wle

so
i know nothing about shocks

i am thinking of getting a used bike that doesn;t have locking shocks
i want to be able to simulate locking somehow
i don;t need to be able to unlock and lock quickly

i know there are some adjustments on shocks
spring constant, and maybe damping..?
[[correct me if i am wrong]]

if i raised spring pressure [[air??]]] or the spring ''bias point'' (sorry i know nothing of the correct terminlogy)
and increased damping, would that sort of work?

are those even things you can set?

wle

Daspydyr 

It all depends on the fork you are talking about. Do you have a specific fork you are looking at?

wle

actually yes

Fork SR Suntour XCT 80mm Suspension, disc mount, adjustable preload.

i feel they are not the best in the world
it;s a montague X folding mt bike
prob 2009

basically i want to put slicks on it, and have it for folding/road use/kid-trailer puller
so i don;t really want the shocks to do anything other than lock

there is no rear shock


wle

trekker pete

It seems like your best bet would be to find someone with a rigid fork who is looking to upgrade and trade.

wle

no, too lazy
what can i do with just tweaks./.?
wle

corvuscorvax

That's a coil spring fork, so there's not much you can do. With an air fork, you can increase the spring rate by increasing the pressure, but with a coil fork, you can't change the spring rate without changing the spring.

I actually like having suspension on a city bike, especially when I'm pulling a trailer. I would say just use the fork as-is, and don't worry about it. If you really want a rigid fork, buy a rigid fork.

wle

does it have preload?
i am not heavy, maybe i can set the preload somehow..

damping?
set damping to a lot
?
wle

corvuscorvax

Neither one of those things will do what you want them to do.

Daspydyr 

If you can get to the insides of the fork you could remove the springs and insert a length of pipe or conduit cut to the same size as the spring. That should firm things up.

wle

good idea
wle

awfulwaffle 

While Daspydyr's suggestion will work, the one drawback I see is that unless you have a metric crap ton of front brake cable slack you will either have to remove your handlebars or brake cable/brakes to allow you enough cable slack to pull the lowers off of the stanchions of the fork every time you want to "lock" your fork. I know you said you didn't mind there being some effort involved, but that just seems like a pain in the butt to me.

May I ask why you're specifically looking at the XCT? The reason I ask is that if you're willing to spend a bit more cash, you can get a better fork for what you want to do that has lockout. I paid $120 for my SR Suntour XCR-MG (not sure that particular model is made anymore, but I'm sure you can find a better lockout fork for that much or a tad less) and it handled all my commuting extremely well. The only time I've bottomed it out was when I hit a pretty big rock on a fast downhill on a mtb trail out here, and I'm not exactly a lightweight.

Another thing to consider is that a super cheap fork is likely made with cheaper materials/components, and as such may wear out faster. I don't have any personal experience with the XCT, but I'm also willing to bet it's considerably heavier than a fork you'd get in even the $100-$150 price range, its preload feature barely does anything, and it will eventually become really saggy or just plain lock up. This happened to me with the cheapie RST fork I was using on the first iteration of my frankenbike.

wle

May I ask why you're specifically looking at the XCT?

=it comes on the montague x folding mt bike i was looking at - which i will never ride off road


Another thing to consider is that a super cheap fork is likely made with cheaper materials/components, and as such may wear out faster. I don't have any personal experience with the XCT, but I'm also willing to bet it's considerably heavier than a fork you'd get in even the $100-$150 price range,

==i hope to pay less than that for the whole [2009, used] bike, though

==so i don;t want to spend time or money on it, i was just wondering what i could get for neither

wle

Daspydyr 

Tearing apart a fork and making it rigid is going to use up some clock. I would just get a rigid fork somewhere and keep the Shock for a future date when you might want to make a switch back. You are using a ton of time "over thinking" this whole process.

Phil_gretz

Identify a rigid fork with the same dimensions, same steerer tube length, and same crown race installed. Swap forks when you want suspensionless or suspension. Transfer the caliper mount/caliper over and use the squeeze-then-tighten centering method. The whole switchover could be done in a few minutes each time. It's the cleanest, cheapest, most reliable means to achieve what you want/need. Why overcomplicate it?

wle

ok thanks but all i really wanted to know was, what can i do with just tweaks..
one answer was ''something but not really what you want''
another was ''some shocks do that but the one you are talking about, really won't''

wle

dminor 

The biggest drawback I see is listening to people like this who have obviously never worked on a fork before.

But then again, this whole thread is silly, so carry on . . . .

awfulwaffle 

Care to clarify what exactly it is that you're gaining coming in here after the thread has effectively wound down with your snide remark? I don't owe you any explanation or justification, so you're welcome to make as many assumptions as you want about what I have and have not serviced on my bikes. But then again, it might be more useful to come into threads to state nothing of particular value and berate others instead of providing a helpful opinion, so carry on.

Daspydyr 

To be honest, the forks I used to dissect were the old elastomer forks. You would be surprised at the things we would stick inside them to try and adjust the compression. Putting a cut piece of pipe inside a fork is probably a bad idea, but HEY, if you want stiff.

cobba

Why do you need a mountain bike or a suspension fork.
Why don't you consider one of the following bikes.
https://www.montaguebikes.com/pavement-folding-bikes/
They will be lighter and faster on the pavement then the 'Mountain' versions.

dminor 

You kinda had that covered already.

wle

as i'd said, this is a specific used bike i am trying to get a bargain on
the whole thing isn;t worth it, to me, for $800

wle

awfulwaffle 

If you say so. Congrats on being a good representative of the community. Kinda figured pettiness and childishness were supposed to stop after a few thousand posts. I was trying to be helpful by sharing my experience, and you're just trying to be a jerk. Feel free to PM me and stoke that compex some more if you feel the need, I'm done arguing in someone else's thread.

rebel1916

Just get a new hybrid for $500. Your dreams are destined for failure

wle

great
what a @#$@!

rebel1916

Guy, 10 people have told you that what you want to do is not really feasible. You keep insisting that there must be a way. And you think you are getting a deal on a bike for $800 when there are cheaper bikes that will do what you want. Just injecting a little reality into your thought process. Or you can keep not listening to what everyone is saying. That's cool too. Whatever makes you happy, big fella.