Not using all my travel... because...

The Northern Monkey

Right, I'm hardly using any of the front travel on my Canyon.

I've got a stiff spring in matched to my weight, but i'm hardly ever using near to full travel, even on DH tracks.

I do have it set up quite hard and the front does match the rear pretty perfectly. Its brilliant for the bigger drops as it soaks everything and I hardly notice it, but over the rough jitter stuff it can do my wrists in a bit and its pretty harsh through my feet. I've lost a bit of weight too (almost a st) so thinking the front spring at least is a bit hard.

But the reason I've got it set so stiff is because I really hate fork dive on steep sections.. May be a legacy from the crap Fox's that were on there but I've not changed the fork spring weight on my Domains since (even though I've never suffered from fork dive with the Domains).

So I've got some offset bushings on the way. Once fitted and coupled with a softer fork spring I'm hoping it'll help.

Is there anything I can do to the moco (I hardly use it) or oil weight to stop the fork dive if its still there once I change as above?

And, whats an accurate way to measure rear shock sag?
I seem to get almost no sag on the front compared to the rear so I want to make sure I don't have too much sag.

supersonic

What is the exact model of fork and travel? And current sag? And what is max travel achieved? ;-)

The Northern Monkey

supersonic wrote:

What is the exact model of fork and travel?

2012 Domain RC 180mm... coil only, no U-turn bollox lol.
http://www.sram.com/rockshox/products/domain-rc

supersonic

See my edit ;-)

The Northern Monkey

supersonic wrote:

What is the exact model of fork and travel? And current sag? And what is max travel achieved? ;-)

Standing in full 'attack' position with full gear on is about 20%, max travel is I'd say as best of times about 160mm, more if its a g-out but I've never hit the bump stops.

If I do a route round CC and take in the freeride bit but don't hit the DH, about 130-140mm.

I'm about 220lb so have the extra firm spring fitted currently, as advised by tftuned/RS.
http://cdn.sram.com/cdn/farfuture/w-Vgi ... _rev_c.pdf

It does feel firm to ride at the mo. But everything advised so far suggests the firm spring would be a mistake!

supersonic

The fork will only hit full travel on only the very biggest hits (being a freeride fork) - and I'm talking huge drops!

I would use a lighter spring to get about 30% sag, then run the compression damper high to stop dive and bob.

nicklouse

Change the spring back you are not getting enough sag.

The offset bushes will also reduce your sag and get spares an du bushes nd a fitting kit as you will be wearing through them fast than a fast thing.

The Northern Monkey

Fair enough, I'll get the new bushings fitted as that should make it a bit slacker and cause the extra sag to have less of an effect!

Both front and rear are hard over jittery stuff and its slowing me down cus I can't hold on!

nicklouse

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Fair enough, I'll get the new bushings fitted as that should make it a bit slacker and cause the extra sag to have less of an effect!

Both front and rear are hard over jittery stuff and its slowing me down cus I can't hold on!

No making slacker will reduce the sag even more.

Softer spring now and after the bushes.

The Northern Monkey

Ah yeah, I meant bushes + softer spring! lol. I'm tired!

nicklouse

I would not bother with the offset bushes unless they have redesigned them to take the rotation they will induce.

But all I hav seen is he fitting kit/ reducers with a hole put off centre. Same bushes.

The Northern Monkey

I thought the rotation was a myth? Loads of guys with them over on southern dh, any mentions of rotation have been put to bed and no one seems to suggest it does happen!

bennett_346

This isn't any help to you, but i hate forks diving lots on descents, and i probably ran mine with a tiny bit less sag than i should of for ages, and i never got the last 15mm or so from my 150s. I run the sag softer now to achieve full travel but have the moco set high to tune out the dive and it works well.

ricardo_smooth

just sounds like you're running thwe whole lot too hard to stop the fork dive you hate so much. Just a thought, have you considered how you are riding down steep stuff and it's effect on your weight being over the front a touch too much?

If you think it's not that, i'd still say you need probably another 10% sag as you use the bike for DH stuff rather than it being for XC where 20% sag may be ok as you don't ride over as much of the rugged terrain as you have to on DH

YeehaaMcgee

Best way to stop the fork diving whilst braking is a seperate high and low speed damping system. Which is complicated, and expensive.
Set the sag up to your weight, 20% seems low for a freeridey/DH setup, then use the damping controls to control the fork motion.
If you haven't got enough damping control to sort it, then that's just sour grapes, really.

nicklouse

The Northern Monkey wrote:

I thought the rotation was a myth? Loads of guys with them over on southern dh, any mentions of rotation have been put to bed and no one seems to suggest it does happen!

if they dont then they will be having a fun time with the shock movement and you will not have anything like the numbers they are sugesting. unless they state the figures are a static change then they are missleading people.

also you could well have frame contact issues.

for them to do what they advertise they have to move.
but for people who have no movement then they are relying on the clamping force of the bolt through the mounting kit.
Often these bolts are quite small and are just used to locate a tube that takes the loads. so there is no way of creating enough clamping force unless the mounting system is changed. when this is done you often have one side of the frame has the bolts threads resting on it. NOT good.

but then i have not recived any and will not be buying any and will not be making any.

dont get me wrong the idea is used in many places but in what i have seen of these (when first launched) was poorly implmented.

and the issues we see with people snapping shock bolts due to over tightening.....

please pics and updates.

oh and dont forget the mounting kit on any bike either moves in the shock or on the bolt. If it did not the suspension would not work.

The Northern Monkey

Cool, well I'll give it a go and report back.

This guy seems to be selling an integrated bushing/mount kit so I'm interested in seeing how it fits together. Lots of people using them so I'm assuming they do the job lol.