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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Tour de Waterloo 2012 - The story of my 1st ever Road Race (Part 1)



The Tour de Waterloo took place on Sunday June 24, 2012 starting from Sybase / iAnywhere Building Parking Lot in Waterloo Ontario. It was a Gran Fondo Mass start road race with 3 different distances. 40km / 70km / 130 km.

This was typically the same weekend as the 24 hours of summer solstice at Albion Hills near Bolton Ontario XC mountain bike relay race. For many years I raced this event but not this year.

The original intent was to just have a relaxing weekend and perhaps head out of town for a short road trip. Just 20 days earlier my girlfriend and I returned back from a 14 day vacation touring through Italy. As many who have been or just enjoy food in general, what you do in Italy is indulge in the great food and wine offered by such a beautiful country. I unfortunately was not there with my bike to ride the amazing roads through Toscana. The only excercise I saw was 10+ hours a day on my feet walking and touring around the small towns of Toscana and Cinque Terre.

I learned that I was selected to ride the 130 km road race while I was on vacation via email.

The story begins 3 days before I was leaving for my 2 week vacation. At work I saw a posting on my company's intraweb page looking for seasoned cyclist to form a team for the tour de Waterloo 130 km Gran Fondo road race. Clicking the link offered a boring HTML form to fill out. Similar to the ones you fill out to register for a website to buy something.

The questions I remember asked, can you physically cycle 130 kms? Are you able to maintain an average of 27 km/h throughout the distance. Are you available Sunday June 24th? Describe your previous race experience. What size Jersey do you wear?

I clicked on, Yes, Yes, Yes, and listed my past race experience competing in the Plastigas Ontario XC MTB races for 3 years, Racing at the weekly Tuesday night Albion Hills mountain bike race, current UCI race license holder for 2012, and have been cycling seriously since 2006. Oh and Size Large please.

I vaguely remember pondering, should I do this or not but ended up clicking on submit and thought... hrm... I wonder what will come of this.

About 5 days later I received an email. Congratulations, you have been selected to ride on the team. Please attend the meeting to receive further information... 

CRAP! was my first thought. My 2nd thought was, quick... let's do a gut check. Figuratively and literally as I had just polished off 1/2 a bottle of Brunello and a 4 course meal.

Big gut? Yes. How many kilometers have I ridden since the snow melted? about 320 kms... What have I done for most of the winter...? Not much at all. :(


What am I going to be doing for the next 1.5 weeks? Eating gelato and drinking lots of wine with 4 course meals? Not good at all.

Not all was lost. There was still 20 days between returning back from home and race day. I figured if I could ride 160+ km per week up to the race weekend I should be OK.

Talk about being the definition of "Hack Racer". Not enough riding, thinking you can race with the big boys and not watching your diet.

But this wasn't going to stop me. Game on.

For all the followers who don't know me, I work as a Program Manager for Research in Motion. Blackberry was the title sponsor for the 130km loop for the tour de Waterloo. I felt honored to be selected to race for blackberry and to represent all my coworkers globally at a race we sponsored locally for the community.


There was also something else I had kept on thinking, that this was going to be closest it was going to get to being a professional cyclist. Never had I once imagined someone other than MasterCard would pay for my race entrance fee, pay for a jersey, do all the planning and logistics for me to go riding my bicycle.

Needless to say I continued to eat lots of excercise little on my vacation in Italy. I'm sure there will be posts about the trip at a later date. Many of my friends and relatives are bugging me to summarize the trip so they could follow in our foot steps.

The lead up to the race day and race summary to be posted the next day. To be continued...
















Monday, July 9, 2012

Bike Fitting rev 2.0 - http://www.fridayfitness.ca/


These days having a high performance carbon fibre bicycle is not enough. You have to ensure you are able to extra every bit of performance. Regardless if you are a recreational rider or a club racer, knowing that you left it all out on the road brings us all satisfaction.

A while back I wrote about my experience with being professionally fitted on my bicycles using the retul technology. Back in 2008 when I first looked into bike fitting there were not many options. You had the bicycle shops who would eye ball you based upon years of experience selling bikes and making taking 1 or 2 courses or reading a book. In Ontario, Canada at the time there was a physiotherapist/trainer out of University of Guelph who was Serrotta certified. In the end I went with an MacLean who runs http://www.imfit.ca/ and is certified on the RETUL system.

http://www.hackracer.com/2012/01/retul-fit-in-depth-review.html

4 years is a long time. As a cyclist I have gained a lot more experience from the kilometers ridden and to understanding how my body responds to different conditions.

