May as well put the info directly on this forum since it's helped a few people ...
Do these few checks ...
First loosen off the lower triple clamps as they can be tightened too much which crushes the fork tubes in on the inner sliders causing "stiction" (similar to brakes dragging) ... The forks work OK at the start , then start binding inside with use ... The local Thumpstar dealer demonstrated that in action on several of his customers bikes that were in for servicing ... He said due to the fact that AS-02's have forged triple clamps , they don't stretch around the tubes like cheaper cast or "billet" CNC clamps do and as a result can crush them out of round quite easily ... He merely slightly loosened the allen head screws on the lower clamp on two bikes and each one lifted as the sliders popped out to full extension ... He said just about everyone over tightens the clamps on AS-02's ... then bad mouths them ... At the time even testers in magazines were whinging about the AS-02's suffering from stiction or being too stiff when bad set up was ALL that was wrong with them ...
Another factor can be that the combined sum of the front axle spacers and wheel hub width is narrower than the width between the insides of the two fork feet so that when the axle nut is tightened , it squashes the sliders inwards and out of parallel with the top tubes , forming a slight "V"... once again causing "stiction" as the sliders go into the tubes and rub hard on the insides of them instead of floating freely dead centred ... ie the c to c of the sliders is no longer precisely the same c to c as the tubes ... so as you hit bumps and the sliders go into the tubes but don't come back out fully due to the internal friction over powering the ability of the spring tension ... and it'd get worse over time ...
AS-02's aren't designed to use a standard type 15 mm axle and nut ... They are designed to use a special axle with an adjustable sleeve spacer on one side ... Genuine Thumpstars used a special 12 mm axle with NO nut on the end . It was 15 mm on one end step down machined to 12 mm and they used a sleeved spacer on the other side to go thru the fork foot ... The fork feet have two allen head bolts either side which clamp hard on the axle and hold it in place ... that way the sliders can't get squashed inwards stuffing up the fork action ...
You only need to take a look at AS-01's and forks on later model bikes to see what they've done to keep the sliders from being pulled out of parallel alignment ... A stepped axle and spacer basically bolts the wheel to the foot of the left hand slider and the axle floats freely in the foot of the RHS slider until the two allen screws are tightened ...
And here's some info I copied and pasted off 2 separate US forum posts a while back ... complete with spelling errors ...
Some Recomendations...
Standard amount of oil:
150ml/5oz in right leg - the one with red knob
125ml/4,2oz oil in the left leg - the one with blue knob
Some Recomended airpreasure:
Rider weight 95kg/210lb - Left leg 150psi/10,3bar - Right Leg
70-80psi/5,2bar.
Rider weight 65kg/145lb - Left leg 100psi/6,9bar - Right Leg
40-45psi/3,1bar.
I would use 5 to 10 oil, and to get the air in you use a special
pump.
Se this:
http://www.workzbike.com/default.asp...bcat=69&id=437
I dont have a manual for the Fork...
Here is a compleete manual of the AS-02:
http://www.workzbike.com/doc/Fast-ac...ser-Manual.pdf
You Need A Minium Of 75lbs In Each Fork For Them To Work Properly .
Some people were asking about the oil weight on these Fast Ace
forks. On the first generation I recommend a 7.5 weight oil, on the 2nd
generation forks I recommend a 15 or 20wt. in the rebound side, and 10 in
the compression side.
