fork balance kit pressure question.

[yamahansolo]

hello i have already done searches and can't find exactly what i am looking for???

79 standrard . the bike has a balance kit on it with gold caps. now if i want to pump the air up to 14 or so since i have the balancing kit 14 should be the pressure for both tubes??? right?

after the crash i haven't noticed any fork oil leaking but it seems unusually soft on the front. i did however play with the forks a bit and when i was unscrewing the steering head it was bending the balance tubes so i may have ruptured them?

also i got my daytona bars installed. thery look awesome! and also new grips and mirrors. i'll post pics soon! these bars give the bike a meaner look!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Chris,

The 79 standard and most of the XS's that I know of didn't come with a balance set of hoses for the forks! I think that was a feature of the 82XJ. But yes, the pressure should be IIRC Max of 17 psi...at least on the XJ, and with a balancing tube, wherever you measure the pressure it should equalize between the 2 tubes!
T.C.

[yamahansolo]

these were put on by a previous owner... also my 82 does not have a balance tube the forks have dials on top to adjust the pressure. the 79 i have has two gold caps with the air tubes coming out of them they look like about a 19 or 22 mm hex head???
i read about them in that article about handling in the articles section. it also said the best rear shocks were the fox ones. the po put those on this baby as well.
thanks for the confirmation about the pressure.
i thought that was right but sometimes the brain can confuse you!!!
chris

[Axel]

82 XJ

Dawg . The 82 has the dials but also a balance tube . A single point of entry for air on the left side . Mine anyway

[yamahansolo]

mine probobly has it then i just never looked that hard. all i saw was the dials on top.

[Do Lee]

Specials with air assisted front forks 5-6 psi. I've run up to 10 psi with no problems but blew seals out with higher pressure. I know that the XJ max pressure is around 17 psi but don't know if there is any differences between the XJ vs XS front forks & seals. Just my $0.02.

[TADracer]

Not sure if there are any differences with how a standard fork handles air pressure compared to the air assisted special fork. On my special I typically run 18 PSI in the forks and have done this for years with no seal issues. 21 PSI is the max (for a 79) with a full load.

I do not have a balance kit but with one, the pressure should be exactly the same in both tubes. The inherent problem I see with balance kits is that they insert five or six places where a potential air leak can occur at fittings. I use a mini pump with a gauge that screws right onto the schrader valve on the fork cap. I check the forks 2-3 times a year and they never seem to lose pressure.

[Pat Kelly]

I run 15 PSI in the forks on my LG (with Kennis Kirk balance kit).
The problem I find is leaking air when you remove the hose from filling the system. With the low volume of air you probably lose half the air with that little 'hiss'. Then more is lost when you check it with an air gauge.
Maybe better to go with Progressive fork springs (like in my E) and forget about using air.

[Crazcnuk]

15psi? They would be like solid suspension!

I used to run 5 psi, now I run 0.

Most people run thier suspension WAY too hard.

[Axel]

fork pressure

I run about 7 psi . First I fill it to about 10 psi with a hand pump then I use the tester repeately until at the desired pressure.
My dials are at "1"

[yamahansolo]

well it's too soft now. it has way too much travel!!! i used to be able to carve curves easily but now it feels squishy and even when i am doing 80 down the freeway it seems to move up and down alot. it could just be that they are higher up in the tree but i am not sure. i have them all the way up to the gold caps. before it was about 1 inch below that. maybe i should lower it back down???

[jjwaller]

Have you checked or changed your fork oil level? I would check fork oil before playing with the air. Air is supposed to be for fine tuning. The oil and springs are for the majority of the suspension.

[Crazcnuk]

"well it's too soft now. it has way too much travel!!! i used to be able to carve curves easily but now it feels squishy "

Funny thing is: suspension is supposed to be 'squishy'.

That is what it does. If you make it too stiff, you actually lose a lot of your traction and cornering ability.

The way you can tell is, if you can travel everywhere and never get close to bottoming your shocks/forks, your set too stiff.

You SHOULD use ALL (90% or so) your travel, on the worst bumps or corners that you play on.

If your only using part of your travel, you are actual limiting what your bike can do.

Watch the super bikes, they use every bit of suspension travel they have.

and I don't know who it was that told everyone the front of your bike shouldn't drop under front braking!

The pivoting of your bikes mass onto the front wheel increases the amount of traction on the front wheel quite considerably.

What is really fun is (at your own risk) go somewhere where you can do some braking trials away from traffic. hit a reasonable speed and hit your front brakes medium hard, THEN hit your rear brake and see if you can lock the rear!

It's usually very hard to lock the rear if the front is already loaded... and very easy to lock the rear, when you don't use the front.

[yamahansolo]

well if you must know someone ran me over at work the other day and i had to play around with it alot to get it straight. i know it's tooo squish now because itdrops 10x what it did before. i know it's supposed to have travel. i have several books on setting up suspension. i can just barely push down on the handlebars while standing next to the bike and it drops quite a bit.

i think i must have let some air out when i bent the tubes.

i'll have to get a pressure gauge and check it...