Flat faced sockets for fork service with pictures

Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I made a file, a drill bit and a die nut from raw material when I was doing vacation employment in 3rd year. Great experience to know how it was done two centuries ago. But that is the railways...
 
bear the bear

bear the bear

Is a real bear
Knuckles said:
My favorite is the $180 soft face Hanmer.....WTF
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Not for everyone Knuckles...in fact if you read the interview on bikerumor with one of the founders, they are actually astounded by the success of the hammer which was a niche request from road pro team mechanics.
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
bear the bear said:
Not for everyone Knuckles...in fact if you read the interview on bikerumor with one of the founders, they are actually astounded by the success of the hammer which was a niche request from road pro team mechanics.
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Should have come to me, would've sold them my patented mashy'n'chunkawood hammer for $169.95...
 
Freediver

Freediver

I can go full Karen
bear the bear said:
Not for everyone Knuckles...in fact if you read the interview on bikerumor with one of the founders, they are actually astounded by the success of the hammer which was a niche request from road pro team mechanics.
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Because pro team mechanics don't buy their own tools.
 
Freediver

Freediver

I can go full Karen
That's a surprise, I just assumed that those decked out trucks they used would have been stocked by the team.
 
bear the bear

bear the bear

Is a real bear
Freediver said:
That's a surprise, I just assumed that those decked out trucks they used would have been stocked by the team.
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Depends on the race location, team size/ budget, and where the mechanic was last located. Some of the time the mechanic are flying in to smaller races with only a personal portable toolbox. Even for the larger races they still bring their own.
 
Warp

Warp

Likes Dirt
stirk said:
So many customised tools tells me the mech engineers are getting some basics wrong.
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This, this, this, this!!!

One of the things I remember from my Mechanical design lessons is to design components with serviceability in mind. And these are MTB's we are talking about here. You should be able to pull a common tool from a drawer and get the job done... or use one of the existing bicycle specific tools already available.

I understand there are other design constraints but at the user level, having to have a lathe or grinder at hand to modify a dang die is frustrating.

Yes, getting custom tools to perform a task is cool... but these are not gas turbines we are talking about. It's a simple cap on an off-road vehicle. A spanner should do.

Actually, I'm ranting just because as most of the times I use an adjustable wrench on top caps. You just gotta be careful and know how to use it properly.
 
teK--

teK--

Eats Squid
Too often serviceability goes out the window in the name of weight saving, miniaturisation, or simply to keep end users from taking business away from authorised service agents. I don't see any reason but the first, that they don't have the top caps a few mm taller.
 
Miguel75

Miguel75

Likes Dirt
To service a DPA Pike, it seems I need a 24mm for one side and a 30mm for the charger damper side. Do both sockets need to be machined? Anyone with experience servicing their own Pike care to confirm or deny?
 
teK--

teK--

Eats Squid
Miguel75 said:
To service a DPA Pike, it seems I need a 24mm for one side and a 30mm for the charger damper side. Do both sockets need to be machined? Anyone with experience servicing their own Pike care to confirm or deny?
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Yes both need to be. Or you can be super careful with normal sockets but still slightly round off the caps anyway.
 
Boom King

Boom King

downloaded a pic of moorey's bruised arse
Miguel75 said:
To service a DPA Pike, it seems I need a 24mm for one side and a 30mm for the charger damper side. Do both sockets need to be machined? Anyone with experience servicing their own Pike care to confirm or deny?
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If you are careful, a regulation open ended spanner or shifter can be very successful.
 
fimpBIKES

fimpBIKES

Likes Dirt
Warp said:
This, this, this, this!!!

One of the things I remember from my Mechanical design lessons is to design components with serviceability in mind. And these are MTB's we are talking about here. You should be able to pull a common tool from a drawer and get the job done... or use one of the existing bicycle specific tools already available.

I understand there are other design constraints but at the user level, having to have a lathe or grinder at hand to modify a dang die is frustrating.

Yes, getting custom tools to perform a task is cool... but these are not gas turbines we are talking about. It's a simple cap on an off-road vehicle. A spanner should do.

Actually, I'm ranting just because as most of the times I use an adjustable wrench on top caps. You just gotta be careful and know how to use it properly.
Click to expand...
The reason for they are used is to stop the general consumer doing their own servicing
its not poor planning, you just dont agree with it (which is fine)


btw Very nice work making the tool, looks pro!
 
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Warp

Warp

Likes Dirt
teK-- said:
Trouble with this is you can't tighten to correct torque. Which can cause crown creak.
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Seriously, tell me more about it.

I normally just tighten the caps lightly. To me, the top cap is only for sealing purposes and should not be bearing any loads. Actually in most top caps, the seal is provided by an o-ring and not by the threaded interface.

In other words, I always thought the top cap was to keep oil in and whatever pressure builds up in the fork, but that should not correlate with creaking if a little loose.

Would that be from the cap "wiggling" inside the crown if not properly tightened? What gives?
 
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