Preload and speedlock on forks

zebedoo

Hi - newbie qustion!

I recently bought my 'first' bike, as did Mrs Zeb. I bought a Carerra Fury and she got a Carerra Vulcan.

The forks on my bike have a kind of lever/dial thing on the right fork which says 'Speedlock' on it. I assume that this is something to do with adjusting the tension in the forks? The left fork doesn't have anything labelled on it.

Q1: how does this Speedlock thing work? I've tried turning it from min, to max and can't see any diferrence in the way that the forks move. It turns very easily too, like there is no resistence on the lever - is this normal?

Mrs. Zeb's Vulcan has a dial on it which says 'Preload'. Is this the same as the Speedlock? If not, how does this one work?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Z

cooldad

Thought that was a lockout?
Should be rebound adjuster on the bottom of the right leg, and air valve for compression on the top of the left leg.
Didn't they give you a manual?

zebedoo

I've no idea, thus the question on this knowledgeable forum.

cooldad

No idea if they gave you a manual?

zebedoo

Thanks for your help. Hopefully someone else will be along soon who can help shed some light on my OP.

cooldad

OK but if you read my first post I was trying - I have stated what I think should be on your forks, as you have not given a model number or even a make of forks, so trying to work out what you have. Should be Suntour Epicon?

cooldad

ps her preload is probably the same function as the air preload on yours. Preloads the forks for different weights of rider.

cooldad

But sure SS will be along in due course.

zebedoo

Yes, they are Epicons on mine. There isn't a word of 'preload' on my forks, just this Speedlock dial thing on the right fork.

Mrs Zeb's are Suntour XCT V2

Thanks again

cooldad

Yours should be air forks, so they are preloaded by adding or removing air - should be a valve under a cap on the top of the left fork leg. (Basically just adjusted for weight - they should sag, or drop, about 25% when you sit on the bike) You add air if they are too soft, or let a bit out if they are too hard.
Hers (the preload dial) does much the same thing, but will use springs (either metal or rubber), so she just needs to twist the dial so her forks sag the right amopunt.
On the bottom of your right fork leg should be another adjuster for rebound damping - how quickly the fork springs back. Suggest you just leave this around the middle for now and experiment later - too much and the forks rebound slowly and won't fully extend between bumps, too little and the forks will rebound faster and could 'skitter' over bumps.
Still haven't answered your question on the Speedlock, as it should just lock out the forks and should make a difference. Suntour have a decent webbie and troubleshooting here:
http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/index.php?screen=tv.home&SearchWord=lock%20out&task=search
It might just be a matter of pushing it down a bit.
Or SS will appear sooner or later and have all the answers.

supersonic

Aye, as above ;-).

Speedlock is indeed that, a lockout.

nicklouse

but forks at this level often have very little results from turning dials.

supersonic

It works very well on the Epicon though. A full hydraulic damping cicuit with low speed lockout.

The XCT though... ;-)

whitestar1

Thanks very much for the info Cooldad. I was wondering the same thing too. Almost bought the Vulcan too from Halfords. I got the manual from Decathlon for my bike when I got my Rockrider, but was still searching it for instrctions until I came across this post. Its not easily explained. By the way, you have to ask Halfords for the manual if you are going to get one. I got a bike from them some time ago for my kid.

What do you thick about the Rock Shock brand?

cooldad

Rockshock range from mediocre (Dart range) to superb at the expensive end, but IMO their midrange forks (Recon, Reba etc) are the best value around.
Saying that though looking through the Suntour website, some of their products look pretty good from the specs. I think if it wasn't for the name not being particularly sexy they'd do better aftermarket.
Excellent website, make the RS one look like amateur hour.

70s_kid

A question from me on the same subject if you don't mind fellas, might be useful to the OP too.

I usually only remember to lock the forks mid-ride when I notice my pedal power dissapearing through the suspension. Should they be fully out before locking them or is it OK to lock them when sagged?

nicklouse

70s_kid wrote:

A question from me on the same subject if you don't mind fellas, might be useful to the OP too.

I usually only remember to lock the forks mid-ride when I notice my pedal power dissapearing through the suspension. Should they be fully out before locking them or is it OK to lock them when sagged?

depends on the fork but most dont care.

70s_kid

Thanks Nicklouse, it's Suntour Raidon if that makes a difference. Cheers