[DMezzer]

Hullo fellow riders, I need help, please!

I'm having trouble setting up my 2014 Manitou Dorado, which came installed on my Norco Aurum 6.2 which I picked up last fall for a steal. I've just had a handful of rides on it so far this spring (a nice fork, but from the reviews I've read I feel like I'm missing out on performance, a bit too stiff), and I never changed the air pressure from what it came with (factory sets at 75psi or so, according to manual) until recently when I bought a shock pump.
First, my pump works, but maybe I need to replace the guage since trying to set the pressure to my recommended weight (65psi for 175lbs with gear on) makes the fork quite stiff, resulting in only around 15% sag when I have static weight on the bike. And for some reason when I hook up the pump to the fork (definitely with pressure), nothing registers on the guage. Anyway, must be pump issues, so I'm trying to focus on getting static sag to around 30-35%.
Problem is, at 35% sag, the fork feels as plush as people have been raving about, but now the fork sits nearly a full inch into its travel with no weight on it, and doesn't extend to the full 8" even if I lift the wheel and try to "spread" it apart, so I don't think seal stiction is a factor. I've got all damping to zero to make sure nothing could be affecting it, but I dunno.
So, is it just typical to lose some of your usable travel with a higher static sag setting?

Mezzer

 

[HAB]

You've got air stuck in the uppers, and/or the negative spring isn't equalizing properly. Let all the air out, loosen the top caps on both legs (you don't need to take them all the way off, just loosen them enough that they don't seal anymore), and then pull the fork up to its full height. Put the top caps back on and air it up.

 

[DMezzer]

Ok, thx, I'll try that. Why would there be air in the damper side?

 

[DMezzer]

Actually, I figured it out *feeling sheepish

Something to do with my shock pump hookup. When I got it threaded on as finger tight as I could, it activated the valve poppet just enough so that the dual chambers in the fork could equalize but not so far in that the air would seep into the pump and show a pressure on the guage (as far as I can figure it, anyway). So, even though I had no reading on the pump from connecting to the fork, I still thought I was interacting with the pressure because the travel position would change.
Anyway, after realizing what was happening with chambers equalized (pump hooked up, though only partially, apparently) I extended the travel back to full length, compressed it just a touch to allow negative pressure for the top out, and used a small pair of pliers to tighten the shock pump connector a full turn and a half beyond what I could do by hand. Lo and behold, pressure from the fork hissed into the pump and guage, showing me I had been riding with 93psi, waaaaay too much for my 175lbs. I bled down to 65psi, on the soft side for my weight, but hooooo boy now that Dorado is crazy, unbelievably smooth with all the travel I could ask for! Went for a quick midnight run to test it out and the difference is amazing.
I know I seem like a complete shnook, not threading the shock pump down far enough, but on my Marzocchi DJ3 it threads on very easily, no fuss. Needless to say I was very apprehensive about using pliers to get it tight enough on the Dorado. Maybe more use will make things more agreeable. And FWIW, I did check specifications for how far out the pin should sit in relation to the valve stem and everything is as it should be.
Maybe this little comedy of errors will prove helpful to some other hapless goober at some point.
Thx for help, enjoy the ride

 

[ianjenn]

Also make sure you never tighten the triple clamps to much they can make fork bind some....