2009 FSR XC Comp owners, or anyone with a 120mm Tora 302 SL

BoardinBob
BoardinBob Posts: 697
edited February 2009 in MTB workshop & tech
Ok, had the new bike for a week or so and gave it a real proper test yesterday. Overall I really like it. The X-Fusion shock is plush and well controlled and I'm getting the fully 120mm travel at the rear.

The fork however is a little bit different. I'm only getting a maximum of 100mm travel out of a supposed 120mm. I've had the tape measure out and the length of the stanchions on show with the suspension uncompressed is 130mm which means at full travel you'd only have a 10mm gap between the crown and the lowers. Seem's a bit too small. They're also a bit "sticky". If I compress the fork then let it expand, it sticks just before it's fully expanded and I have to give it a little nudge to expand that last 15mm-20mm. I tried applying teflon lube to the stanchions but it made no difference.

Now I ordered the large frame and I know the fork comes with a stiff spring in that size. I'm 6ft and weighing 200lbs so I don't think it's too stiff for me.Is it just a case of:


It's a pretty crappy basic fork (rebound adjust, pre-load and lockout but no motion control)

It's a new fork and it'll take time to bed in and loosen off properly

A less stiff spring would make a difference

The fork is faulty


I have a Recon 351 85mm - 130mm U-Turn that I could put on but that will need serviced and it has a remote poploc which I'd rather swop for a non-remote version so there would be cost involved there that may not be necessary if the fork is faulty.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • On another note, the stem seems overlong at 110mm. When I stand up to pedal it feels very wrong as if my weight is unbalanced, which I'm guessing is a result of the stem length?
  • maurice
    maurice Posts: 151
    For a large size xc frame a 110mm stem isn't overlong.
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    The forks on my old '07 FSR XC were exactly the same bizarrely, I've always assumed it was a bad batch. I gave them as much TLC and chance to bed in as I could before giving up and swapping them for Rebas. I've gone through tens of sets of forks, never have I had any as bad as those Toras.

    I much prefered a shorter stem on mine as well, stuck it down to 90mm and all was good (on an XL bike) :P The new one is a bit different though, the old one felt suprisingly slack angled given it's an XC style bike. Don't go too short though or steep climbs can be a nightmare when you get your weight forward.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    mine are fine, smooth, well controlled. Sounds like a bad un. Certainly not a crap fork!
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    I wonder if it's Specialized putting crazy stiff springs in there. Mine was definitely far too stiff, getting about 70mm required leaping off something, never mind the full 100mm.

    The stiffness obviously compounded the fact the travel was really sticky, they'd spend more of their life sat at the top of their travel, it's take a bit of a knock to even make them move. My weight varies between about 14 and 15 stone and it was an XL bike.
  • BoardinBob
    BoardinBob Posts: 697
    edited February 2009
    supersonic wrote:
    mine are fine, smooth, well controlled. Sounds like a bad un. Certainly not a crap fork!

    Hmmm.


    I'll give it a week or so. An added complication is the fact it came through Halfords on a C2W scheme so it'll be a hassle to return it to get the original supplier (Leisure Lakes) to look at it if it's faulty.
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    On the plus side, I bet Leisure Lakes have all the bits to properly strip down a set of Toras should they need to. Wish I'd moaned a bit more about mine (which came from LL too come to think of it), kept waiting for them to break in, they never did. I'm sure a service would have sorted them, considering the price of a service it seemed like as good a time as any to upgrade instead, the Rebas knocked about 2lbs of the weight of the bike while I was at it :wink:
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    edited February 2009
    BoardinBob wrote:
    Now I ordered the large frame and I know the fork comes with a stiff spring in that size. I'm 6ft and weighing 200lbs so I don't think it's too stiff for me.Is it just a case of:

    It's a pretty crappy basic fork (rebound adjust, pre-load and lockout but no motion control)

    It's a new fork and it'll take time to bed in and loosen off properly

    A less stiff spring would make a difference

    The fork is faulty


    Thoughts?
    I'm 5'11" and 13st and have the new FSRxc in medium (with the lighter spring) and to be honest I've not measured how much travel I'm getting yet. However in use (so far limited to banging down a few flights of steps, bunny hops, and a couple of drops off on the way to work) the fork feels plush and smooth. If anything I was concerned it was a little soft but I think it was more a problem with my weight distribution.

    I'm not sure how well rated the X-Fusion 02RLA shock is, but from what I can tell so far it feels superb. Again, it might be a little on the soft side but when my shock pump arrives I'll be chucking in a few more psi to firm it up.

    It is definitely worth getting stuff sorted under warranty so if you are not happy don't be shy about sending stuff back.
    Toasty wrote:
    I much prefered a shorter stem on mine as well, stuck it down to 90mm and all was good (on an XL bike) :P The new one is a bit different though, the old one felt suprisingly slack angled given it's an XC style bike. Don't go too short though or steep climbs can be a nightmare when you get your weight forward.
    The 09 FSRxc is slacker still. I think officially it is half a degree slacker but sitting on the 08 and 09 models the 09 feels more laid back and longer in the nose. Probably the extra 20mm on the fork travel has made a big difference.

    I'm happy about that though as I bought the 09 FSRxc to go downhill as well as up.
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    Daz555 wrote:
    The 09 FSRxc is slacker still. I think officially it is half a degree slacker but sitting on the 08 and 09 models the 09 feels more laid back and longer in the nose. Probably the extra 20mm on the fork travel has made a big difference.

    I'm happy about that though as I bought the FSRxc to go downhill as well as up.

    Ah, fun :) The old one used to claim to be quite upright going by it's geometry, it certainly didn't feel it though! Even compared to the Meta I ride now. Odd, slack angled, short travel XC bike.

    My main gripe was it was pretty bouncy climbing without pro-pedal, the cheap shock didn't have any platform damping sadly and it was a custom length so I'd have to upgrade through Specialized. Grr! I think the new rocker design is quite a bit better with bob, I wouldn't have described the old one as good at climbing though, very odd for a 100mm bike. Very good fun in the right sort of trail though.
  • The X-Fusion shock can be locked out for climbing as can the fork.

    The head angle is definitely slack. Also worth noting that the FSR XC shares the same frame as the Pitch...
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    I'm talking off road though, lock out your forks while climbing anything technical and you'll lose all the traction advantages of having full suspension. The point of platform damping is it should strip out all the pedal related bob and give you something to push against, while still letting the shock move when it's jarred.

    Some designs don't bob too much when you're powering up a hill, the old FSR XC did for me :P

    I very, very rarely used the lockouts on that bike :? Definitely not while offroad.

    The Pitch frame is the same as the FSR XC? The Pitch has 30mm more travel and a completely different linkage for a start. I'd be suprised if it was, why build a frame tough enough to take 150mm forks then put it on a bike you aim at the lighter XC market? The tubing diameter looks physically thicker on the Pitch?