Gettin to grips with the new style!

jimh_123

I've been mountain biking on and off for over ten years now. My trusty, fullly rigid steed has been with me all those years but alas it's had its day.

So recently I just bought a 2008 Hardrock Comp with disc brakes and I have to say I just love it! I cant believe how much faster it is compared to my last bike, (Trek 950). Even up hills I find myself going far faster!

Only queery I have is, this is my first time with suspension and have noticed that when I pull up hard on the bars to lift the wheel up or manual it doesn't come up as high and I get a delayed hit coming from the fork.( if that makes sense). It feels like the piston is hitting the top inside the fork. Is this normal with suspension forks!
It's really effecting what logs I can clear, drop offs and jumps that I hit.

Any ideas?

Anonymous

i think it is a product of the fork being pretty cheap, this is no bad thing on its own and you have a decent bike, but a more expensive fork would have better damping and would reduce the "fork bottom out"

jimh_123

Yeah I knew the fork wasn't the best, but just dont like that hard bang when I pull up on the bars. Can you get harder springs or thicker oil? Would that make any difference?

I've only had it a couple of weeks, so still gettin to grips with it, ie. suspension, I think the problems lessens the faster I ride. (suppose the answer would be just ride fast all the time!!!) Does that sound right? Or am I just imagening that?

snook

Are you talking about "top-out"? where the fork clunks as you pull it up.

What fork is it by the way? The thing that prevents this is a little elastomer spring, sadly bottom-end forks don't usually have them (sucks cos they're really cheap and tiny and could be fitted with hardly any extra work and make a big performance difference).

Either live with it (I don't think there's any mod you can do to put one in (correct me if I'm wrong please) or if you can't bear it look around for a better second hand fork (Pinkbike.com has a massive buy/sell section).

stumpyjon

If it is top out, it is normal to an extent, as you unweight the forks they will extend. If they are cheap they won't have alot of damping (or any damping) so when they extend they'll do it quickly until they are full extended when they come to a fast halt, hence the bang.

Better forks = better damping so the extension is more controlled and the forks won't be moving so fast when they max out.

Again if the forks are cheap you'll be less likely to be able to modify them aftermarket. I wouldn't play around with oil weights or quantities as that could have a fairly bad effect on how they compress which is the main function of the fork.

jimh_123

Didn't know the correct term to call the problem, but found out, and yes it's as you say, its topping out.

They are the SR Suntour SF7-XCM forks that came with it. There's no damping control just 2 knobs at the top for controlling the spring preload. I have these screwed right in to make the fork a bit stiffer. Helps a wee bit.

Looks like I'm gona have to live with it cause at the mo cant afford any knew forks!

But still loving my new bike!! Was able to clear my first table top the other day!! Coudn't do that on my old bike!!!

Anonymous

well, if you feel yourself improving already, then the bike is plenty good enough, dont feel compelled to rush out for the next big thing if what you have is doing the trick