How important (or necessary) is Compression Control?

rhysduk
rhysduk Posts: 138
edited April 2009 in MTB general
Evening,
I'm currently on the hunt for a new pair of, much needed, forks.
How necessary and possibly important is Low Speed Compression Control?

The price (of new) between Vanilla R's and RLC's is somewhat of a jump.
I'm not edging towards the RLC's because of the extra Lockout and Compression adjustment. Although Lockout I think may be a welcomed addition.

(RL's would be good, but not listed on Fox's Website)

So, Compression Adjustment, Do I really need it?
What do I do? :shock:

Cheers all. Rhys
PP Shan & Intense SS2

Comments

  • Dirtydog11
    Dirtydog11 Posts: 1,621
    edited April 2009
    No you don't need it! The question is do you want it?

    Having control over low speed compression just gives you greater control of the fork.

    If you find that you suffer from fork dive under braking then it may be posssible to dial some of this out by increasing the low speed compression.

    Turning up the low speed compresion does not affect the forks ability to absorb sudden sharp impacts. Sudden sharp impacts are taken care of by the high speed compression and high speed rebound which you have no control of.

    It can also be used to control rider induced bob. If that is something that is causing you a problem, then yes having control of low speed compression would help.

    Vanilla's are in a different league to mz comps anyway.
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    The Van R has a fixed compression circuit and adjustable rebound. As Dirtydog11 says, the RLC allows some tuning of the low speed damping, and has a lock out and you can also adjust the blow off force required to overcome the lock.
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  • rhysduk
    rhysduk Posts: 138
    Dirtydog11 wrote:
    No you don't need it! The question is do you want it?
    No, not particularly. It just adds to the cost. Not something I can see myself putting to good use.
    DirtyDog11 wrote:
    Vanilla's are in a different league to mz comps anyway.
    Oh yes, of which I'm well aware.

    I think its time my MZ Comps were replaced by something more... good. 8)
    A long overdue upgrade!

    I'm aware of what the R and RL models are capable of, I just wasn't quite sure of the RLC and if it was worth the extra little bit of dough.
    Still the hunt continues...
    PP Shan & Intense SS2
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Yopu get a low speed adjuster as standard on RS Motion Control forks.
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  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    Rhysduk - I've got a pair of Van RLs and the brake dive isn't too bad. I would only consider the RLC if you are a heavy rider or brake very hard and fast into corners. My RL's standard fixed compression seems to cope fine with most things on the trail.

    Supersonic - do you know if you can adjust the blow off force on the Vanilla RL's? I don't remember seeing anything in the manual about it.

    thanks, Jai
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Just the RLCs I think, according to their website ;-)
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  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    why would you have blow off force on RL's? They are manual lock out arent they? I thought the RLC is automatic lock out, and so adjusting the blow off adjusts the force needed to switch them from locked to unlocked? no?

    I have f100 r's and before buying was worried about the lack of lockout, but i have got used to it. Now when i climb on a friends lockedout fork, it feels all wobbly and strange! must be so much more efficient though.
    I also get a lot of fork dive when i break. But then my forks are run on lower pressures than are meant to for my weight, mainly due to lack of shock pump and i like smoothness. But i havent ever really thought of fork diving under breaking before affecting performance, its interesting.
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Terralogic is the automatic fork.
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  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    so RLC also has automatic lockout? so whats the blow off force? Incase u hit something while its locked out?
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    No, the RLC has a manual lockout that you switch yourself, a hydraulic circuit.

    Blow off adjust is exactly that, you can adjust the force necessary to overcome the lock. On RS forks it is called the Floodgate.
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  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    yeah sorry meant to type manual not automatic. Cheers supersonic
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  • dave_hill
    dave_hill Posts: 3,877
    I have Van Rs on my Orange.

    To begin with they were way too active. I put this down to the fact that the spring they came with as a Medium and I needed a Firm.

    So I swapped it out but to be honest even with about 50% preload (the most I can manage without compromising the sag setting) they STILL dive like Ronaldo under braking and they bob like crazy climbing too. I can get full travel out of them without really trying.

    So from my POV, yes I need more control over the compression.
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