help fox fork pls

gorfgorf

okay so I have a fox 160 mm fork I don't know the model sorry but if it helps its white and the setting is really weird.
there are two knobs on the top on red for rebound and one blue for preload.
the rebound just feels like stiffening up the suspension and kikes less the more rebound you click in and preload in my riding experience does NOTHING.
Is anything wrong?
I bought the bike second hand with no mention of playing with suspension and the woman selling had no idea what she was talking about in general maintenance.There were owners before her but she doesn't know them well.
is the suspension modified?Like caps moved around or anything like that?
pls help.
if you need more info just ask in the reply section
thx

schmako

Strip them and check out what is going on, or get them to a bike shop for a service/inspection?

Pictures would probably help, plenty variations of white fox forks out there.

Also does sound dodgy given the previous owners description.

The Rookie

Presumably it's a coil spring fork? The preloads does just that, it preloads the spring so that you set it at the right sag to get the right travel, it will in use feel much like it does NOTHING (is that different to nothing?).

One assumes you haven't set the sag?

gorfgorf

if it helps my bike comes with the original fork and my bike is a Lapierre spicy 316 for 2008.

cooldad

So Google it and work out what it is. Don't be lazy.

gorfgorf

I found a site with photos of the same bike as me


http://www.zoobab.com/lapierre-spicy-316-2008

The Rookie

So is the fork air or coil? Have you set the sag?

gorfgorf

I haven't set the sag since I can't find an air cap to fit the shock pump and I think it is an air fork
there are photos on the site I linked.

The Rookie

It appears to be a coil fork, so you don't need to fit a shock pump, you set sag using the preload knob and that's what it does, which is probably why you can't feel it doing anything as in relatively gentle riding it won't make any difference.

cooldad

What he said.

cooldad

The innards.

The Rookie

If it were an air fork, the valve would be accessed by undoing whatever is where the blue preload knob is found, as it's coil that same location is the preload for the coil spring.

I'm guessing you don't have much experience with MTBs?

gorfgorf

I have 18 hours riding experience and mechanic experience is 0 with the fork the only maintenance is adjusting the derailleurs, chain cleaning and flat tyres so i am really new. anyway, thx for the answer.

gorfgorf

can cooldad pls post a link to where you found the photo and a site explaining how it all works.

The Rookie

If you quote the post you can see the URL of the photo which is

http://bikemag.hu/images/2010/02/36_vacn_01.jpg

There are lots of videos on YouTube that explain how suspension works.

cooldad

It's in a funny language.

http://bikemag.hu/tech/teszt-fox-36-van-r

The Fox website has manuals for all old forks.

cooldad

Can't find the old stuff, might be archived somewhere, but for those, all you can do is strip, clean, replace wiperseals and foam rings, and replace oil.

Plenty of videos etc on Youtube.

Oil volumes:

http://www.ridefox.com/help.php?m=bike&id=530

You need to know exact model - should be able to put the serial no in somewhere to find out.