New XJ owner, confused by Air Forks.

OK, this is my first bike with air-forks.
It was too soft, I hooked up my little 12v compressor to them and went to 15lb. Much better but I am not convinced the two forks are equal. The instant I attach a tire gauge to the damn things they lose half of thier pressure. Is there any kind of tool or attachment for the kind of fine tuning that these forks require?

 

I've had the same trouble phred.
Hope someone comes up with a good solution.

Don't forget 17 lbs. is the max. and using compressed air is a bad idea, these forks fill up quickly and to much air may well blow your seals.

 

I dont have any answers, just questions

What type of airgauge ?

I was concerned about checking my perssure since a normal spring/slide would blow by too much air.


I was thinking I needed to get one of the better sealed type. Normally has a small button on the side to bleed off some pressure... like you see racers use.

 

I think I just found a solution.
Mountain bikes are using a tool called Buzzy's Pollinator to adjust their shocks.
The gauge is a little big for our use, but they have a no-leak connector and a bleed off valve. With the size of the gauge I thinkit will be pretty accurate.
Hardley Davidson resells these with the HD emblem for $45, but you can get the same thing from REI for $35.I am bidding on one on Ebay.
I will let you know how it works.

 

$35?!!! I picked mine up from a bike shop for $15. Aeron (?) or something like that. I would look into a balancing pipe or tube between the air valves. Might take some machine work or you could play with a pre-existing set up and mod to your needs.

 

The forks from a 1982 XJ750 have the balancing tube on it.