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What about dry air? Would that be ok?
I have my nitrogen fill setup configured so that I can flush the bladder, gauge, etc with the nitrogen before closing it off and setting the pressure. It’s not a vacuum but I doubt there’s any meaningful amount of ambient air left in there.
Hydrogen?
"Oh, the humanity..." May 6, 1937.
Here's a fun experiment...
Buy 2 decent bottles of red wine. Doesn't have to be expensive - Bogle Cabernet or Merlot will do, for about $10 per bottle. Open both bottles, and pour about 25 mL from each into 2 shot glasses. Put the cork back into one bottle without adding N2. Add N2 (or an argon mixture, like in Private Reserve brand wine preservative, available for ~12 bucks - follow instructions on the container) above the wine in the second bottle and cork it. (Label the bottles "air" and "N2.") Drink the wine, and note any difference in taste.
Day 2, take out another 25 mL from each bottle, and note any difference in taste. Follow the same procedure with air in one bottle, N2 in the other. Repeat daily until the wine is gone. Report back with your results, and then we can discuss whether nitrogen should be used in any applications where oxygen (in air) can degrade the materials it contacts.
Note: while the large nitrogen cylinders used in most shops are not marked "for human use," I've had no issues using them to preserve wine. I keep one in my toy hauler motorhome, and use it to air up tires and basketballs, for air tools, to quickly clean/dry a mechanical repair..., and, on the rare occasion that there's some wine left over...
Disclaimer: this experiment should be conducted only by adults in the USA. If you live in France, however, anyone capable of uncorking the wine bottle is eligible.
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Gone back and forth on this. Zero perceptible difference in my rear shock, so I just use a MTB pump at home now. I check the pressure before every tear down as well and it's never any different.
Guess I'm a "hack", but I couldn't give two shits.
Is this a "who can pull up the dumbest old thread" competition?? 😂
But have you tried drinking your shock fluid after a few months? How did it taste?
He’s a one legged fisherman.
I do prefer an oaky afterbirth.
Long winded way of saying oxygen is an oxidising agent.
The ideal gas law can be used to derive the influence of changes in pressure and temperature.
PV = nRT -> P1/T1 = P2/T2
For your shock absorber, the source of energy increase doesn’t change no matter what fluid is in your reservoir: that is, shock motion (kinetic energy) into thermal energy (another type of kinetic energy). So, while there MIGHT be some minor change in reservoir temperatures due to air + moisture vs dry nitrogen, it’s not enough to really matter for performance at the amateur level. Specifically, the reservoir pressure is there to combat cavitation and it’s negative impact on damping.
Source: I’m a degreed engineer and a hack mechanic. I also change my shock oil every 20 hrs or less. When I do my friends’ suspension, I disclose I use air. None have complained yet.
🤣🤣 gotta love Vital.
“You followed the manufacturer’s factory service manual?? HACK JOB!”
Changing the shock oil every 20h of riding time is going to make far more difference, than a gas mixture with an extra 20% Nitrogen in the bladder of this Hard Enduro shock.
You do realize that nitrogen that you buy is only 98% pure. Using it would make you a hack.
Why would that have any relevance to a shock?
The oil and gas (nitrogen or air) in a shock are separated by a bladder or piston.
Not if you buy semiconductor grade, 99.999% pure!
You would have to be an idiot to go so far out of your way just to “feel good”
I'm fine using air in my shocks...
I like to use a special gas mixture containing around 78% nitrogen. Learned about it from an old racer years ago.
Pit Row
I use an air fork pump. I stopped using nitrogen 5 years ago, when I ran out. It made absolutely no difference.
I actually use an air fork pump.It has worked great for 5 years now.
It seems people are conflating the supposed benefits of nitrogen as a gas with the fact that bottled nitrogen is free from moisture (as a result of how it is produced).
Nitrogen is not a true inert gas but it is chemically inert for a wide range of conditions.
Not arguing if it makes a difference, but you already had the bottle, regulator, and charging setup and didn’t just get a refill? My last bottle lasted me 30 years and hundreds of rebuilds and I just paid $27 to refill it for another 30 years.
Getting a tank would be a total waste. Also, a fork pump takes up less room.
No need to vacuum the bladder, nitrogen is heaver than air there for pressure it up and bleed it down a couple of times and you will be air free. I am sure you know this but just wanted to start shit.
If you understand the science, use whatever you KNOW works. If you don't understand anything like shorty, then don't be a hack job and absolutely, willingly get conned into using nitrogen.
My point is, this isn't magic. It is based on facts you learned the basics of in high school. FACT: YOU will never know the difference in a bladder type shock. In emulsion shocks, there is an infinitesimally small argument for corrosion inhibition.
What is the compressibility factor for air vs nitrogen at the pressures and temperatures you see in a shock? people that say air can't be used, use the math and show me how much of a difference it represents in a hot shock @ 150psi
"Putting nitrogen in a tire and thinking it's doing anything beneficial is simply foolish."
But I get nitrogen free at Costco to fill my tires.
"nitrogen is heaver than air"
What makes you think that?
My question was rhetorical, I understand the science. The only practical difference between bottled nitrogen and regular compressed air is that in the majority of cases the compressed air doesn't have the moisture removed. This isn't an inherent characteristic of nitrogen; it's simply due to the way it is produced. It is pretty easy to dry the air if you want to, in circumstances where moisture is a concern, and the performance will be the same.
With regard to compressibility, nitrogen and air both follow the ideal gas laws and there is almost no measurable difference, unless you are talking about really high pressures, way above what is in a shock, and even then while it's measurable, there is no practical difference.
Really the only applications where pure nitrogen has any benefit over dry air is where there is a risk of reaction or combustion in the presence of oxygen.
Having said all that if it's easier, cheaper and more practical to buy bottled nitrogen than try to obtain dry compressed air then there is no harm in doing it.
BTW you obviously understand the differences so this isn't aimed at you, but there is clearly a lot of misunderstanding about this topic.
Yo momma so fat, when she gets in your car, she splits the triple bond of the nitrogen atoms in your tires, and levels every structure within a 5 miles radius in a nuclear blast.
Helium in tires equals less sprung weight. Thats how I won my local county fair races 😂🤣
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