Here are the innards of my Specialized FSX fork.
You can see the stanchion tubes are shorter than Mag 21s are there are no springs on the bottom.
Interestingly, I'm having the same sticking issues that you have, although it has lessened a bit. I think it may have something to do with the alignment of the stanchions when everything is tightened at the crown. I full inflated each leg, secured the fork brace (brake arch), and only then did in slide the legs onto the crown and tighten the crown bolts, even if there was a slight height difference in how much the upper stanchions protruded from the crown. I knew then that the legs would compress on parallel and not be fighting each other at all. Maybe that would help?
Kestrel CSX build
And now for the fork: of course, with a carbon build, I'll need a carbon suspension fork. The early 90's saw a handful of tricked out carbon/Ti versions of suspension forks, and I was able to source a very cheap and good condition Specialized FSX carbon/Ti for this build. I got new decals for...
www.retrobike.co.uk
You can see the stanchion tubes are shorter than Mag 21s are there are no springs on the bottom.
Interestingly, I'm having the same sticking issues that you have, although it has lessened a bit. I think it may have something to do with the alignment of the stanchions when everything is tightened at the crown. I full inflated each leg, secured the fork brace (brake arch), and only then did in slide the legs onto the crown and tighten the crown bolts, even if there was a slight height difference in how much the upper stanchions protruded from the crown. I knew then that the legs would compress on parallel and not be fighting each other at all. Maybe that would help?