Front Fork Pressure

[beerbellybill]

Got my new 07 and went to check the PSI in the forks and they were empty. Guess they forgot to fillem or maybe they don't need to be filled? What should they be filled at?

 

[maxcruiser]

Do yourself a big favor and go buy and set of progressive, racetech, etc... springs and change the fork oil to a good quality fork oil. This way you'll never need to know about air pressure and for about 100 to 150 bucks, you'll love the improvement.


:cheers: Mike

 

[clintard]

The forks hold so little air i wouldnt be suprised if you let it out checking the pressure. The forks are a MAJOR pain in the ass, i agree about changing to racetech, on my list for sure!

 

[beerbellybill]

Want to ride tomorrow. What should I try to fillem up to?

 

[BLKMAX]

Anywhere between 6-14psi should do it. Like Clintard said, you may have lost pressure just by checking. Don't take much. Use hand pump if possible.

Joe

 

[beerbellybill]

wow, how can I calibrate such little air. Will I harm anything riding with no air?

 

[m-cman]

I have had two V-Maxes and never run any air in the forks. It will not hurt to run without air. That said, my first Max had Progressive springs and my current one has Race Tech springs and Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators so I do recommend these changes. I did not use air in the forks even before I made those mods.

 

[Buster Hymen]

wow, how can I calibrate such little air. Will I harm anything riding with no air?

It doesn't hurt them but the front end will be rather "soggy". The air helps stiffen up the ride a bit. I'd dump about 8 or 9 lbs of air into it but DO NOT use a compressed air gun, like from a gas station as you will blow out the seals. Use a bicycle hand pump.

 

[richwrench]

I bought a small digital tire pressure gauge that measures such small amounts, but I've also found I don't need to have any air in the forks at all. I suppose a small amount of air would improve the ride slightly, but my bike handles fine with no air at all.

 

[shawn kloker]

When I ran air in my forks,I would just set the regulator on the compressor to the pressure that I wanted in them.Very easy to do.

 

[Jayhawk]

I remember the day the dealer delivered my VMax. As we were unloading it from the trailer, I asked him if there was a special low-pressure gauge for setting the pressure in the forks. He said, "I don't know. Good question."

I suspect there's never been any air in them.

 

[Redbone]

I have a old yamaha dial guage that was for my YZ250 that I was going to use but ended up running no air in the stock forks.
I now have progressive lowering springs and use no air at all.:thumbs up:

 

[Buster Hymen]

When I ran air in my forks,I would just set the regulator on the compressor to the pressure that I wanted in them.Very easy to do.

Maybe on your own gear, but I wouldn't trust a gas station air pump to be accurate under 10 lbs.

 

[clintard]

i use a regular bicycle pump, 3 full pumps in each fork brings it up really close to 12 pounds. Its a pain though because you want to know for sure but you lose all the damn pressure everytime you try and check it.

If your gonna run air best bet is like kloker said a compressor with a regulator but spend the $$ and get racetech springs i hear they are easy to install and the best money besides a new seat you can put into this black hole

 

[beerbellybill]

I filled easch with a bike pump to about 12 and kept checking with a dig gauge till each was 7. Yeah I must have let some out while checking. Amazing how that little bit of air makes such a differance.

 

[lankeeyankee]

Its all in preference. Bicycle pump. pump a few times, hold the front brake and see how stiff the front end is.

To soft pump more air
To hard release some air.

Kinda like if you want to know if its raining outside....
Lick your finger stick it out the windur count to 10 if you can only make it to 5 that should work also.
If your finger is still wet its raining outside, if its dry, than no rain.
Sorry for being in a smart ass mode tonight fellors... I am just bored at work.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Before I quit using air I used a small digital, I'd bring it up to more than I needed and then keep putting it on and removing it, when I got close to where I wanted it I'd then notate how much PSI it lost each time I removed it; then use that number to guess where it was at the last time I removed it.

 

[dkw0417]

I run 13 lbs in mine and actually like it. I purchased a special suspension air pump that only goes up to 15 lbs to that messured off in 1 lbs increments. It also has a special tip to reduce loss of air when disconecting. It was 40bucks, but is is worth it if you are gonna stay stock. The forks hold so little air I can't see a bicycle pump working, but if someone did it they did it. Mine is basically a like a big flavor injector, one push of the plunger usually puts enough air in, that is the only reason I would avoid the the bicycle pump, it takes very little air and I read somewhere you can damage seals putting to much in. Don't know how true that is. I will try to find the site I got the pump from if anyone is interested.

Here it is on a different site. http://www.powersportequipment.com/product_items_detail.asp?item=999070605

 

[lennstang]

I used my Fox Floats hand air pump that came with my '07 Yamaha Apex RTX snowmobile. The front shocks have no springs and use air pumped into the shock as the 'spring'. It has a gauge built into it and is super accurate. It even has a pressure release valve. Here's a pic. http://www.carverperformance.com/float_shox.htm