SEETHING: Building garbage Associated shocks
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:43 pm
I was having a pretty darned good day. I really was. My son's 6th birthday is on Tuesday so today we picked up his present, a new bike, at the bike shop. It was sunny and in the 30's with no white fungus on the ground here in MN thanks to the mild winter. AND today Mr. Mailman rang the doorbell AND I was here to sign for my Fibre Lyte parts, yay!
Tonight I decided to build the shocks for my old is new RC10 modern build. No problemo, I've built these before. I have a pair of new in package 1.32 rears from Tower and 1.02 fronts I think from the same source. Usually you build these, I have the o-ring and spacer placement on the plastic build tool memorized by now, and it's a *snap* literally. You push down and snap that plastic clip home and move onto the next one. Not so tonight. 1.02 set caused all sorts of problems, red o-rings were not seating, getting pinched, coming out in pieces, etc. Lube, lube, lube with more shock oil. No joy.
I move onto the 1.32's wondering if I got a bad batch. I take painstaking care to remove any excess plastic flashing from parts tree on the spacers. I get one done, doesn't snap home when I push down, but it goes in and looks seated. #2, looks good, but took multiple tries to get there. I put the shock shaft in and it's binding like F***. Take it all apart again, red o-ring falls out in pieces. WTF. I start on it again and get it seated, no wait, I look inside and top red o-ring is pinched around sides of clip. I can see it poking out around the clip, like the suggestion of a thong when a chick is wearing low rise shorts.
This is the aftermath, the hammer might have slipped a few times (yes, it was totally f'ing worth it, I'm going to bed now).
Not sure what I'll do for shocks now because I'm so livid. Someone PLEASE tell me either a) how I've over-reacted, b) missed a crucial step in assembly or c) a+b because Associated builds incredible products with zero defects or quality issues so I must be an idiot.
Good night all.
Tonight I decided to build the shocks for my old is new RC10 modern build. No problemo, I've built these before. I have a pair of new in package 1.32 rears from Tower and 1.02 fronts I think from the same source. Usually you build these, I have the o-ring and spacer placement on the plastic build tool memorized by now, and it's a *snap* literally. You push down and snap that plastic clip home and move onto the next one. Not so tonight. 1.02 set caused all sorts of problems, red o-rings were not seating, getting pinched, coming out in pieces, etc. Lube, lube, lube with more shock oil. No joy.
I move onto the 1.32's wondering if I got a bad batch. I take painstaking care to remove any excess plastic flashing from parts tree on the spacers. I get one done, doesn't snap home when I push down, but it goes in and looks seated. #2, looks good, but took multiple tries to get there. I put the shock shaft in and it's binding like F***. Take it all apart again, red o-ring falls out in pieces. WTF. I start on it again and get it seated, no wait, I look inside and top red o-ring is pinched around sides of clip. I can see it poking out around the clip, like the suggestion of a thong when a chick is wearing low rise shorts.
This is the aftermath, the hammer might have slipped a few times (yes, it was totally f'ing worth it, I'm going to bed now).
Not sure what I'll do for shocks now because I'm so livid. Someone PLEASE tell me either a) how I've over-reacted, b) missed a crucial step in assembly or c) a+b because Associated builds incredible products with zero defects or quality issues so I must be an idiot.
Good night all.