Mountain Biking - Forks in cold weather

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MadMan2k
10-25-04, 08:46 AM
Do most forks basically stop working in cold weather?

I'm having that problem with mine (RST), and I wondered if it's normal. The weather isn't really *that* cold... Maybe low-50's, high-40's when the problem occurs.

For instance, I did about a 2.5 foot drop last evening, and the fork barely moved 10 mm or so. It was travelling fine earlier, when it was warm. No adjustements made, nothing.

Should I upgrade the fork (or the bike? :D)? Or, is it possibly a defective fork (I'd probably rather try to get my money back, and upgrade than get it replaced...)

Jstyle
10-25-04, 09:18 AM
Back in my racing day with motorcycles (sportbikes) we would have to warm suspension components up before we took our first hot laps. I think no matter what components you get they are all effected my temp. Some just more than others...
enduro
10-25-04, 12:18 PM
The RST fork is probably an elastomer fork...so the flexibility of the elastomer would be very much affected by temperature. Air or coil spring forks don't experience such significant performance variations with temperature.

Hopper
10-26-04, 01:46 AM
Yes forks are effected by temperature, the colder it is the harder they are. But RST's do get very stiff, the ones on my old hardtail get hard, it just adds to the fun;)