When Winston Tam proprietor of Friday Fitness (http://www.fridayfitness.ca/) told me he would be back in town visiting Toronto, Ontario, Canada from Taipei, Taiwan I quickly asked him, "Hey, we going to rip some single track up?" the response was of course yes. But more importantly he had all his Retul and bike fitting gear with him.

http://www.hackracer.com/2012/03/wwwfridayfitnessca-top-bicycle-fitter.html

So before we set out to rip up single track I arranged with him to do a tune up fit session from the one I did 4 years ago.

4 years ago there wasn't much choice if I wanted professional bleeding edge sport science in terms of bicycle fitting. But as time moves on, more choices are available. What is important when selecting a fitter is not what tools he/she has to measure your body. But rather what education he/she has and what experience they have as a rider or racer to help you achieve your best.

4 years ago I told Winston Tam about my fit session. He was intrigued. I told him he should start his own shop doing exactly this. He has been racing bikes for close to a decade. This is important, because you want someone who understands the conditions you are dealing with. Fortunately after 4 years he finally decided to pursue it.

In Winston Tam fashion he made 110% sure he could offer the best and most comprehensive service possible. He spent a lot of time studying and training to become certified in the following leading edge bio-mechanics and performance systems.

- RETÜL 3D Certified Bike Fitting
- SICI (Serrota) Advanced Certified Bike Fitting
- BIKEFIT Certified Bike Fitting
- F.I.S.T. Certified Bike Fitting


At first Winston and I thought it would take around an hour to be done with my fit. Seeing how I had a previous fit session done with someone else several years ago. The idea was to do the fit session and go hammer our mountain bikes at Durham Forest for the rest of the afternoon. That quickly changed once Winston saw how my body was performing on my bike. I took the same bike as the one I used for the fit session 4 years ago. My Trusty 2006 Cervelo Soloist Team, true to the original fit dimensions.

During the fit session with www.imfit.ca 4 years ago the saddle height was drastically lowered by Ian. He believed that my saddle at that time was too high and was contributing to a poor hysteresis knee trace (making doughnuts) as it goes up and down. I recalled 4 years ago that he also did not like the fact that my toes were constantly pointing down at the ground rather than level with the ground during the pedal stroke under power. He spent most of the time correcting the knee trace and the knee pointing and said that would be the key to fixing my lower back pain.

What I noticed for the next couple of years I was slowly jacking the seat post back up myself as I felt crammed while riding. Yes my toes were pointing parallel to the ground, but I felt my hip was always closed off and I wasn't able to generate maximum power, and that the range of the pedal stroke that I could put a lot of power down was little. Once Winston saw my fit he confirmed my feelings that the fit was no longer working.

So we started the fit session from scratch. Winston assessed my flexibility after warming up, looked at hip angles, knee traces, power output, smoothness of the cadence, just like what was done during my 1st fit session 4 years ago. 

We played with moving the saddle up, up some more and then really high up, moved the saddle forward, verified that the pivot angles for my legs were within ideal range and then played with the shoes.


After all the adjustments I asked, "what about all the concerns the previous fitter had, such as toe pointing?"

Winston replied, "You do not have excessive toe pointing and there has been no research stating any negative effect on toe pointing. According to F.I.S.T. methodology unless there is excessive toe pointing the rider should be left alone."

What Winston brings to the table is not just relying on technology but rather he successfully blends the experience he has as a racer, and all the knowledge from the being RETÜL 3D Certified, SICI Advanced Certified, BIKEFIT Certified and F.I.S.T. Certified to get you into the ideal position.

This is what is important.


In the end the entire bicycle changed:
- cleats moved back
- raised saddle 5cm up
- moved saddle forward
- installed ITS varus wedge
- complete assessment and changes at the front end


It's too bad I don't have enough steerer tube length left. Else I would put more spacers on instead of having the stem angle up, however being comfortable and relaxed is the goal to be able to generate power and ride long distances.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


Looking at the two pictures you can see the hip is more open, with a more relaxed shoulder.

The higher saddle position also didn't affect my knee trace either.



