Activator II - newbie

Hi,
After reading through the last article on Activator IIs I'm not looking to set the whole debate off again.
However, I used to ride to work on this 20 years ago, and thought I would dig it out.
Yes it's made of girders and yes the suspension is more for appearance but I'm quite fond of it.

So after getting the cobwebs off the gears were slipping, then the chain snapped. So new rear cog set and new chain.
Now works fine but for the occasional jump of the chain, something needs adjusting but it all looks ok.
On closer inspection there is some nasty brown stuff coming out of the bottom of the fork, and the top of the fork is showing some rust streaks. There is no movement in the front shock at all.
So I need to service the shocks or replace.
Some googling and a trip to Jeeves hasn't come up with a satisfactory service plan (anyone know how to do owt with em?) which is a shame as I know it is not really worth spending much on.
Anyone suggest a replacement?

The plan is to see how much I use the bike before committing to coming over all un-yorkshire and buying a new one via the NHS bike to work scheme.

Any advice on replacing/servicing the forks more than welcome

Cheers
David

Welcome

As long as its Retro and you ride it

The plan is to see how much I use the bike before committing to coming over all un-yorkshire and buying a new one via the NHS bike to work scheme.

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If the forks are stuck solid, just ride it as a rigid until you make your mind up, can't get any more thrifty than that.

Yes I did wonder about that, riding it like that at the mo.
I'm a fiddler though, if something is broken I like to have a go, done motorcycle forks and replaced my head gasket on the car, so quite happy to give the forks a try but no haynes manual for an activator.

D

The forks aren't a main brand, like Fox or Rock Shox, so unfortunately you're unlikely to find a service manual and even more unlikely to find replacement parts. Not to be unkind, but they are fairly cheap and cheerful and probably weren't the best designed and made in the first place and longevity and serviceability probably wasn't that high on manufacturers list of priorities. You could have a go at fixing them, but you risk rendering them useless, in which case you'll be worse off than with them effectively being rigid forks.

To some extent, I'm of the opinion that no suspension is better than cheap or bad suspension, so unless you spend a fair amount for a decent set of suspension forks, I'd be inclined to replace them with rigid forks anyway, they'd be lighter and there's nothing to go wrong with them. To be honest I don't know much about older suspension forks with a 1" steerer that would be suitable for this frame, but buying older used suspension forks will be a bit of a gamble, there's every chance they will be worn out.

Perhaps someone else with more knowledge of older forks can recommend some of the best, most reliable ones to look out for.

I used to have one of these in the same colours many years ago, its really, really heavy, the fork gave about 10mm of travel when new and I couldn't feel the rear bumpers make any effect what so ever, I used this for a round at Cannock Chase once before calling time, Im really sorry to tell you but the best options would be either keep it as it is until parts wear out or buy a complete other bike. I really would not try to upgrade this one, as tempting as it is, it would be good money after bad. Im being very honest and intend no affence to be caused, just my honest opinion. It really depends if you intend to take this off road, if so I would look into something a lot lighter (doesn't mean expensive) and designed to take a bit of a battering, this one was designed for coming off street curbs.

I think when I had this I struggled with getting the suspension to move after a lot of rain on a ride, im sure I got the forks moving again with a lot of WD40, bear in mind, this will nearly run straight out of the drain hole you've said about. The gears, its a case of adjustment more than likely, there should be guides how to adjust gears on google somewhere, easy enough, just takes time. You say you've replaced the rear cogs and chain? Whats the state of the front cogs (chainrings)? Do they look like the new set on the back or are the teeth hooked? If the look hooked that maybe why your chain slips other than adjustment.
Try the link below:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/w ... ike-23582/

Tioga disc drive and Grafton parts its call out for it your choice and dont forge Magura brakes

I'd recommend either leaving the forks - if you service them you may not notice much difference over rigid forks, or replace them with a set of rigid numbers... or you could shake off the Yorkshire stereotype and go down this route...?

I sold the forks off of mine for £5 with the brakes still attached at a cycle jumble and still felt like I'd ripped someone off!

I believe (but not sure) that member: johntomjoe on here has stripped these forks so might be worth asking him about them. I think they are just a spring with no damping.

dongward":38phik6i said:

I'd recommend either leaving the forks - if you service them you may not notice much difference over rigid forks, or replace them with a set of rigid numbers... or you could shake off the Yorkshire stereotype and go down this route...?

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Er, wow, impressive stuff.
No engineering skills I'm afraid to attempt a build like that. I'd be reliant on aftermarket parts.
Gonna try and free up the forks but will look round for a suitable replacement, maybe solids. Thinking even cheap replacements will be of higher quality than the originals.
If anyone can suggest how to strip em I'll give a refurb a go.

cheers
D