Airhead GS Which Fork Dampens

[rwiles]

On an Airhead GS (1994), which fork leg does the rebound damping and which fork leg does the compression damping?

Is it appropriate to use different weight fork oils on either side to tune the compression and

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by rwiles

On an Airhead GS (1994), which fork leg does the rebound damping and which fork leg does the compression damping?

Is it appropriate to use different weight fork oils on either side to tune the compression and

Rebound is on the Right. (assuming they haven't been messed with - it is possible to swap the internals between fork legs.)

Yes, the only reason they separated the functions between legs is so that you can adjust compression and rebound independently by using different oil weights.

[supershaft]

Originally Posted by Airhead Wrangler

Rebound is on the Right. (assuming they haven't been messed with - it is possible to swap the internals between fork legs.)

Yes, the only reason they separated the functions between legs is so that you can adjust compression and rebound independently by using different oil weights.

And yet hardly anyone does it. I have never serviced one and had different weights requested and I have serviced a good number of them. It seems a lot of people put emulators in them without first trying to dial them in. Rirst things first IMO. Based on my experiements on the road with earlier forks I would probably run 2.5 or 5wt in the left fork and around 25wt in the right one but I have never actually tried it. Remember that my suspension advise ALWAYS includes getting the spring and preload dialed in first and not using compression damping to try to dial in my preload. That is the wrong path!

[Airhead Wrangler]

I got satisfactory results by using 10w for compression and 15w for rebound. That was my first try and it was good enough, so I didn't go back and experiment with it though I probably should have. Fork oil isn't cheap.

[Stagehand]

When I had stock internals, I used a heavier weight on the compression side. Roughly 15-20w on the compression side, and 10 or so on the rebound. I got the preload right about correct for me, something like 25-30% with an inch and a half long PVC spacer at the top, then mucked about with the oil.