With close to 1000 kms on the new fit, I can confirm the fit has worked wonders to improving average speed with less soreness in my shoulder and lower back. All of which means faster riding and more blue sign victories on the road bike.

[updated July 11, 2012 for formatting/grammar/spelling].

Monday, June 11, 2012

Weighed: Veloflex Corsa 22 (700x22c road tire)

If you combine these tires with the Michelin AirComp A1 Latex tubes, I guarantee to you they will produce the best ride on your road bike. The only way to beat this combination is to run Tubular tires and rims.

Manufacturer claimed weight: 207g



Don't believe me? Still thinking of buying, check out the thread I started at weight weenie forums several years back (2010 to be exact). The thread is now 10 pages long and still growing.

I love Veloflex Corsa 22 Folding tires + Latex tubes

Monday, June 4, 2012

weighed: Michelin A1 AirComp Latex Tube - 700c 40mm presta valve

Michelin A1 AirComp Latex Tube - 700x22/23, 40mm presta valve.

Manufacturer claimed weight: 80g

BEST RIDING TUBES! Hack Racer guaranteed to impress you.



Thursday, May 3, 2012

Eggbeater maintanace.

With any high end part you have to do annual service. Things wear out, grease gets contaminated with dirt, etc etc.

If you have expensive bike parts, it is almost guaranteed it will require more attention than cheap bike parts. To get lighter weight parts, the manufacturers are using more exotic materials and also reducing the safety factor in the calculations during design to "just enough". They are not putting in a big fudge factor that an average user will need due to neglect for their products.

Expensive stuff cannot be neglected. That is the bottom line. Whenever I hear of someone saying, "I paid so much money for this expensive thing and it failed so quickly. It doesn't even last as long as my cheap part." The person here doesn't understand that the cheap part is usually made from solid steel instead of hollowed out titanium. Titanium is already weaker and doesn't have the same hardness as steel. So once this expensive hollowed out titanium pieces wears it gets thinner (could be that you let the bearing fail or the seal wear and dirt gets in making grease become sandpaper) the part will break suddenly.

If you are putting on lots of kilometres of riding with super expensive super lightweight eggbeater pedals (Eggbeater 4ti pictured) you need to change out the bearing, bushing, and seals yearly.

Instructions are here:
http://www.crankbrothers.com/support/product_documentation/instructions_eggbeater.pdf

The important point here is to wash everything clean. Take your pedal (once you've taken it all apart) and wash it in hot soapy water. Dry off the water with a towel and allow the pedal parts to dry before re-assembly.

I personally use the pedros grease, but any grease will do fine.









Saturday, April 28, 2012

2011 Rocky Mountain Element Team RSL build progress

So parts have arrived. But been super busy with work and helping friends out. Redid the brakes on a friend's subaru, some plumbing for my parents, built up the Lynskey road bike for another friend.

On top of all that I still have to do the brakes on my own Subaru, and also replace the steering U-joint too.

This is the progress so far for my 2011 Rocky Mountain Element Team RSL

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lynskey R330 New Build

This past Sunday was the Substance Project Eco-Race 1 Durham Forest race here in Ontario, Canada. The plan was go and race. But I felt under the weather.

However a lot was accomplished. I helped my good friend Tom put together his Lynskey R330 on Saturday. I've known Tom for several years now. I first met him at Tuesday Night Albion Hills MTB races.

He showed up at around 10 am with a frame in bubble wrap straight from Lynskey and little boxes of Campagnolo parts.

The Lynskey R330 was a limited production run in 2012. Tom was lucky enough to get one. It is one of Lynskey's nicest road frames ever made. 

This was the end result. One happy Tom.




Weight came out to 15.45 lbs with an old heavy saddle as a place holder until a Fizik Kurve arrives. Bottle cages are in the mail.

Tom built the wheels himself. They are built to perfection.

So you are probably asking, what is the build list...

