A question about sorcery

Hi all,
Hope you’re all doing well in these bonkers times.

I think I’ve been secretly attacked by a sorcerer and wanted to see if you guys had suggestions about which counter spells to use / what quantity of sage to burn.

Long story short: I took off my wheels to have new tires put on. To do so I put it up on the lift, aka had it up on a lift such that the front wheel was completely without load on it (obv so I could take the wheel off). When I put the wheel back on, as if by MAGIC, the front forks were squishy as all hell. I didn’t mess w the forks other than loosening the 2 little nuts on the bottom of the front left fork to allow the axle to come loose (I believe the manual calls this the “wheel spindle clamp”.

How can this be? Should I hire an even more powerful sorcerer? Do I pay them in money or will they need to be paid in virgins? So many questions.

Not sorcery. The answer is simple.

Its the XS "elves". They are the same ones who steel 10mm sockets the moment you put them down.

I had this happen once. The cure was to sit on the bike with the front brake on and pump the suspension up and down. The proper feel returned after about 1 minute.

Paul Sutton said:

The cure was to sit on the bike with the front brake on and pump the suspension up and down. The proper feel returned after about 1 minute.

Click to expand...

With riding gear on !
Curious, how long the bike was on the lift wheel less?

It may be a case of you being away from the bike and not riding it for a while, and forgetting just how soft the forks have always been. Anyway, sounds like you're in need of some fork work, fresh oil and slightly more than the stock amount. If you're just going to drain and refill, use about 6.5 ounces of oil instead of the recommended just under 6. These forks work much better with a bit more oil in them.

Thanks guys.

Dave: I’ll get out the shotgun and look around the garage for the elves

Paul: That’ll be my first move.

Machine: maybe 6 days or so. The turn around time at the shop was SUPPOSED to be 24 hours but they had questions, then the one guy who did wheels was off for 2 days, etc etc (maybe THAT was due to sorcery??)

5twins: I’m sure your right on all counts. As I’ve gotten older my memory has gone from bad to worse (probably due to sorcery). I’m going to pump the forks for a bit and see. But definitely in the next week I’m gonna drain and refill with your recommended amount. Thank you

You guys are seriously amazing. Thank you.

Yes, having a few bikes, there's no way I could remember what I did to which bike and when. So, I made up some maintenance log sheets I can print out. The header at the top is blank so I can write in the bike it's for .....



Here they are in PDF form. You can download and print some out if you like .....

Hi Dave, After all that is done, (elf hunting included), You may need to do some conditioning. As we age, (bikes too) we just simply get weaker. To remedy this, we must work out more. For the forks, they need to be worked out on a regular basis. I recommend 15 to 20 wheelies per day for the first week until the forks get accustomed to it. Then slowly build them up over the next several weeks (40-50 wheelies per day) until they are as strong as a seasoned bodybuilder. This will also cause the elves to lose grip when you are slamming the tire down thus getting rid of them too. It won't help with gremlins of course, you need a bell for that.

davem222 said:

Hi all,
Hope you’re all doing well in these bonkers times.
I think I’ve been secretly attacked by a sorcerer and wanted to see if you guys had suggestions about which counter spells to use / what quantity of sage to burn.
Long story short: I took off my wheels to have new tires put on. To do so I put it up on the lift, aka had it up on a lift such that the front wheel was completely without load on it (obv so I could take the wheel off). When I put the wheel back on, as if by MAGIC, the front forks were squishy as all hell. I didn’t mess w the forks other than loosening the 2 little nuts on the bottom of the front left fork to allow the axle to come loose (I believe the manual calls this the “wheel spindle clamp”.
How can this be? Should I hire an even more powerful sorcerer? Do I pay them in money or will they need to be paid in virgins? So many questions.

Click to expand...

Hi gave,
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishful from magic" Or so Arthur C Clarke said.
So yeah, your forks are magic. To you, anyway..