Honda Fury Forums: banner

Tricky Air Instant Up

9K views 49 replies 13 participants last post by  krashDH 
#1 ·
Just finished installing an Instant Up Rear Suspension from Tricky Air. Great people to work with, excellent customer service!
I went with a somewhat unique bottle set up, due to limited space, using a 48 ci Paintball tank mounted under the front of the gas tank. I requested an upgrade from their standard compressor to a Viar 275C, which they swapped out at no extra charge. Apart from adding the bottle, I added a separate cutoff switch for the compressor, just for safety and peace of mind, and a 20 amp fuse. With this combination, I can fill the bottle, shut off the compressor, and lift it twice. If I fill the bottle, leave the compressor on, about halfway through the second lift, the compressor kicks back on again. I can also lift the bike while sitting on it or adjust while riding.
2 Solenoids are used to control the up/down via 3 position rocker switch. There is also a pressure sensor switch that turns the compressor on at 150 psi and off at 180.
This mod dropped the bike 4.25 inches, and is able to lift it a little higher than stock height.
The cost was between $1000 - $1100 shipped, including the bottle, which was around $55 from the local paintball supply shop.
Definitely a smoother/softer ride, and completely changes the appearance. It's like having a totally different bike. Hopefully I’ll get to take some nicer pics of the bike Monday after it’s broken in and cleaned back up.
Thanks to Smokin Tyre Garage, Kbuskill, and everyone else on here that I gleaned information from.
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#8 ·
I have a air ride ????? If u blow a line is there enough clearance between the fender to make it home ?
 
#18 · (Edited)
When I built mine I made the lower bracket adjustable, threaded with an additional thin "locking" nut. When I installed it I set the fender cross bars between the struts about 1/4" off the top of the tire and adjusted the lower bracket down the shaft and locked it in so that even with no air in the cylinder the tire wouldn't touch anything.

Some guys cut a short piece of pvc pipe just big enough to slip over the cylinder's shaft and install that as a spacer to act as a failsafe.
 
#24 ·
#27 ·
Thanks for all the advice. I look at the bump stops and I cannot figure out how to get them on and off the bike when I pull up. It looks like they're permanently mounted. I need to drop it to the ground for the shows. my concern is when I'm on the highway or riding along in the air blows out or a line blows. It'll drop to the ground right now all the way to the frame stops.. then you get to watch me flying through the air. I have heard of people putting in Flip-in stops That you can flip-in when the suspension is up and it stays there while riding, then flip them back down when you want to drop it. don't know what they're called, it's been awhile since I've been to a good size bike show, Miss Daytona this year because I was working on the house.
 
#30 ·
Great setup, question?

I have a platinum air suspension, though it is great and makes a ton of difference, it is slow to rise and when I am riding I can not tell if it is adjusting when I flip the switch. Does adding a bottle give it the ability to rise faster, or is that a compressor issue?
 
#31 ·
You can watch the low and mean video that shows how fast it rises, with their kit (compressor only). It's not very fast. It's only going to rise as fast as the compressor can produce air. You would have to add the tank like KB did in order to get the quick up (for the burst of air when the solenoids open). Depending on the switches though with that kit, if you got an inline tank, you might need to put some kind of pneumatic regulator in there to control how fast it goes up, or down for that matter. Because with solenoids it's all open or all closed.

For your case though. I would put it all the way up at night, measure the height, then check it in the morning. You might have a leak somewhere in there. If you do, it's time for the soap and water trick to find it. If it does stay all the way up, it's likely the compressor that's taking a crap. I had that happen with my compressor on my truck for the exhaust brake. It's also wise to check for internal leaks within the solenoids. Also had this happen on a check valve internal to the solenoid on my air brake kit.
 
#33 ·
Not sure if you saw Ken's video, but he showed how fast it can rise potentially, if you flip the switch all at once. I would not recommend that while riding. Like I mentioned above, you'll want to throw an in-line regulator somewhere. Since you are solenoid operated, it's an electrical signal to the solenoids. When they receive the signal, your solenoids are full open and you get a rush of air. Currently, the "rush" you get is just by the compressor building pressure. If you put an in-line tank, that "rush" is now coming from the tank, which is highly pressurized (most pressure switches for something like this kick on around the 125-140 psi range and kick off around 150-180 psi). You will get that full burst of air, and she'll come up fast. Probably faster than you want.

If you add an in-line regulator, you can sit on the bike and dial that thing in until it comes up at the speed you'd like. Then just leave the dial where it is. I suppose you could also do this by putting an inline potentiometer so the solenoid doesn't receive full signal. I'm not sure that's how they work though (ie partially open with a partial signal), they might be either open or closed. I wouldn't trust that anyway though, you're better off putting in the air lines.

You shouldn't blow any valves, lines, or solenoids. The solenoids don't care how fast your bike goes up and down, they're only receiving a signal and as long as they can handle the pressure in the system you're good to go. Same with the lines.
 
#34 ·
I have a request from anyone that has an air ride that has NOT done the T-mod to their bike. I'm looking for some information. This would require laying the fender frame onto the wheel, carefully. I'd like to know at that point, how much of the piston shaft is exposed from the body. In other words, if there is 2" of stroke total for the air cylinder, how much stroke does it use up to lay the fender support on the tire. I know it's a long shot, but I really need some measurements if I'm going to build my own. I know KB did this, but I'm going a bit different route I think (I'd like to not have to notch out my frame).

An even better measurement if possible would be what the distance is from where the upper mount is (where the shock bracket, the one with the bolt, touches the frame) to the lower eye of the shock. That would give me an idea of the give and take I have to make custom mounts for a universal air cylinder.
 
#36 · (Edited)
I attempted to do the same thing you are trying to do. It just did not work. There was not enough room with the 3 inch bore cylinder. In order to NOT notch the frame you need to build a new upper mount (bottom of cylinder) that is about 3/4 inch longer than the factory upper mount then you need to find a way to build a lower mount that allows the cylinder to go above the factory mount because the rod is now too long. That now means that the cylinder is at a more shallow angle and will now hit the frame near the rear of the seat. The only way to get it done that I could think of was to find a 3 inch bore cylinder that has a compressed length of about 1 inch shorter than the cylinder I had. I could not find that.

I eventually had to give up that fight in order to get it done.

It is really tight in there with a 3 inch cylinder. remember that the air fitting near the top will be extremely tight. I had to run a tap down into my cylinder so that my 90 deg fitting would not touch the frame. See the pic attached with the quarter to see how much the frame was notched.

To answer your question though, with the cylinder bottomed out and the bike sitting fender frame on tire completely. The cylinder is bottomed out. there is mayyyyyybe like an 1/8inch left.....but not much at all. This is using the factory upper mount.

I will try to post a pic.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top