Frame Lynskey R330 M
Fork Enve 2.0
Headset Tune Bobo
Expander Tune Gum Gum
Bars 3T Ergonova Team 42cm, ø31.8 mm
Stem Extralite Road, 100mm, ø31.8 mm
Saddle Fizik Kurve saddle
Pedals Speedplay Zero Chromoly w/ Upgraded Ward Ti Spindles
Crankset Campagnolo Record 11 - Compact 50/34
Levers Campagnolo Record 11 Ergopower
Front Derailleur Campagnolo Record 11
Rear Derailleur Campagnolo Record 11
Cassette Campagnolo Record 11 - 11-25t
Chain Campagnolo Record 11
Brakeset Campagnolo Record 11
Rear Hub Chris King R45 Campagnolo - 28h
Front Hub Chris King R45 - 24h
Front Rim Stans Alpha 340 - 24h
Rear Rim Stans Alpha 340 - 28h
Spokes Sapim CX Ray Silver x 52
Nipples DT Swiss Alloy - 52
Rimtape Stans Yellow Tape
Tubes Michelin Air
Front Tire Veloflex Corsa23 - 700x23c
Rear Tire Veloflex Corsa23 - 700x23c
Skewers Aerozine Ti Skewers
Seatpost Clamp Omni Racer Ti Clamp 34.9
Seatpost Fizik Cyrano Carbon Seatpost 27.2
Bar tape Deda Cork
Cables/Housing Campagnolo Record 11
Cages King Ti

This is the first time for me putting a Campagnolo bike together. I've put together many bikes for myself and for friends in the past, but Tom is the only one that is riding Campagnolo. Partly because most of us are already established road riders with several sets of wheels. The freehub body for the rear hub for Campagnolo are different than the Shimano/Sram counterparts. Meaning if you already have wheelsets based off of Shimano or Sram you can't go to Campagnolo easily as you can't install a Campagnolo cassette on them.

Some rear hub manufacturers allow you to change the rear freehub body and then you would have to potentially redish the wheel.One example is the DTswiss 240s rear hub.



There are 3rd party component manufacturers that offer Campagnolo spaced cassettes that fit onto Shimano Freehubs, but those in the past shift like crap. One point to make is that with Campagnolo going to 11 speeds, this forces the cogs to sit further inboard. The 11th cog needs to sit further inboard than Shimano's 10th cog, so if you are running hubs with flanges that are too far outboard (which many hub designs do to maximize lateral stiffness of the wheel) you are going to be out of luck.

Wheels manufacturing is possibily the only cassette I would try out if I was going to run Campagnolo and had Shimano/Sram based wheels.

Wheels Manufacturing Accelerator 11-speed Conversion cassette

So the build went relatively well. I have a vast tool collection and mechanical experience, but some bits of the Campagnolo kit had me reading the instructions and running around trying to find tools.

The bottom bracket installation recommended by Campagnolo is to douse the threads with Loctite 222MS and screw in the cups hand tight. I did this, but also added in Loctite 7471 to prime the threads before adding in the Loctite 222MS to speed up the cure. Cups were torqued to hand tight with a rag to increase grip strength.

Certain bolts are torx. A good thing, as torx is less prone to tool slipping out of the bolt head. During the build I ran into using both T25, some T20. My tool collection lacked a good quality T20 bit. 

The lock ring for the rear cassette has a different spline than Shimano (I didn't know that). The chain pin used to connect the chain together requires it to be peened. There is a special chain tool which I didn't have or have time to make one up.

In the end all fasteners were torqued using a calibrated torque wrench. The only fastener torqued without a calibrated torque wrench was the bolt for the Record crankset that holds the Hirth joint together for the spindle. This was done using Park Tool TW-2 which I never verified if the sticker for the scale reading corresponded correctly with the deflection beam.

So even though the bike was built up, shifting adjusted and bar tape wrapped. It wasn't fully done, Tom needed to visit the local bike store to get his chain peened and the lock ring torqued up. Luckily a local bike shop helped him out free of charge.





Wednesday, April 18, 2012

TECH: Part 4 of 4 - How to bleed Fox FIT cartridge and reassemble a Fox F32 Fork

Once you have dried off all the parts to your fork (overnight or towel dry) we will be installing new seals, changing the oil in the FIT cartridge and reassembling the fork.


For 2012 Fox released these new seals. They make the fork feel like it's night and day compared to the old seals. 

If you are purchasing this seal kit from your local bike store. Make sure they don't try to sell you the old stock at full price. You want the 2012 version. Make sure the part numbers are correct before buying.

