Africa Twin Ohlins

peepingtom said:

Nice write up about rallying the Africa twin (that I ended up buying)
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesoci...how-to-make-a-rally-winning-honda-africa-twin

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Warlord said:

I remember us talking about the Touratech Extreme suspension setup, and you mentioning two modifications to it

a) There was no preload adjuster
b) There were custom valves inserted at the top of the forks (circled in the attached picture of them).

What were these valves for? What was their purpose?

I just have a cross headed screw in these places.

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Warlord said:

I remember us talking about the Touratech Extreme suspension setup, and you mentioning two modifications to it

a) There was no preload adjuster
b) There were custom valves inserted at the top of the forks (circled in the attached picture of them).

What were these valves for? What was their purpose?

I just have a cross headed screw in these places.

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Outtomunch said:

Air bleed screws/valves more than likely.

Most forks have a screw which, obviously, needs a screwdriver to loosen, bleed and re-tighten.

The valves just make it easier as you can do it with your fingers. You can convert any forks with a screw to have valves.

Andres

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peepingtom said:

I’m not sure all I know is traction don’t sell them like it so I’ve removed them . They appeared to just release a bit of air pressure . Traction know a lot more about suspension than rallyraid and some of their work is very dubious

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Warlord said:

Thanks Andres,

But what is the purpose of releasing air pressure? I can see the feature, whats the benefit?

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Outtomunch said:

Lots of uppy downy stuff off road can build up air pressure within the forks, stopping some of the uppy downy stuff.
Release the build up of air in the forks and full uppy downy stuff is restored

Andres

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Owen Snell said:

If you get a pressure build up in the forks, it can make the front end a bit bouncier, as you are adding an air spring effect. Bleed when the forks are unloaded, just jack it up and open the screw (will probably have an o-ring underneath). It should be in the maintenance schedule somewhere, I think for my Huskies it says once a month or after each race!

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dean0n0 said:

The pressure can blow the seals, however if you're going to throw it at the scenery regularly think twice about the sticky out bleed valves as they can shear off meaning the next fork compression results in a face full of oil.

Big altitude changes cause a pressure imbalance also.

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JohnnyBoxer said:

Some suspension tuners decree air bleed valves, as many fit cheap and nasty ones which can fail over time and leak, thus upsetting the suspension

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Warlord said:

Sorry I don't understand that statement. In this context what do you mean 'decree' ?

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Owen Snell said:

Probably decry. Schrader type valves are 1 way valves, designed to let air in, but not out. It's perfectly possible for a schrader valve to let air get sucked in, the same way it can get sucked past the seals, although if the dust cap is air tight it should be OK. It's not exacly hard to undo a screw to bleed every so often.

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Owen Snell said:

Probably decry. Schrader type valves are 1 way valves, designed to let air in, but not out. It's perfectly possible for a schrader valve to let air get sucked in, the same way it can get sucked past the seals, although if the dust cap is air tight it should be OK.

It's not exacly hard to undo a screw to bleed every so often.

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