Fox Van 36 R 170mm setup advice!

pots74

I have a set up issue with my fox van 36 170mm forks. I can only get 16mm of sag, which is on fox’s website is only XC/firm. However, when out riding some of the easier trails I’m using the majority of my travel.
My concern is that when I'm riding the bigger stuff I’ll be bottoming out?
Please can anyone help or explain what's going on? :?

supersonic

When measuring sag you need to be stood on the bike in an agressive riding position, not sat down.

pots74

I have put all my riding gear on and measured the sag in my riding position.

supersonic

Could be a bit of stiction holding them up. I'd ride them a bit more and bed them in - bottoming out once or twice per ride shows you are using the forks potential, regardless of actual sag.

pots74

Thanks for the advice! My concern is though that on jumps and drops i'll be bottoming out most of the time damaging the fork or is this not the case?

supersonic

You won't damage them if happens occasionally - but until you try, you might not ever bottom out!

bennett_346

pots74 wrote:

Thanks for the advice! My concern is though that on jumps and drops i'll be bottoming out most of the time damaging the fork or is this not the case?

Jumps and drops are low speed compressions, even big ones. They probably won't bottom the fork out. Square ended things like rocks that you ride over or large tree roots if you dont hop them, they are high speed compressions and will bottom the fork out if big enough. Either way, bottoming out doesn't mean you are damaging the fork unless you go a fair bit past the operational limit.

That being said the 36 Van R has poor compression damping, very basic, so i'm not sure how good they are at distinguishing high/low speed compression.

supersonic

Jumps and drops are low speed compressions

Large ones aren't, the shaft speed is high!

bennett_346

supersonic wrote:

Jumps and drops are low speed compressions

Large ones aren't, the shaft speed is high!

Depends how you define large

Can we stop using large, shaft and winks in the same conversation now?

The Northern Monkey

36 van R's are terrible anyway lol.
To get them to work nicely, id be setting them up with less sag than normal as they have a tendency to plough through the travel.

bennett_346

The Northern Monkey wrote:

36 van R's are terrible anyway lol.
To get them to work nicely, id be setting them up with less sag than normal as they have a tendency to plough through the travel.

This is what i was thinking. They lack the compression damping needed for their intended purpose.

pots74

Thanks for all your posts! Chatting to my LBS today they suggested putting a push loc on or converting to rc2, which would improve the forks immensely . They also suggested going for a higher weight of oil instead of the upgrades above for a cheaper option but they weren't sure if it would void the warranty? Any thoughts?
To confess the fork is by far the best fork I've ridden. I had rockshox lyric 2 step before that and they were absolutely dreadful, they had to go back to sram 3 times and still didn't feel right.
I agree about the compression issue though but the LBS said that compared to air forks, they were buttery but gave superior performance?

supersonic

RC2 is a good step, heavier oil is not.

As for superior performance, sounds like they don't know what they are talking about. In what way?

pots74

I think what they were getting at was they were more responsive compared to air forks.
Do you know by chance how much the rc2 upgrade is?
Also why not oil weight change?

supersonic

It will not add anytting to the compression damping there isn't any. It will just slow down the rebound. And as the rebound uses a valve to return oil flow, you may even cause a hydraulic lock.

Coil can be more sensitive, but air is lighter, more adjustable, and more progressive.

pots74

Ok makes sense now. So what are my options you mentioned rc2. Is it expensive and will it really make a difference and if so why? Sorry if i sound like a simpleton.