Enduro/gravity bike suspension and geo

[RiverInTheRoad]

29 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Steel on steel - what are you riding - a Makro Cannondale? 

Don't tell me you have never properly bottommed a fork....

[Headshot]

1 minute ago, RiverInTheRoad said:

Don't tell me you have never properly bottommed a fork....

I think I have, but it was aluminium on magnesium. And remember, my fork is bigger than yours so it doesn't bottom so easily. 

[Headshot]

25 minutes ago, Trashy said:

Just confused why anyone would buy a bike with X amount of travel, if they don't intend on using it?

Do you also drive a fortuner that never sees a dirt road?

No, I drive an SUV that tows Fortuners out of trouble on slushy mountain passes. True story. 

[RiverInTheRoad]

32 minutes ago, Trashy said:

Just confused why anyone would buy a bike with X amount of travel, if they don't intend on using it?

Do you also drive a fortuner that never sees a dirt road?

You won't believe it, I own a Fortuner (4x4).

[Grease_Monkey]

Myne is ook lank (3cm). 

Come on gents… I’m sure we all use our 180mm enduro sleds and SUVs to their full capacity all the time.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Grease_Monkey

[Headshot]

Last post around 6 months ago... On the same subject, I have had a numb right hand issue that presents itself after 5 or so k's of riding, more so on long descents. A friend of mine was told by a physio to shake the hand periodically quite vigorously. Since doing this my hand has been a lot better.

I've also adjusted my fork by adding 1x volume spacer and reducing the air pressure to around 40psi. That has made for a lot of sag but a far more comfy ride and the hand pain I sometimes got riding a 2km  downhill is vastly reduced. 

[Hairy]

1 hour ago, Headshot said:

Last post around 6 months ago... On the same subject, I have had a numb right hand issue that presents itself after 5 or so k's of riding, more so on long descents. A friend of mine was told by a physio to shake the hand periodically quite vigorously. Since doing this my hand has been a lot better.

I've also adjusted my fork by adding 1x volume spacer and reducing the air pressure to around 40psi. That has made for a lot of sag but a far more comfy ride and the hand pain I sometimes got riding a 2km  downhill is vastly reduced. 

you sound like you may benefit from a coil fork?

[MajG]

Need some advice from the smart hubbers

How do I know what travel is this airspring

It's rockshox.

My Google search skills ran out

 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by MajG
.

[Headshot]

45 minutes ago, Hairy said:

you sound like you may benefit from a coil fork?

Yeah, or maybe a fancier air spring and damper...

[Headshot]

Some bike set up changes my side.

I finally managed to get hold of a super hi rise bar - a 75mm rise Spank Spike DH bar. I've managed one ride to test it and its an interesting change. Gone is that feeling of being too far over the front and I now have a more evenly balanced weight distribution with more of a bias towards the rear. The fork runs with a tad less sag and the back a bit more at the same pressures as before the bar change. Wheelies and manuals, such as mine are, are much easier. 

Steering on mellower terrain feels a little slower but I enjoy the feeling of having a bit more control - i.e having to steer the bike rather than a the super fast turn in it had with my weight further forward. I feel as if I have better feed back at the limit. 

The downside to the high bar is uphill pedaling where my previous XC ish bar height put me in a decent position. At least now I have the option to lower the bar by about 15 mm by removing some spacers if needed and/or add a bit of extra air out back.

I already think the advantages outweigh the negatives but I still need to do some testing on steeper terrain. And get used to the look of the bike - its very BMX 🙂 

[Bos]

Its obviously specific to where you ride, but I don't like to mess with air pressures once they are right. In general though, I think we typically run forks to hard. Listen to the Pinkbike Podcast with Jesse Melamed... Comfort comes first, even for those strong guys. I typically air up my fork to much after a service(cause I often cant remember the exact pressure it was on) slightly to firm feels about right in the garage.. but after riding something like  Armageddon (top to bottom)the first time after the service I go down a couple of PSI for best result. It actually feels a bit to soft in the parking lot test, but experience have taught me to leave it alone. 

