Hmmm, so I want to fit a retro fork to the front of my girls 'secret' SS project bike (i found it by the side of the road a few days ago and will get it mostly sorted while she's away on business). Nothing special, a steel Scott, low end, from the early 90's, but I digress...
I've got two pairs of Manitou 3's sitting around waiting to be cleaned, sorted and used or sold. They both need a fair bit of work, so I wondered if anyone could help with the following:
1 - a bent skewer, the bit that is the kebab stick of the elastomer kebab! Any spares or tips for straightening?
2 - Bushes - fair amount of play in one fork, moderate in the other. They seem to be the small split circles by the looks of the manual - anyone got a source or cunning substitute?
3 - Seals - Almost certainly never changed on either fork (one was mine from new, another inherited!) so would be good to get some new. Again - any sources? Someone seemed to have sorted some for 1/2's, and someone used a motorcycle shop but didn't say if they were for 1/2/3...
4 - Stancions. Probably the most difficult problem. All four have the black coating ('dye' in the manual - is this true?!) worn off around the seal area 360 degrees, but one of them seems to have gone further through the silver to a slightly different shade of silver below (or it could be that area is just more scratched, but its definitely not as smooth as the surrounding silver). So - is there a source of replacements, has anyone tried getting i.e. steel ones machined, are ti ones available like they were for the 1/2? Would it be possible to cut a thread inside the bottom of the stancion and turn it upside down? Or can they carry on working OK even when the black has gone (albeit look a bit rubbish, guess I need to dig out the shock boots too).
Steerers, crowns and legs are practically mint, so it seems a shame to just ditch them. I'd love at least one working pair from the two, could bring myself to get rid of one as spares/repairs (or keep myself) if I could get just one working...
Amazingly, there seems to be just one split elastomer between them, and as I have a moderate pie of spares I reckon there should be enough none solid ones to get both forks running again!
Finally - I tried getting an englund cartridge direct a while back, even sent credit card details for the last one they had on the shelf but it turned out it was incomplete so the deal fell through :-( Do these still come up, and would they be worth buying 2nd hand to retrofit?
Any hints, tips, pics of your Manitou 3 refurb jobs gratefully received! And happy to swap some bits if it looks like we can get some forks working between us if you need something I have and vice versa...
Ian
I've got two pairs of Manitou 3's sitting around waiting to be cleaned, sorted and used or sold. They both need a fair bit of work, so I wondered if anyone could help with the following:
1 - a bent skewer, the bit that is the kebab stick of the elastomer kebab! Any spares or tips for straightening?
2 - Bushes - fair amount of play in one fork, moderate in the other. They seem to be the small split circles by the looks of the manual - anyone got a source or cunning substitute?
3 - Seals - Almost certainly never changed on either fork (one was mine from new, another inherited!) so would be good to get some new. Again - any sources? Someone seemed to have sorted some for 1/2's, and someone used a motorcycle shop but didn't say if they were for 1/2/3...
4 - Stancions. Probably the most difficult problem. All four have the black coating ('dye' in the manual - is this true?!) worn off around the seal area 360 degrees, but one of them seems to have gone further through the silver to a slightly different shade of silver below (or it could be that area is just more scratched, but its definitely not as smooth as the surrounding silver). So - is there a source of replacements, has anyone tried getting i.e. steel ones machined, are ti ones available like they were for the 1/2? Would it be possible to cut a thread inside the bottom of the stancion and turn it upside down? Or can they carry on working OK even when the black has gone (albeit look a bit rubbish, guess I need to dig out the shock boots too).
Steerers, crowns and legs are practically mint, so it seems a shame to just ditch them. I'd love at least one working pair from the two, could bring myself to get rid of one as spares/repairs (or keep myself) if I could get just one working...
Amazingly, there seems to be just one split elastomer between them, and as I have a moderate pie of spares I reckon there should be enough none solid ones to get both forks running again!
Finally - I tried getting an englund cartridge direct a while back, even sent credit card details for the last one they had on the shelf but it turned out it was incomplete so the deal fell through :-( Do these still come up, and would they be worth buying 2nd hand to retrofit?
Any hints, tips, pics of your Manitou 3 refurb jobs gratefully received! And happy to swap some bits if it looks like we can get some forks working between us if you need something I have and vice versa...
Ian