Fork oil question

Just done a fork oil change amd clean out (forks out) on a 2000
Blackbird with non standard springs and I have been told by the
supplier that the air gap should have been measured with the springs
in. I did mine with springs out as per manual for standard bike. This
would result in too much oil I think? Any idea what cc's should be
removed to get it where it should be?

Would too much oil (ie leave it as it is) result in overdamping? What
would that feel like on the road?

Thanks,

Mark

 

Harsh ride over bumps etc. death if you hit a pot hole.

yw

 

No, & nobody else will know either.

No, it will result in less initial 'soft' compression. The air gap
above the oil is basically a spring, which handles the initial
compression before the metal springs take over. More oil equals less
air-spring equals stiffer initial stroke.

If there's far too much oil in there, it will stop the forks
compressing fully, which probably isn't a good thing. I'd recommend
doing the cable tie thing with the damping backed right off (assuming
it's adjustable) & a few hard front brake applications. If the whole
stroke isn't being used, & especially if it feels like it's bottoming
out without fully compressing, I'd syringe[1] some oil out before
taking it for a blat.

Either way, you know what you've ultimately got to do...

[1] Ask your local friendly vet if you haven't got one.

 

More likely the spring rate would change, but the damping should be
unaffected.