I don't necessarily think the fork should bottom on each ride, unless you hit big g-outs every ride, one wants to reserve some travel for special occasions

[usxorf]

8 hours ago, Bos said:

Its obviously specific to where you ride, but I don't like to mess with air pressures once they are right. In general though, I think we typically run forks to hard. Listen to the Pinkbike Podcast with Jesse Melamed... Comfort comes first, even for those strong guys. I typically air up my fork to much after a service(cause I often cant remember the exact pressure it was on) slightly to firm feels about right in the garage.. but after riding something like  Armageddon (top to bottom)the first time after the service I go down a couple of PSI for best result. It actually feels a bit to soft in the parking lot test, but experience have taught me to leave it alone. 

I don't necessarily think the fork should bottom on each ride, unless you hit big g-outs every ride, one wants to reserve some travel for special occasions

I need my fork to have "support" in the middle-ish part of it's travel, so that it's not blowing through a lot of travel just by my weight moving forward. So need a bit more psi to stop this from happening. The fancier forks can pump full of psi and still have the top travel plush, to help with the claw. 

[Jewbacca]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:45 AM, Headshot said:

Some bike set up changes my side.

I finally managed to get hold of a super hi rise bar - a 75mm rise Spank Spike DH bar. I've managed one ride to test it and its an interesting change. Gone is that feeling of being too far over the front and I now have a more evenly balanced weight distribution with more of a bias towards the rear. The fork runs with a tad less sag and the back a bit more at the same pressures as before the bar change. Wheelies and manuals, such as mine are, are much easier. 

Steering on mellower terrain feels a little slower but I enjoy the feeling of having a bit more control - i.e having to steer the bike rather than a the super fast turn in it had with my weight further forward. I feel as if I have better feed back at the limit. 

The downside to the high bar is uphill pedaling where my previous XC ish bar height put me in a decent position. At least now I have the option to lower the bar by about 15 mm by removing some spacers if needed and/or add a bit of extra air out back.

I already think the advantages outweigh the negatives but I still need to do some testing on steeper terrain. And get used to the look of the bike - its very BMX 🙂 

I've been running these for a bit. 75mm rise with 14' backsweep.

I don't mind the climbing as it's SS and I'm camping on the bars standing, but the BMX feeling is awesome in the twisties and the rockys. 

I'm a big fan

(excise the mess, it was laundry day) 

[Bos]

Those things are Ugly AF.. BMX Wheely Kids vibse 😁Nee man!

 

I wont be caught dead.. More spacers under the stem? 

[Hairy]

16 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I've been running these for a bit. 75mm rise with 14' backsweep.

I don't mind the climbing as it's SS and I'm camping on the bars standing, but the BMX feeling is awesome in the twisties and the rockys. 

I'm a big fan

(excise the mess, it was laundry day) 

DOES IT MAKE A HUGE NOISE?

 

[Bos]

1 hour ago, usxorf said:

I need my fork to have "support" in the middle-ish part of it's travel, so that it's not blowing through a lot of travel just by my weight moving forward. So need a bit more psi to stop this from happening. The fancier forks can pump full of psi and still have the top travel plush, to help with the claw. 

Ya I think you describe most of our problems well. And that hardly ever completely goes away. The more expensive forks just has better LSC which helps keep the front up without adding harshness, and even those have to be tuned to your weight, or they will be overdamped. Some also have more "tuned" airspring. The Debonair 2 spring (Rockshox) tried to address that a bit at the cost of a bit of small bump sensitivity.

https://www.rideformula.com/technologies/neopos/

I experimented with these, to try get a more linear progression curve, and they made a huge difference. I'm a fan! Being a lighter rider I already struggled getting full travel (RS PIKE) So these allow you to run 20% sag while the support from the airspring and added volume spacers helped the bike stand up but then they get compressed through the last part of the travel, making full travel attainable, instead of running into a wall of progression, and getting a harsh feeling fork. I ran 2 full NEOPOS spacers, and lower pressures. (they are the size of 4 normal volume tokens!)

I now have a Manitou Mezzer which has one built in, much like the "RUNT" aftermarket one.