I started with 20" bikes. I have one to pedal and another with a 31CC honda engine.

I tried a 24" bike but the toe to front wheel clearance was a problem compared to the 20". Strange!

Yesterday when I rode the bike over cobbleston section, I said to myslef, "This is good".

If I had the room, I would try a 29" wheel womens bike.

However, the step through height would be 1-1/2" higher with 29" tires.

Conclusion: enough is good enough for me.

Wider tires make a world of difference.

Thanks to all that suggester them.