803-00-613 Kit: Dust Wiper, Forx, 32 mm, Low Friction
803-00-614 Kit: Dust Wiper, Forx, 34 mm, Low Friction
803-00-615 Kit: Dust Wiper, Forx, 36 mm, Low Friction
803-00-616 Kit: Dust Wiper, Forx, 40 mm, Low Friction


When Fox calls for Fox Red Fluid or Fox Green Fluid. They are pretty much the same thing. The Fox Red is Silkolene Pro-RSF 10wt Suspension Fluid. The Green is Torco RSF Medium. For the FIT cartridge users Fox says you need to use both Red and Green. Red goes into the FIT cartridge itself. Green into the damping leg side oil bath to lubricate the fork going up and down. In my view, just use Red for both. So if you bought Silkolene Pro-RSF Suspension Fluid 10wt just use that for everywhere on FIT forks. Silkolene Pro-RSF 10 wt Suspension Fluid and Torco RSF Medium are both synthetic based oils. By buying one less bottle of oil at approximately 20 dollars a bottle you are getting similar results.

For the other users out there who have open bath Fox forks (meaning non-FIT versions). I would recommend finding Torco RSF Medium from a motorcycle shop, because the cSt @ 40C between Silkolene Pro-RSF 10 wt and Torco RSF Medium are not equal.

For myself I chose to use Redline Suspension oil. I purchased a bottle of their heavy and a bottle of their medium. I mixed them to get the same cSt @ 40C as Silkolene Pro-RSF 10wt.

42% Redline Medium + 58% Redline Heavy = Fox 10wt =  silkolene pro rsf 10wt

reference: http://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/index.php?title=Suspension_Fluid

I purchased this from a golf shop so that I can hold my FIT cartridge in my vice without it being damaged.


First order of business is to change the oil in the FIT damper cartridge. The Fox service shows them breaking down the FIT cartridge completely. You do not need to do this for a simple oil change unless you had problems with your fork not damping. There is no reason to open it. If you open it up and follow their guide http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/QuickTech/32FITFullServiceProc.htm the complexity quickly jumps to a 10/10 on a scale of difficulty.

I'm assuming you have been following the previous 3 posts and are now at the point of all the parts of the fork broken down into their sub-assemblies.

TECH: Part 1 - How to do an annual service on Fox Forks
TECH: Part 2 - Annual service on Fox Forks (reality check)
TECH: Part 3 of 4 - How to replace seals, oils, and re-assemble

We will begin with working on the FIT damper first and change the oil. Unscrew the lockout assembly from the top of the FIT cartridge. You can do this with your fingers.


Once that is off, set it aside and dump out all the old oil. You should cycle the shaft in and out of the FIT cartridge to get all the oil out. Then make sure the shaft is all the way in and squeeze the rubber bladder to get the remaining amounts out.


Hopefully you followed the 1st post and went to Walmart to buy one of these syringes. It was located in the automotive section of the walmart close to my home.The vacuum nipple you will need to cut the tip off with a sharp knife. Choose one that will acts as a plug between the FIT cartridge and the syringe tip.



You are going to need to place the FIT cartridge into a vice so that you can use two hands to work with (This is where the golf shaft rubber grip for the vice is used). Take the plunger out of the Syringe, install the nipple that you cut the tip off of and plug it into the FIT cartridge. Extend the shaft of the FIT cartridge all the way out and pour in the Fox Red 10wt or Silkolene Pro-RSF 10wt or Redline Oil Mix.


The next steps are to bleed all the air out of the FIT cartridge. Unfortunately my hands were covered in oil and I did not have an assistant to take photos for me. So we will be following the Fox service guide here:

reference: http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/QuickTech/32FITFullServiceProc.htm

The important point to make is do not let the syringe ever go empty. You will then be introducing air back into the FIT cartridge.

Bleeding the Complete Cartridge Assembly

Your next step is to purge any trapped air within the entire assembly. First, remove the lockout lever assembly, and press the syringe body into its threaded opening in the topcap assembly.




Fill the syringe reservoir with 10-15 cc of 10 wt. oil.



Gently squeeze the bladder, progressively rolling the squeeze from your pinkie to your index finger. Sustain your squeezing, and watch for air bubbles rising up from the cartridge into the syringe reservoir. Allow enough time for the air bubbles to rise to the oil surface and escape, before you release finger pressure.



Release your grip on the bladder, to allow it to return to its smooth-sided cylindrical shape.


Repeat this process; gently squeeze the bladder, progressively rolling the squeeze from your pinkie to your index finger. Keep squeezing, allowing enough time for any trapped air to bubble up through the oil reservoir in the syringe. Keep watching for air bubbles; repeat this operation as often as necessary, until no more air bubbles can be seen.



