Fork air hose assembly

[shicks16]

Hey all, i have been a long time viewer but have never made a post of my own, not sure if i am posting this in the right section or if this has been asked before but i have been fixing up my 85 Max and while i was pulling the forks from the trees i damaged the air hose assembly between the forks. I was curious if anyone knows who i can talk to about getting a used one, the new ones run about $250 bucks which is pretty pricy for a simple part, any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[Rhoy Carter]

put progressive springs in the tube and you will not need air pressure and you can plug the air holes and leeave that piece off

 

[Redbone]

If someone doesn't have one for you I would try Ebay, specifically Pinwall Cycle parts as they always seem to have a bunch of Vmax parts on hand although I haven't seen one of those (by itself) in a while.
Another way to resolve this issue is to have air holes in the fork sealed, some have used JBweld to do the job and others have had it welded shut.

 

[one2dmax]

I have plenty of those parts if you need one. BUT, I would weld it shut as noted and go "airless"

Sean

 

[shicks16]

Thanks for all the help, i was thinking about putting progressive springs in it anyways but thought i still needed the air hose. what are the pros and cons with going with a lowering kit rather then the stock height? i am 6'0" would it be recommended to lower it?

 

[one2dmax]

Lowering will help reduce the COG. Lowering just the front will help the effective rake angle thus quickening steering. The air hose on your 85 was done with 25 year old technology in mind. The air simply was a bandaid.

We sell the progressive spring kits with or without the lowering springs (the lowering springs are short springs designed to be put under the dampening rod). You use 1 of them for a 1" lower or 2 (on each fork) for 2" lower. If you lower it more then 1" you will want to modify your kickstand (which we offer too).

Con is ground clearance is reduced. If you have an older over/under hindle you'll scrape the ground on hard turns or big dips.

Sean

 

[shicks16]

So i got more problems. i purchased a progressive lowering kit and brought them in to my guy to start installing and when he pulled apart the forks he found some pretty notable nicks in the fork tubes where the fork seals are. So rather then using them and possibly chewing through another set of seals, i am now on the hunt for some used forks with tubes in good shape, the rest of the forks doesn't really matter, i was able to find a set on eBay for $230 and a bunch for $300, all from pinwall cycle parts but am a little weary on purchasing as i don't want to buy some that are similar or worse shape then what i have, does anyone have any experiences with pinwall cycle, i have had enough problems with this bike in the past year, i don't want to buy parts just for them to be bad too, thanks

 

[Redbone]

Take a look in the Buy & Sell Section up top and you'll see a set from Rumblethump which would be worth looking at.
Then you can talk to Sean about getting bearings, seals, springs to get your front end finally straightened out.

 

[one2dmax]

Check his set out and we probably have forks too. BUT, many times the nicks simply need smoothed out and they will work fine.

Sean

 

[shicks16]

Yeah the mechanic i took them to said he could probably clean up one fork but the other one had a pretty big pit (about the size of a ball point pen) and couldn't guarantee that the fork seal would last past the first ride. i sent a pm to rumblethump about his, they seem to be the best deal i can find, they look like they may be 43mm, will my 85 wheel still fit?

 

[Redbone]

Yeah the mechanic i took them to said he could probably clean up one fork but the other one had a pretty big pit (about the size of a ball point pen) and couldn't guarantee that the fork seal would last past the first ride. i sent a pm to rumblethump about his, they seem to be the best deal i can find, they look like they may be 43mm, will my 85 wheel still fit?

Yep, but you'll need to use his triple trees, hence the new head set bearings. Sean can still hook up up with the springs as needed.

 

[shicks16]

I was planning on replacing the bearings anyways, this would be perfect, i wouldn't even have to worry about sealing up the air holes, :clapping:, hope he hasn't sold them.

 

[shicks16]

One more question, will i need to change my brakes on the front? or will mine bolt on to the newer style forks?

 

[PATMAX]

Shicks, sounds like you are on the right path brother. $200 to $300 for replacement fork tubes was too high and with Rumblethump, you are making a nice upgrade in several ways, you get rid of air system, you get bigger stiffer tubes (shut up Gamorg!), you get fork tube protectors, you can go to R1 calipers and rotors easy! Everybody's happy!

 

[Redbone]

One more question, will i need to change my brakes on the front? or will mine bolt on to the newer style forks?

Yes, you will need the "93 and later rotors and calipers. But you can also upgrade to R1 calipers to increase your stopping power, like Patmax mentioned.

 

[shicks16]

well after exchanging numerous emails with pinwall cycle about the condition of a set of forks they had and them tell me that there was "nothing wrong" with the set i was looking at i decided to go ahead a buy them, well i got them today and they are far from having nothing wrong with them. they have hundreds of rust pits all over the fork tubes. i could understand finding one or two that could have been over looked but not hundreds, i don't know what pinwall cycles definition of nothing wrong is but its obviously not the same as mine. Anyways, enough ranting, is there any way that fork tubes can be re chromed and how much should i expect to pay, i am thinking this might be the way to go after all this.

 

[[email protected]]

Yes, you can re chrome fork tubes. They need to be hard chromed. It is not cheap. Not sure where you would go to do it but I know LE Engineering does it. They charge around $275/ tube though! Im sure you could get it done cheaper. You could buy new ones cheaper probably. Fiber can get them. I think Sean said furber's come from franks forks.

I might be selling mine. Zippo has first dibs though. I will know in the next week for sure.

 

[Redbone]

If you are going to think about replacing the tubes talk to this guy: http://www.frankmain.qpg.com/
There was some discussion about it in this thread which may help: http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=15637&highlight=tubes