How to disassemble a 1992 Delta V fork?

[Marcello from France]

Hello everyone,

I am a French bike enthusiast and naturally I have some Cannondale in the garage (Raven 1, two SV from 1997 and 2000 and a Delta V from 1992).

The Delta V is in very good original condition. The fork is a problem: it goes down and does not go up.

There is no schrader valve to inflate the fork so I think it is elastomeric.

But the biggest problem is that I do not understand how it disassembles: there is nothing that unscrews completely. I turned the two knobs below the fork (the plastic one and the metal one), even with a little force, I can’t start to disassemble something.

The only thing I could remove was a flat head screw that is on a nut under the plastic knob. But nothing else happens next. Nothing moves.

Do you know how to proceed ?

Thanks for your help.

With some photo, it's better...








The fork don't rise.


The two knobs.


I have remove the flat head screw on the nut... but I can't remove something else.




Under the fork or on the fork ? No valve.

 

[CDV900]

The Headshok Service Manual on SheldonBrown should help you here:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cannondale-headshok/headshok_service_manual_en.pdf
Looks to me like an early type 1 headshok, the air value should be under that small silver cover knob on the top of the fork … it should just unscrew. You should then be able to pressurise the shock. Whether it holds air will be the next question

 

[Marcello from France]

Yes ! ! ! The Schrader valve is under that little silver button on the top of the fork. But it was blocked and I had to dare "force" to unscrew.

Good news. This old fork holds the air like on the first day.

Thanks