Hi all. I'm doing up an old Kids Zaskar and I'm hoping someone can help me. I need to replace the elastomers in an old pair of Ballistic EX500 20" forks. The elastomer is rock hard (unsurprisingly) and there was an unidentified foam end that disintegrated when I touched it. Any ideas where I can get the materials to reform/replace. Pics attached.
Kids GT Zaskar rebuild. Ballistic Forks - Help needed
- Thread starter Vinbad
- Start date
WandsworthRouleur
Pace Fan
Wow, amazed you managed to find som of the original Ballistic forks. There are quite a few threads on here about sourcing hard to come by or cheap elastomers. You can just buy regular polyurethane (PU) rod or tubes. Thing to look for is the shore hardness. Regular forks take something around the 40A mark — guess you’d want something lower for a child’s bike.
For Mrs R I bought some cheap RS Indy forks and borrowed the elastomers from that, cut them up and drilled the centres to fit some Pace RC35 forks. Worked okay and only cost me 15 quid!
Any chance of a build thread for the kids’ Zaskar? As you can see from my sig, I have a personal interest!
For Mrs R I bought some cheap RS Indy forks and borrowed the elastomers from that, cut them up and drilled the centres to fit some Pace RC35 forks. Worked okay and only cost me 15 quid!
Any chance of a build thread for the kids’ Zaskar? As you can see from my sig, I have a personal interest!
Re:
Thanks for the response. Just read 7 pages of your build thread! Very interesting. Yeah - the bike (20”) version was for sale in the US. Went across with work and brought it back (frame, forks and stem only). Was built with some horrid modern bmx parts but I left them in the states
Have a sweet build planned. Been collecting bits for a while. Think I’m going to run into some issues along the way. Hubs are smaller (rear is 126mm) and retro rims and tyres for a 20” are harder to come by. Might have to borrow from the retro BMX scene a bit unless I can get someone to custom adapt some parts for me. Going to try not to compromise too much. A build thread might be fun. Will set one up.
Thanks for the response. Just read 7 pages of your build thread! Very interesting. Yeah - the bike (20”) version was for sale in the US. Went across with work and brought it back (frame, forks and stem only). Was built with some horrid modern bmx parts but I left them in the states
Have a sweet build planned. Been collecting bits for a while. Think I’m going to run into some issues along the way. Hubs are smaller (rear is 126mm) and retro rims and tyres for a 20” are harder to come by. Might have to borrow from the retro BMX scene a bit unless I can get someone to custom adapt some parts for me. Going to try not to compromise too much. A build thread might be fun. Will set one up.
In regards the elastomer I posted this on a thread about Judys recently:
These guys will mould to spec. it's all about the shore rating as you say. I think you want between 40 and 60a but most off the shelf is harder.
http://www.polyurethanemanufacturers.co.uk/index.html
I haven't used them as I made my own spring stacks but I got a quote; from memory it was a 2 week lead time and around £38 for enough to do 1 fork. That was moulded with a centre hole.
Note: I was looking for Manitous but it's the same story.
regarding the foam; that looks like top/bottom out foam as you'd find on car suspension. I've actually used old top out bumpers from a car and cut then to suit forks in the past. You just need something big enough to cut out the required amount of material, I used old ones which look pretty bad from the outside but were spot on inside (i.e. the material I cut out to use). Maybe a breakers yard have some lying around you can pickup.
These guys will mould to spec. it's all about the shore rating as you say. I think you want between 40 and 60a but most off the shelf is harder.
http://www.polyurethanemanufacturers.co.uk/index.html
I haven't used them as I made my own spring stacks but I got a quote; from memory it was a 2 week lead time and around £38 for enough to do 1 fork. That was moulded with a centre hole.
Note: I was looking for Manitous but it's the same story.
regarding the foam; that looks like top/bottom out foam as you'd find on car suspension. I've actually used old top out bumpers from a car and cut then to suit forks in the past. You just need something big enough to cut out the required amount of material, I used old ones which look pretty bad from the outside but were spot on inside (i.e. the material I cut out to use). Maybe a breakers yard have some lying around you can pickup.
Or being that it's a kids fork you might be better using a spring instead?
I did that on my lads mini Manitou 3:
I can't remember the dimensions of the springs but I have quite a few of them and 3D printed the spring seats, if you're interested I'm sure I could put something together for not too much money.
I did that on my lads mini Manitou 3:
I can't remember the dimensions of the springs but I have quite a few of them and 3D printed the spring seats, if you're interested I'm sure I could put something together for not too much money.
Ohhh. Kev- that sounds interesting and a great solution. Thank you. I have ordered some soft elastomers and will test but I'm thinking they will still be too hard. I'll keep you informed on how I get on.
In other news - I think the mushy foam bits were top out elastomers? Have seen them in a pace set on ebay any they visually to be made of the same stuff. Makes sense. Anyone know what they might be made from?
Link to ebay Pace elastomers: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pace-Retro-F ... 0675.m4236
In other news - I think the mushy foam bits were top out elastomers? Have seen them in a pace set on ebay any they visually to be made of the same stuff. Makes sense. Anyone know what they might be made from?
Link to ebay Pace elastomers: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pace-Retro-F ... 0675.m4236
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