Front end trouble

Almightydutch

I'm finding that I'm losing a lot of confidence in the front end of my bike recently due to what i believe as forks issues.

I have Tora 302sl's on my 09 Spesh FSR Xc which i've never had an issue.
I have found as our pace has come on quite a bit recently i find the front end not being able to react quickly enough and its making me slow down too much before cornering

So is it in my head or is the fork not doin the job well enough?

Or could it well be technique and i'm doin something wrong.

The Northern Monkey

How do you mean react quickly enough?

in corners or over bumps?

.blitz

If it's any help my Rize came with Tora 302s and they were pretty good. I swapped them out for some Rev Races and TBH apart from losing a kg or so the actual fork action - most of the time - wasn't too dissimilar.

The biggest improvements were in that last 10% - the Revs don't dive under braking, they track minor alterations in the trail even when partially compressed from a bigger hit, the lockout really works etc. Little things but they all add up.

I couldn't point the finger at the Toras and say yeah they were slowing me down but I feel a lot more confident with the Revs.

P-Jay

Hard to understand what you mean by not react quickly enough. Not sure what adjustment they have, but rebound or compression damping could be too high.


Or they could just need a service, my forks need a service every year or they go right off.

Almightydutch

The Northern Monkey wrote:

How do you mean react quickly enough?

in corners or over bumps?

Both to be fair, the bumps i dont think they can handle the speed we're hitting bumps at and also when cornering the front end just doesnt seem planted. (i run 2.2 Nobby Nis so it should grip like feck)

As for the action of the fork, its nice enough, a bit of stiction at the top of the travel but nothing major, i put that down to me only weighin 10.5st and having to settle for the coil thats in the forks.

Like you say Blitz little bits add up to make a decent difference, i think thats where i'm at to be fair. Just want that extra tunability so i can push harder into corners again.

supersonic

Experiment with the rebound.

.blitz

Almightydutch: just noticed we live in the same area. I think the Chase seems really greasy just recently. Them polished pebbles under the trees are like marbles.

Almightydutch

P-jay, serviced them not too long ago, made them feel better but still not confident with them.

Adjustment wise i have tried god knows how much now, i'm always messing with them as there has to be a sweet spot for them but finding it seems to be very hard.

supersonic

WInd the damping totally off and see how it feels.

Almightydutch

Yep Blitz I live in Hednesford, used to live in Slitting Mill too with my parents who still ive there. Along with my best mate who's rich enough to afford to live there too Feckin love the village and so have grown up on Cannock Chase.

The pebbles are a nightmare if i'm honest but i understand them and accept that your not gonna grip with anything over them.
We've stayed away from the Dog and Monkey recently as there are plenty of mega trails if you know where to look and the traffic on them two is getting silly at times.
Its more the normal sort of corners/turns that you encounter...soft or hard under the tyre the front just seems to wash out. Which means i have to slow right down make the turn and then fire it out.

S/Sonic, i've tried them with Rebound set high/low/about 5 different in between too. Also tried playing with the lock out dial as it does change the compression too but still cant find that sweet spot.
FYI: all the way off makes em feel like a pogo stick and its completely the worst setting for me and these forks.

Maybe it is the fact our pace has upped quite a bit and so these are starting to show where abouts in the market they are designed...eg: beginners

Anonymous

For what it's worth, I found that pikes struggle to cope when things get really fast as well. They just feel, I dunno, too "linear".

supersonic

It is a decent fork, but the motion control damper is a little more sophistcated.

Maybe the spring rate is not perfect either. Upgrading to the 318 air,or a Reba might solve what you are feeling, but don't expect a miracle change.