FOX Fork CTD 29er 2013 is shot

Devastazione

A recurring issue reported in many forums and mixed answers about it aswell.
My 2013 CTD fork worked as supposed to for the first month,then the lockout mode started to work poorly and now the CTD control does not affect the fork settings at all,the fork keeps working as on a permanent T mode. Well done Fox :roll:

dmorton

If you've had it a month (or up to 6 months) go back to where you bought it from (not Fox themselves). You should be able to get it repaired, replaced or refunded. If you've only just bought it it's not a warranty claim with the manufacturer, the retailer should sort you out instead. All of this is under Sale of Goods act

Still sucks tho, I would have thought Fox have a good Quality Assurance/Reliability process setup by now!

Devastazione

Yeah I've had it since mid october 2012 and I have a very good relationship with my LBS,they should sort the thing out no question asked. But honestly,FOX completely missed the point on this one. Bad,bad image return.... :?

EH_Rob

They also missed the point when they removed adjustability from their forks.

bennett_346

Its classic fox B$, you pay us more and we give you less to cut our costs.

RevellRider

So, your fork has an issue, you can take it back to the bike shop and get it repaired for free yet you still want to moan?

bennett_346

I think he has every right to be unhappy about it, just because it is going to be repaired for free doesn't mean it's not inconvenient and dissapointing.

rockmonkeysc

EH_Rob wrote:

They also missed the point when they removed adjustability from their forks.

It's enough to put me off buying Fox forks until they put proper adjustment back on them.

Devastazione

RevellRider wrote:

So, your fork has an issue, you can take it back to the bike shop and get it repaired for free yet you still want to moan?

I haven't posted in this forum for 2 years,glad to see bored smart@sses are still hovering 8)

Buddy,we're talking bike issues here,see if you can fit somehow,m'kay ?

RevellRider

Devastazione wrote:

RevellRider wrote:

So, your fork has an issue, you can take it back to the bike shop and get it repaired for free yet you still want to moan?

I haven't posted in this forum for 2 years,glad to see bored smart@sses are still hovering 8)

Buddy,we're talking bike issues here,see if you can fit somehow,m'kay ?

Really? I could of been fooled. The way you're going on about the reputation of Fox is like they make the biggest P.O.S ever. Explain to me, how they missed the point on your fork?

EH_Rob

RevellRider wrote:

So, your fork has an issue, you can take it back to the bike shop and get it repaired for free yet you still want to moan?

Yes, because it shouldn't have broken. If it breaks it's rubbish, and I assume he paid good money for it, so why shouldn't he have a moan about it?

RockmonkeySC wrote:

EH_Rob wrote:

They also missed the point when they removed adjustability from their forks.

It's enough to put me off buying Fox forks until they put proper adjustment back on them.

Yup agreed, I have a 2008 36 Van RC2 and I love it, but it would be a bit useless if I couldn't set it up how I wanted it. If I have to buy a new fork before they dispense with this CTD rubbish it'll be anything but Fox.

supersonic

The backlash against CTD has been pretty strong! A lot are annoyed with RS for removing Dual Air. Why the manufacturers think compression dials and two valves are hard to use I just do not know.

warpcow

To be fair, they've never been very good at explaining exactly how their products work. Like RS have never shown that their RLT dampers are actually much better than the terms 'lockout' and 'threshold' would have you think, or properly explained what can be achieved by using different +ve and -ve air pressures.

I suspect that, unlike me and some others on here, a lot of bike owners aren't really up for playing around with different settings and taking things apart to see how they work. They want RS or Fox to say, "Use [X] setting for going down and [Y] for going up," and don't know or care what those settings actually mean, even in performance terms.

At least Fox can now reintroduce their old dampers, at a premium, call them 'race' models and then sit back and rake it in.

supersonic

I agree, the RS website is absolutely pants, really poor work form such a big company.

Devastazione

Ok here are the options I've been told about : send it in for a warranty service with a turnaround time of possibly a month or a 30 Euro service fee and a 4 days turnaround. Guess wich one I've picked ? I've only have on month and a half of riding,then spring/summer work will resume and no more bike until september,30 Euro money well spent I guess :?
Can't wait to see what Fox will come out with for 2014. The CTD concept is great,it's just obscene that they've decided to send it on the market like this.

EH_Rob

I think Warpcow has got it spot on. They'll re-release their old damper, talk about how it's infinite levels of adjustability are what will move MTB to the next level and charge double for it what they were charging before.

Unfortunately I'll probably buy it.

bigcoose

That means that my fox forks will be worth a fortune when they do that then.

njee20

I'd rather have the simpler CTD damper than lots of adjustments I won't use.

Dick Scruttock

njee20 wrote:

I'd rather have the simpler CTD damper than lots of adjustments I won't use.

I agree.

Devastazione

One week of wait,fork is coming back fixed under full warranty. And I didn't even bring it to the shop I've got the bike from. Great service overall,probably Fox really messed up for this one and wanted to keep everyone happy. It's seems that my CTD will be now a CTD with FIT valve. Whatever as long as it works,my back is tired of getting beaten up by my Flash :roll:

rockmonkeysc

njee20 wrote:

I'd rather have the simpler CTD damper than lots of adjustments I won't use.

