Broken Lockout

andy_welch

The lockout on the Fox 32 Evolution forks on my Trance X2 seems to be broken. I can rotate the blue lever around, but it makes no difference to how the forks behave.

The bike is only a few months old, so I can take it back to the LBS and get them to fix it, but I don't really want to be without the bike if it is easy to fix. So, is it worth undoing that tempting looking allen bolt in the middle of the rebound adjuster and taking a look, or will I end up with a pile of bits and oil on my garage floor if I so much as touch it?

By the way, in case it's relevant, I raised some concerns about the way these forks were behaving earlier, but the general consensus was that they were fine.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10002&t=12867339&p=17758415#p17755239

Cheers,

Andy

crispyj

Once I bottomed my rockshox forks and broke the lockout (stripped the thread) I took it back to the to the bike shop that I bought the bike from and they sent the forks to rockshox to be repaired. The only problem was that it took them 3 weeks to repair them, luckily I had some spare of forks. I would go to the shop and see if they could lend you some forks while they get repaired.

thistle_

Have you been riding drops with them locked out? The LBS I got my bike from said doing drops will stop the lockout working as well, eventually so that it does nothing. I've only had experience of Rock Shox, but the lockout is pretty robust and can handle the odd rough ride on lockout without breaking.

If you take it to the bike shop for repair they may well take the fork off, post it to a service centre then wait for it to come back. It might save you a day or two if you took the fork off and took it to a service centre yourself. The repair itself will probably only take a couple of hours to do.

If the LBS do it as a warranty repair they might need to order in a new set of forks for you before they fit it.

I'd ring the LBS and see what they say. They might ask to see it, they might want you to bring the whole bike in or just the fork.

andy_welch

Thanks Folks.

Funny thing is, I went to look at it this afternoon and it seems to be working fine again. Not sure how that can happen, it certainly wasn't working last night.

I don't think the "lockout" on the Fox floats is a true lockout. It stiffens it up a lot (or at least it does now) but it will still move if it gets a big hit, so I don't think you can damage it by riding it. Not that I've done any big drops with it on (or off for that matter).

Cheers,

Andy

bennett_346

The worrying thing is why anyone would ride off road with their lockout on. Pointless and asking for trouble.

andy_welch

bennett_346 wrote:

The worrying thing is why anyone would ride off road with their lockout on. Pointless and asking for trouble.

Hardly pointless. It's certainly faster and easier climbing up a lot of the forest tracks around here with the lockout on. Whether it is asking for trouble is a different matter though

Cheers,

Andy

paul.skibum

I used to inadvertently leave my lockout on once I topped a climb - the old Marzocchi system locked the fork down so front end lower, still had a little travel to deal with small bumps whilst climbing - worked a treat, downside was I forgot about it and headed off downhill all excited.

I once did the whole of the Whites Level descent with forks lockout down - thought handling was a bit odd ont he rock steps toward the end and realised the problem in the last corner. Didnt break the forks though - just shows how carp Fox forks are eh?!

andy_welch

Hardly crap. Mine appear to be self-healing

Cheers,

Andy

bennett_346

andy_welch wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

The worrying thing is why anyone would ride off road with their lockout on. Pointless and asking for trouble.

Hardly pointless. It's certainly faster and easier climbing up a lot of the forest tracks around here with the lockout on. Whether it is asking for trouble is a different matter though

Cheers,

Andy

No, i'm talking about leaving it switched on for rough trails, as was being discussed.

paul.skibum

andy_welch wrote:

Hardly crap. Mine appear to be self-healing

Cheers,

Andy

Until it breaks all by itself again!

thistle_

bennett_346 wrote:

No, i'm talking about leaving it switched on for rough trails, as was being discussed.

Forgetting to turn it off when you start descending?

Anonymous

andy_welch wrote:

Hardly pointless. It's certainly faster and easier climbing up a lot of the forest tracks around here with the lockout on.

Depends on the bike's suspension design however.

Stuff like the VPP and the i-drive (both on bikes I've owned), the pedal induced bob factor is very limited and frankly lock out makes little difference.

Also depends if you climb out of the seat. If you don't, lock out is largely pointless too. If you do, there are techniques to doing it that keep bob to the minimum.

Myself I have no lock out on the forks and have no need for it. Climbs great, descends great. The forks I've got (Lyriks RC2 DH SA) apparently 'they' (whoever they are) say that no lockout mechanism is better on descents than one with one even if off. Don't know if that's true, but I don't miss not having the lockout.

I'd say if lockout is essential to you, get it fixed. If not, forget it until they need a service, assuming the forks are behaving as if they're not locked out.

rockmonkeysc

I had the floodgate lockout type thing removed from my Lyriks, made a huge improvement to the damping quality. Even when fully open it effects the damping.
With it removed, on a 160mm fork I never found it to be a problem not having lock out. If you ride with it mostly on then maybe a rigid 29er is what you need.

andy_welch

Must be my rubbish technique then Every review of the Giant suspension system tells me that it is great at minimising bob and many suggest that lockout is not needed. Actually when I first got the bike I found that to be the case as well. But I was pretty unfit then and climbs were taken by spinning a low gear. Now I've got a but stronger and like to hammer the climbs a but more I really notice the bobbing and how much the "lockout" reduces this.

Of course I could still spin a lower gear and the lack of lockout wasn't that big a deal on Thursday. I'm sure there are those who will argue that spinning is better anyway and will make me better in the long run. But you know what? I don't care? I'm not bothered about improving. I'm not riding with any goal in mind beyond having fun and I've long passed the age where I'm happy to modify my riding to suit the bike. I want the bike to suit me, which means I want the suspension nice and soft on the way down (or up if it's technical) but nice and stiff for fire road type climbs.

Cheers

Andy

paul.skibum

andy_welch wrote:

Must be my rubbish technique then Every review of the Giant suspension system tells me that it is great at minimising bob and many suggest that lockout is not needed. Actually when I first got the bike I found that to be the case as well. But I was pretty unfit then and climbs were taken by spinning a low gear. Now I've got a but stronger and like to hammer the climbs a but more I really notice the bobbing and how much the "lockout" reduces this.

Of course I could still spin a lower gear and the lack of lockout wasn't that big a deal on Thursday. I'm sure there are those who will argue that spinning is better anyway and will make me better in the long run. But you know what? I don't care? I'm not bothered about improving. I'm not riding with any goal in mind beyond having fun and I've long passed the age where I'm happy to modify my riding to suit the bike. I want the bike to suit me, which means I want the suspension nice and soft on the way down (or up if it's technical) but nice and stiff for fire road type climbs.

Cheers

Andy

The suspension system may eliminate bob but that is primarily the rear - the front can only do what the forks can do. Pedalling technique - smooth circles rather than pistoning the pedals may help, standing up I think you will always get a degree of pogo-ing (even in the rear of efficient suspension designs) but if you didnt then youd probably assume the suspension wouldnt work over bumps.