Ottow's Werks? Any Info?

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

I have a pair of fork accumulators. Made by Ottow's Werks, Paramount, California. Anyone ever heard of them before? I do not believe they will do much, other than bling. They appear to be a remote bladder assembly. No way I am going into them with out a print out, directions, anything? May have been back in the 70's to 80's by the look of the packaging! They have brass compression 90's that would go in place of the schrader valve atop the forks. Brass ferrules around plastic lines, that go to each accumulator. The assembly has 2 schrader valves on each side of what I would think is the bladder. The plastic line goes into 1 end. The main body is anodized red, the ends with the schrader valves are gold and held in place with internal c clips. Definitely trick looking, never used. I believe Yamaha tried something like these once? Charge of air on the bladder side and hook it up is what I am guessing. I sure am going to ditch the auto fittings and plastic for some stainless braided quick. Vintage Bob

 

[Uchytil]

No ove on this one huh? I only kinda know they did some partnering with FMF back in the day. I say they's just bling or something to talk about over beers.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Thanks John! I will give FMF a call, and see if they can help. Back in the day, I never worried about the forks after 79, 1500 dollars is a lot to choke down for the fox forks now. And they would need rebuilding? I am trying to keep era correct for this bike. I have a race tech gold valve to try and help the back end. How Honda released this bike with a spring rated for 90 pounds, incredible! Vintage Bob

 

[Uchytil]

Some guys don't care about their back springs. I was at Big Air last weekend watching my kid race and they had a few vintage/evo guys running the MI vintage series (Big Air is GLMX). Anyway, I was on the start holding my kids bike and a 74 yam 500 lined up next to him. The guy was 60ish and was at least 250 heavy. From where I was it looked like the rear tire was rubbing and the springs were collapsed. He was having fun though. The vinatge guy in the lead was railing a 70's yamaha 250 and flying it over the doubles. My wife wished I was in it probably for the insurance when I got squished. BTW, you'd probably have to talk to Emler if you called FMF, that's how long ago the knowledge base and Werks probably goes back. I don't really know, good luck.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

My 97 can run in the non currant class! It gets better every time I fiddle with it. And the second time, I WILL GET THE POWER VALVE SET CORRECTLY! The 83 front end feels good, now. With the back spring up from a stock 90 pound rider to 165, and the valving, they claim it will feel as good as the Ohlin. That is a lot to chew, but would save the crazy price of that shock. If I order it for a Gasgasm it is cheaper, the same shock? I wish I did not know fixing the rear will change the front. Vintage Bob

 

[enduro250]

i think i have a set of these. They are some long blue reservoirs that connect to the forks. Someone told me thats what they are but im not sure.

There are pistons inside mine.
If you can find out some info on them that would be great. As i understand it you set them up with a low pressure in the fork side and high pressure on the reservoir side on the other side of the piston. I think you dont runs springs with them but i woul personally leave the spring fitted. they look pretty trick though. Mine are NOS and had no packet or lines and i was going to use SS braided lines too.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Thats them! Mine are red though? Some sort of difference? How did you find out it has a piston in it? Took it apart, any seals, o-rings? I am sure they are made the same, basically. Yamaha blue, and mine came with the packaging and red 1/4" plastic lines(Honda?) and brass flare to compression fittings. No springs, thats a lot to swallow! I would feel better with a lot higher psi connections for sure. being 1/4" npt threads should be easy to get an adequate hose and stainless connections. Thanks for sharing, keep the information coming. I have not made the call to FMF yet. Vintage Bob

 

[enduro250]

There was a c-clip I removed and took one end cap off and then I could see a piston. There would be a Viton o-ring on it and probably a Teflon piston ring on it just like a piston in a Ohlins shock.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

I am liking these even more! Thanks Enduro250! Vintage Bob

 

[enduro250]

When i was trying to find out about them this is what somone told me

I would be willing to bet these are ``Ottows Werks`` Accumulators. Iused to know the guy that made those. His name was Bob Ottow. At thetime he was in Downey, California, USA. I have long since lost contactwith him. But I am pretty sure that is what those are. I had them on my1974 Honda CR125. You had to have an air tank to fill up the bottomside with a certain amount of air, and then fill the top side with alittle less. As the forks compressed the air pressure in the top sidewould equal, then excede, the bottom. This would then slide the piston down in the accumulator.

These are kind of like what all the modern companies like Race Tech and Too Tech racing etc are selling for modern dirt bikes these days. Air tanks on front forks are all the go now. I even got an old article fom 88/89 MXA where Race Tech fitted KX80? shock reservoirs on hoses to some White Power 4054 USD forks to improve them.

If your going to pull yours apart, measure the piston depth position first so you know where to set it to although i guess it would be adjustable but you would at least want to know what the factory setting is. Idealy i believe they should be mounted so oil can run back into the forks on rebound.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Now I see why I do not recall these. That was about the time I got into mx, with my brand new XR-75! Crap that was a while ago. So I have some never used 36 year old fork mods, that still seem, very usable. Around 79 and with the CR250 I found out the hard way, about having pressure in the forks was a bad idea. The little extra air caused the forks to rebound to quickly, topping out would actually cause the rod to come unscrewed from the air caps! And on a regular basis. I still view these as a type of bladder separating the 2 different pressures, albeit a piston? A higher pressure on the other side really makes it interesting. And now I have Mr. Ottow's first name, excellent. And go figure, another Bob? I am skeptical now, if he made them different, for different sized bikes, hence the color difference? And they had anodized aluminum, in colors, back in the day? UNBELIEVABLE! My 83 CR480, does not have static sag, like it was made to have air/nitrogen holding it all the way extended. They did not consider race sag set ups yet? And that brings another issue of, would nitrogen work better on both sides of the accumulator? And my new adventure with setting up a RaceTech gold valve for the rear shock, and my introduction to shim stacks,(the DRN archives to the rescue, again), has me wondering about stack mods to the forks with these accumulators? Priceless information is an understatement, Thanks again! Vintage Bob

 

[enduro250]

yes nitrogen would work best in the fork tanks. Annodizing has been around for years. Ohlins had gold & blue, White Power had red and Hulco had blue so its nothing specail.

 

[enduro250]

did any stickers come with your accumualtors? I would be interested in geting a copy. Thanks

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

did any stickers come with your accumualtors? I would be interested in geting a copy. Thanks

I wish! Some pre-fmf vintage stickers? That would be even more amazing! Have you seen any such sticker or logo? Thank you computers, some could be readily remade! Vintage Bob

 

[enduro250]

www.vintagefactoty.com has stacks of vintage stickers. They got old skool FMF and don emlers roost factory stickers and even Al Bakers FMF stickers

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Not knowing the year for sure, I should have put this in the Vintage Forum. No Vintage stickers for me, but an Ottows would be proper. Much more Honda parts disappearing off parts lists, and the cast emblems will come off my bike. Vintage factory does have some nice bikes though! Thanks, Vintage Bob

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Robert J. Ottow, Paramount California, applied and received a patent! 1976 He applied for what looks like conventional chambered forks, and received the patent in 1977! http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4012055.html . This guy is the father of suspension? I am still waiting to see if email gets a response. And random calls have not caught Donny in, 1 time I even got a who? When I brought up if anyone has been around since the mid 70's, you need to talk to Donny. Vintage Bob

 

[Uchytil]

you need to talk to Donny. Vintage Bob

Sounds like what we were talking about. JT Racing stickers? I have some original (aftermarket) JT Maico tank stickers I'm trying to salvage on one of my tanks. That was before JT left motox and went snowboarding or something....