I would rather be able to set up my suspension exactly how I like it, not how someone else thinks it should be.
My forks have high & low speed compression and rebound adjustment, floodgate adjustment and bottom out adjustment. I have adjusted all of them to how I like them and occasionally I tweak things to suit the trail I'm riding.
I guess it's Rockshox, BOS or Marzocchi for people who want adjustment and Fox for those who don't

lawman

Despite all the adjustments on rock shox, BOS etc there will be many settings you don't use, most of the bikes I tried yesterday had CTD forks and shocks and found the middle trail setting very closely mirrored the setup I would normally run with an RLC damper, I won't use minimal low-speed on my own forks, so they are worthless to me. CTD is by no means a perfect system and given the choice I'd rather have an infinitely adjustable fork, but it is possible to setup how you like and for riders who are not clued up on setup it's a much easier system to understand. You can't always please everyone!!

rockmonkeysc

But low speed damping is the most useful adjustment on a fork. That's what will control the brake dive and stop the fork bottoming under big hits. High speed is useful for tuning out high frequency harshness on rocky trails.

lawman

I set my low speed on my RLC's pretty much halfway between the extremes, a I hate the front from diving under braking, and just from a quick blast the middle Trail CTD setting was pretty similar, you do lose abit of the really fine tuning of the RLC but you can still set up the bike pretty well. It's not as bad as some make out, not ideal but it ain't far off, if they had 4 or 5 trail settings for fork and shock it would be a better system

EH_Rob

Fair point - I don't think every knob needs the 20 odd positions my forks have. Probably 10 or so would do, maybe even 8. But three settings is dumbing down in the extreme.

rockmonkeysc

Older Fox forks had a ridiculous range of adjustment. My Floats had probably 40 clicks on the Rebound adjuster with about four clicks of usable settings which gives quite a coarse adjustment. They were a few years ago (2009ish) without the FiT damper so they may have improved since then. Rockshox have a smaller range so you can get a finer adjustment within the usable range.

Thewaylander

I don't lol

i think there should be both options though.

supersonic

lawman wrote:

Despite all the adjustments on rock shox, BOS etc there will be many settings you don't use, most of the bikes I tried yesterday had CTD forks and shocks and found the middle trail setting very closely mirrored the setup I would normally run with an RLC damper, I won't use minimal low-speed on my own forks, so they are worthless to me. CTD is by no means a perfect system and given the choice I'd rather have an infinitely adjustable fork, but it is possible to setup how you like and for riders who are not clued up on setup it's a much easier system to understand. You can't always please everyone!!

I think CTD is more fiddly in some ways, and yet less adjustable at the same time to get a good setting! Sure if the settings suit you from the off, great, but if you are heavy or light and are running extreme pressures, the damper might not be in range.

Then people shift between C,T, and D a lot, constantly having to change the fork. With standard Moco (with Floodgate adjust) you can set the low speed compression anywhere you want, then the blow off force to activate to open the fork up. With a small amount of set up time you get the fork to hardly bob, have good mid range support and minimal dive, you great small bump response and fully fluid over larger hits. You then don't have to keep locking it out or swapping between settings.

But as ever, is preference. If you want a simple to use fork, I'd go for a Fox R. This actually has a fixed, shimmed compression damper. This can be internally tuned if you wish, leaving you a fork with just rebound to set.

lawman

supersonic wrote:

lawman wrote:

Despite all the adjustments on rock shox, BOS etc there will be many settings you don't use, most of the bikes I tried yesterday had CTD forks and shocks and found the middle trail setting very closely mirrored the setup I would normally run with an RLC damper, I won't use minimal low-speed on my own forks, so they are worthless to me. CTD is by no means a perfect system and given the choice I'd rather have an infinitely adjustable fork, but it is possible to setup how you like and for riders who are not clued up on setup it's a much easier system to understand. You can't always please everyone!!

I think CTD is more fiddly in some ways, and yet less adjustable at the same time to get a good setting! Sure if the settings suit you from the off, great, but if you are heavy or light and are running extreme pressures, the damper might not be in range.

Then people shift between C,T, and D a lot, constantly having to change the fork. With standard Moco (with Floodgate adjust) you can set the low speed compression anywhere you want, then the blow off force to activate to open the fork up. With a small amount of set up time you get the fork to hardly bob, have good mid range support and minimal dive, you great small bump response and fully fluid over larger hits. You then don't have to keep locking it out or swapping between settings.

But as ever, is preference. If you want a simple to use fork, I'd go for a Fox R. This actually has a fixed, shimmed compression damper. This can be internally tuned if you wish, leaving you a fork with just rebound to set.

I tend to set my forks and leave them, much like the rear shock tbh, which I only adjust if I'm on fireroads. I can see how it limits adjustability, but there is still a window I'm sure you could get a decent setup and imo it's still easier to setup than a dual air fork, perhaps not as adjustable, but its easier to get a good setup that will work across a wide range and I can see why rockshox has dropped it in some forks, not once with my 32's have I wished I had dual air, and I wish my rev's were as easy to set up to perform as well as the fox's. It's also worth pointing out the bike with the worst suspension yesterday had a reba and monarch... all the fox units felt far, far better.

supersonic

I tend to set my forks and leave them too lol. Just that Dual Air and Moco gave me the exact feel I want, for the sake of a few minutes. They dropped Dual Air because, like Fox, they deemed that their products were too hard for people to understand.

I wish both options were available on both brands, so the user can decide.

bennett_346

I'm really annoyed that they dropped dual air. I'm so used to how plush it makes my Revs that i can't go back to solo air now.

Honestly it isnt that hard to set up either. Do suspension companies think we're thick or something