Midvalve

[ktm 550 mxc monster]

Is there a direct advantage to shimming the midvale so that it can only move say 1mm or less as compared to the 3 mm or so it moves now in my ktm fork? I don't quite understand how fluid is forced through the base valve when the midvalve blows off so easy, so will making the midvalve more active than just check force the base valving to do more work or possibly allow you to make the lsc lighter while alowing the hsc to handle the bigger sharper hits?
I could be all wrong but I am wil to learn :yeehaw:

 

[bclapham]

its a shame the search isnt working! the measurement you talk of is called the midvalve "lift" or "float".

many stock forks that i have seen (yz) with a large lift, apparently a smaller lift gives better results, quite often 0.2-1.0mm. i am waiting to try the forks this week, when you reduce the lift, it stiffens up the damping quite a bit so you have to reduce the damping on the base valve quite a bit....i didnt to this quite enough on my first try!

 

[clayrm250]

Thanks for the reply and please do let me know the results!
I am ktm 500.... by the way, this is just the logon I use at work.
I have thought the same thing and wonder just how much I can take off the base valve..I would think it would also make clicker changes more dramatic or responsive due to less fluid going past the midvalve.

 

[NEMX305]

Originally posted by clayrm250
Thanks for the reply and please do let me know the results!
I am ktm 500.... by the way, this is just the logon I use at work.
I have thought the same thing and wonder just how much I can take off the base valve..I would think it would also make clicker changes more dramatic or responsive due to less fluid going past the midvalve.

Less oil won't be going through the midvalve. Its always going to be the same amount of oil flowing through it, in order for the fork to go through its stroke. The only oil that will flow through the base valve, is whats displaced by the shaft, as the fork compresses. I finally started to under stand this the past few days. I also see, why Jeremy gets aggravated about everyone wanting to turn midvalves, into check valves. By doing so, you take the valve that has about 75% of the oil pass through it, and basically take the tunability away from it, and just rely on the ports of that valve, and then tune the base valve that only sees a small percentage of the oil flow.