I had a thunk, and considered that simple is best.
What I've done, and envisaged before, was to remove the whole shebang out of the front of the frame so the dog could see the rabbit and I could get the whole fork assembly into the workshop.
What Brucey said was ringing in my tiny brain. I leant heavily on the top of the handlebars with my manly chest nearly lifting my feet off the ground. Meanwhile, I took some tie-wraps and passed them under the sprung fork crown and as I leant downwards, I pulled on the tie-wraps. Mine weren't quite long enough with the suspension relaxed, so need two in series. I used two pairs either side of the suspension fork and through the front latices of the frame.
Then, for ease (but not necessarily required) I removed the front wheel. The suspension linkages came off easily as the suspension was compressed nicely. Clean-up, then re-grease, then reassemble.
I would still like some device for holding the compression rather than straps, jacks, or tie-wraps. I wonder if I could devise a clip/hook thingy, so when you manually compress, you fit the clip/hook. Recompress to release.
Bouncing the front on the ground told me that the "feel" was just about right. I never travel without tools, so any minor adjustments can be done on the fly.
Self explaining photos, by was of illustration.
Mick F. Cornwall