While maintaining your squeezing of the bladder, with your other hand slowly push the end of the shaft up all the way, to further purge any air still trapped internally in the piston and coupler assemblies. Slowly return the shaft end downwards to full extension and release your grip on the bladder, which will draw oil back in from the syringe reservoir.



Take a break and let everything sit for perhaps 30 minutes, to allow a chance for more air to bubble out. If air bubbles are still present, repeat the bleeding process once again. Repeat this process until you see no air bubbles appearing when you squeeze the bladder.



The total time it takes to complete the bleeding process can vary, depending on:
  • the time and care taken during assembling of the parts
  • the time and care taken when adding the oil to all the parts assemblies

Wrapping It Up

Draw the cartridge shaft all the way back down, which will draw most of the oil in the syringe body into the cartridge. The bladder must be back to its natural, cylindrical shape; no dents or dimples. Lift the syringe out while capping the point with your finger, and return the excess oil back into its container.



What you should now have is a cartridge completely filled with 10 wt oil, evidenced by the oil slightly overflowing into the topcap.



Insert the lockout assembly, and screw it into place finger-tight for now. Again, be sure to engage the threads of the lockout assembly, to ensure that the o-ring fully seats and seals the topcap. The lockout assembly o-ring should not be visible.

Note:  Some oil will be displaced into the topcap well when you do this, which is normal and should not re-introduce any air into the cartridge.


Remove the cartridge from the vise clamps and dump the overflow oil in the topcap into a drain pan.



When the lockout is completely closed, a successfully rebuilt FIT cartridge will not compress, or have any air gaps when you compress it. The final step is to test this before installing the rebuilt cartridge back into the fork assembly.



-------------------- (end of Fox service guide)

One point I like to make is that even though I let the FIT cartridge sit for an hour and came back to it, I found that the rubber bladder/reservoir never returned to full shape with the shaft fully extended. This is a problem because when I put the lockout assembly back into the FIT Cartridge and screwed it in finger tight (this effectively closes off the FIT cartridge and gives you "lock out") the shaft could still be pushed into the FIT cartridge. When the FIT cartridge is locked out, the shaft when fully extended should not compress at all (as indicated by the Fox service guide above). If it compresses you have one of two problems. #1 being you still have air bubbles in the FIT cartridge. Or #2 the rubber bladder/reservoir never fully expanded back to original shape (which is ballooned out) and moving the shaft to compress it caused the rubber bladder to balloon. A fully filled reservoir with oil should be ballooned. What I ultimately had to do was to hold the syringe with my left hand and apply force to push the syringe down against the nipple/FIT cartridge, then take the plunger of the syringe in my right hand, re-install the plunger into the syringe and push down gently to force additional oil into the FIT cartridge to fully expand the bladder/reservoir.

Once the lockout assembly/valve is reinstalled and the excess oil on the top cap dumped out, try to push the shaft from the fully extended position, if it can't move you have successfully changed the oil in the FIT cartridge. We can now go and focus on putting the fork back together.

Installing the fork seals

First thing to do is to use fox float fluid to soak the foam rings.


Place some of the float fluid onto your finger and swipe it around the bushings in both legs. Place the new foam rings with them already soaked in fox fluid into the fork legs.


Now take one of the new SKF low friction seals and coat the outer diameter with fox fluid.


Take the lubricated seal and place it onto your fox leg and push down with your fingers as best as you can.


If it doesn't fully seat (which is rare) you can use a Fox fork seal driver. You don't really need this tool. It is expensive. If you can't get it to fully seat and you don't want to spend 30 dollars for this driver which is just machined plastic with a lip, just take the back of a spoon and use it to push around the circumference of the seal until it is fully seated. Alternatively find an old PVC pipe and use it to push the seal down.



Do the same for both sides of the fork.

I lightly coated the left and right stanchions with a light oil (Triflow)


Slide the crown into the fork lower legs.You can slightly tilt the fork stanchions to help ease the insertion.



Now it is time to install the air piston back into the air side. The air side is the left side of the fork when you are looking at your fork with your bum on the saddle.

Take some grease and apply a light coat around the air piston. Make sure the small foam ring around the air piston also is coated with Fox Float Fluid.



