Air forks vs spring forks & tuning tips

I hate my air forks and love my springs because they stay the same and my airs have never been right since they lost air and we put the same amount back in

The biggest problem I have with my CRF air forks is they have a vague/numb feeling with very little feedback.
This feeling is especially apparent on corners, where I can't feel out how much I can push/be aggressive.
It's a confusing situation really, as the CRF can corner well, but the numbness of the forks leads me more to the side of caution.
From what I understand, this is the nature of the air folk and therefore I'd rather the bike came with Showa Spring forks.

The Skf glide kit made a huge difference for the plushness of my 15' kx450's air forks. In stock form, there was a noticeable amount of stiction in the first inch or so of travel, and that's where your front end traction is. I , too, felt that the forks gave a vague feeling in the front end. After I switched to SKF seals, racetech gold valve and valving, and racetech fluids, the front end felt so much better. The first 1-2 inches of travel now feels buttery smooth like a spring fork, and throughout the rest of the stroke feels amazing. I instantly regained traction in the front end. The KYB sff TAC forks should come stock with the SKF glide kit.

You don't really need to do the whole SKF glide kit, but I sprung for it. The part with the most friction is the piston seals.

Also, don't forget that you have compression and rebound clickers! So many people get too caught up in the air pressure settings and don't even touch the clickers.

My fork pressure (im 185lb naked):
185psi inner
12psi outer
195psi balance

Tuning question: I have a14 yz250f and have no issues with bigger jumps or woops. I do struggle with fast sections with small braking bumps. It seems like the bars want to rip out of my hands and the rear not getting traction. What ideas do people have to help? I run 108 mm sag and I am getting full travel with slight tire marks on rear fender. The forks are up in clamps maybe 10mm. I also run a devol lowering link in the rear.

WTaylor7 wrote:

I hate my air forks and love my springs because they stay the same and my airs have never been right since they lost air and ...more

WTaylor7 wrote:

I hate my air forks and love my springs because they stay the same and my airs have never been right since they lost air and we put the same amount back in

...more

Both Air and Spring forks build air pressure. KYB did a test and found that a spring fork actually changes more.
You know, I don't understand why people don't like Air forks.. I love them. They are highly tunable, and you don't need to buy fork springs for your weight. I love my AER, but That's just my opinion.

I can only assume people don't get the Air setup correctly. Looking around on this website you can find great info.

RickA wrote:

Both Air and Spring forks build air pressure. KYB did a test and found that a spring fork actually changes more.
You know, I ...more

RickA wrote:

Both Air and Spring forks build air pressure. KYB did a test and found that a spring fork actually changes more.
You know, I don't understand why people don't like Air forks.. I love them. They are highly tunable, and you don't need to buy fork springs for your weight. I love my AER, but That's just my opinion.

I can only assume people don't get the Air setup correctly. Looking around on this website you can find great info.

...more

Have you used Honda's Showa air folk?
It needs a little more than "correct air set up"...lol

I hated my SFF TAC forks on my 16 KX450F until I had Factory Connection revalve them. I also put the SKF Glide Kit in at the same time.

Overall I'm really happy with how they perform now and don't notice a difference between spring and air forks.

The air pressure that FC recommended seemed much lower than I was used to, but works fine. Before that I was running Team Green recommended pressures on stock valving and hating every minute of riding the bike.