Now it is time to push the air piston back into the left side fork bore. Be careful when pushing the air piston back in. Try your best to ensure the piston is going in straight and square. You do not want for the air piston to catch on the threads of the crown. If this happens you can damage the air piston and will cause your fork to not hold pressure later on.

Now invert the fork and add 20cc (Fox F100 RLC FIT) of Fox Red or Fox Green or Silkolene Pro RSF 10wt or your Redline mix into the spring side oil bath.


With the fork still upside down, use one hand to hold the fork leg, while the other hand's finger to push the air piston down in the bore such that the threaded shaft will protrude past the hole. Do not flip the fork back to the upright position. Oil will be spilled everywhere! Install a new plastic crush washer that is part of the Fox seal kit.


Torque the black nut to 50 inch lbs


Now invert the fork and add 10cc of Fox Float fluid into the bore.


Next step is to add a little bit of anti-seize to the crown's threads. This will prevent galling between the crown's threads, and the top cap's threads


Carefully thread the top cap with the shreader valve into the air piston side fork leg.


Tighten the top cap to 220 in-lb torque. For picture purposes I had to use one hand to hold the camera and the other to demonstrate the torquing. Make sure you use your second hand to apply downward pressure to the head/socket of the torque wrench to prevent the socket from slipping on the 26mm hex.


Air up the fork to 80 psi to extend the fork fully.


Re-install the blue cap


Now Re-install the FIT cartridge. You will need to guide the threaded shaft such that it comes out of the bottom of the leg.


Now install the black nut on to the bottom of the threaded section protruding past the fork leg. Use a new plastic crush washer from the Fox Seal service kit. Place the crush washer between the fork leg and the nut and torque to 50 inch lbs.


Now add 20cc (Fox F100 RLC FIT) of Fox Red or Fox Green or Silkolene Pro RSF 10wt or your Redline mix before installing the top cap. This will internally lubricate the FIT cartridge's shaft, and the stanchions.



Now push down on the top cap to start the threads into the crown. You may need to slightly turn the lockout assembly counter clockwise to get it out of "lockout".


Now put the ball back into the hole for that allows for the click when you turn the blue knob. You can apply a bit of grease to the ball and the hole to keep it sliding over time. It is best to pick up and place the ball with a small pair of needle nose pliers.



Apply little bit of grease to the back side of the blue adjusting knob


The installation of the RLC top cap can be quite tricky. This is where I break and I will copy and paste the section from Fox service guide.

reference: http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/Forks/F-Series/F100RLC_F80RLC.htm

Install the RLC Topcap

Before starting the following procedure, The diagram below shows the graphic cross-sectional overview of the RLC topcap hardware.
  1. Place the spring the spring back into the detent, then place the ball bearing on top of the spring.


  1. Place the low-speed compression bezel onto the topcap. Align the multiple divots with the ball bearing; do not align the divots with the low-speed compression adjuster needle.

  2. Place the lockout lever on top of the low-speed compression bezel. Using the lever as a wrench, turn the lockout lever clockwise as far as it will go. Take the lever off, replace it and turn again until you are sure that you have turned the adjuster shaft fully clockwise. Remove the lever one more time and position it near the 6 o'clock position; this is now the locked-out position of the fork. Turning the lever counterclockwise will unlock the fork. However, note that the fork will mechanically be locked out once the lever has past the 3 o'clock position, although it is a good idea to turn the lever full counterclockwise anyway.

  3. Using a 1.5 mm hex key wrench, tighten the three set screws on top of the lockout lever. Do not over tighten these set screws. Doing so will damage the lockout lever and also the low-speed compression bezel. Over tightening the screws cause the associated ball bearings to stress the surrounding aluminum surfaces, causing permanent damage. To be safe, lightly tighten the screws, then back off 1/2 turn. Turn the lockout lever and check for proper, smooth operation.

  4. Place the rebound knob on top of the lockout lever. The lever and adjuster shaft are indexed.

  5. Using a 1.3 mm (0.050") hex key wrench, tighten the hex key on top of the rebound knob.

-------------- (end of Fox Service guide)

Now re-install the red rebound adjust knob. Make sure to line up the set screw with the indent.


The final step is to take the sheet of paper you used to record down all your settings in Part 3 of 4 of these Posts. Air the fork to the desired pressure, set the rebound and compression back to where you had it.