Shock pumps a waste of money?
scottymazda
Posts: 58
I went into my LBS today and the guy there, who knows his stuff about bikes, told it wasn't worth buying a shock pump as you only need to put air in them once a year at most, likely once every two years. He just said to swing by at their shop or any other LBS and they will do it for free.
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Tends to depend as in the winter I have a medium pack with about 2ltr's of water, 3 layers of clothing, food, keys, phone winter tights, winter boots & in the summer a lot less kit & a lot less body fat. Plus I tend to ride my race bike in the winter with all the kit & the summer without minimal kit.
So for me for the price its worth it, but TBH have never noticed my shocks losing much air but I do find being able to adjust depending on what I'm carrying a real help. Plus have more than a few bikes so a worthwhile investment.
Good to know that they offered to do it for free though, sounds like good customer service and a proper LBSPain hurts much less if its topped off with beating your mates to top of a climb.0 -
The guy in the shop is talking crap. Shock pumps are important. Sometimes lots of small changes are needed to get the right pressure for your riding, and often you need to take the pump with you to do that. maybe you want to change it for a certain terrain, check the pressure, when you service the fork.
Are useful things to have, the guy should be ashamed of that advice.0 -
Danlikesbikes wrote:Good to know that they offered to do it for free though, sounds like good customer service and a proper LBS
yeah they were pretty helpful, especially as I ended up not buying a bike from them and getting one online instead (simply because they only had in stock the new models which are more costly). They topped the air up and gave me some advice on correctly using the shifters which was useful.0 -
supersonic wrote:The guy in the shop is talking crap. Shock pumps are important. Sometimes lots of small changes are needed to get the right pressure for your riding, and often you need to take the pump with you to do that. maybe you want to change it for a certain terrain, check the pressure, when you service the fork.
Are useful things to have, the guy should be ashamed of that advice.
yeah I guess thats all true. I will end up getting one anyway, I mean it's not as if they cost much.0 -
+1 the guy sounds like a moronsupersonic wrote:The guy in the shop is talking crap. Shock pumps are important. Sometimes lots of small changes are needed to get the right pressure for your riding, and often you need to take the pump with you to do that. maybe you want to change it for a certain terrain, check the pressure, when you service the fork.
Are useful things to have, the guy should be ashamed of that advice.0 -
+1 the guys a retread ! , I check my air in my shock before every ride and normally have to top it up every few rides. As SS said above you can change the air in your shock according to where your going to ride.The family that rides together stays together !
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How are you supposed to set your suspension up without a pump. Takes me a couple of weeks carrying my pump and tweaking the air till I find the right pressure.
Name and shame the twerp even the saturday kids in Halfords know about shock pumps.Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap0 -
You can get a fox one from leisure lakes for £20 and i think you have been badly advised by the shop even though the shops intention was good and genuine no doubt.0
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Or you can get a Beto one for a chunk less, without a Fox sticker obviously.I don't do smileys.
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what about his advice on the shifters? he said to go mid to mid, high to low, low to high but AVOID low to low or high to high as it can stress the chain.0
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Got me a phart pump from on-one for 12.75
not sure if there still that price. 0 -
I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.0
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mcnultycop wrote:I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.
yeah 3x10, so basically I could just leave the front in the middle for the majority and just use the back..0 -
Which even basic common sense tells you is wrong.mcnultycop wrote:I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.
The chainrings at the front are clearly near enough the same seperation as the sprockets at the rear, so large front to second largest at the rear is the same angle as mid front to largest rear, yet you say one is OK and one not.
Big-big - avoid, small small - avoid, big to second biggest, small to second smallest and mid to extremes are better avoided if you can, but it's not crucial to do so.Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0 -
It isn't just about chain crossover though. It's also about how tight or slack the chain is.0
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Put the shovel down, the hole is getting deeper, if you actually think about that, you'll realise that doesn't stack up as an argument either as small front second smallest rear is slacker than mid/smallest which you say is OKCurrently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0
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I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.
Terminology inconsistencies here - if he said to avoid "high to high" that suggests to me to avoid big/small, which is rubbish, that's a straight line (and I think the point the Beginner is making). Big/big should be avoided (although it's not catastrophic if you go there, as long as you can size a chain), but I'd call that "high to low" if we're doing high/low terms.0 -
Not the point I was making no, I was just emphasising that mcNP's no's included options with the same chain angle as his yes's!Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0
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The Beginner wrote:Not the point I was making no, I was just emphasising that mcNP's no's included options with the same chain angle as his yes's!
Does it?big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back
That's crossed overditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets
So's that?0 -
Try again ion what he said, and what I replied with....
You've forgotten the angles he said were fine on the middle ring and not fine on large or small....The Beginner wrote:
Which even basic common sense tells you is wrong.mcnultycop wrote:I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.
The chainrings at the front are clearly near enough the same seperation as the sprockets at the rear, so large front to second largest at the rear is the same angle as mid front to largest rear, yet you say one is OK and one not.
Big-big - avoid, small small - avoid, big to second biggest, small to second smallest and mid to extremes are better avoided if you can, but it's not crucial to do so.Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0 -
definitley not a waste of money as my mate found out when he went to let abit of air out of his rear shock the whole lot came out and he had to push the rest of the ride and of course we left him
so very important imo 0 -
Surly that's not owning one, that's taking one on a ride if you intend to play with it.0
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You've forgotten the angles he said were fine on the middle ring and not fine on large or small....
They're not the same though? The chain line for any sprocket on the middle ring is less acute than the big ring/biggest 3. Inner ring/3rd from bottom is possibly marginally better, dunno, but there's not much in it.
I think people obsess too much over 'forbidden' combinations, but what he said was the general advice given.0 -
I'm glad he didnt get named and shamed. If I rode my mtb twice a year in the summer, I probally wouldnt buy a shock pump. I'd probally nip down to the LBS and ask.
I know he doesnt say he only rides it twice a year btw - just making it obvious that it is a possiblity as he didnt say anything about how often he rides.
Im not saying dont buy a shock pump, i actually own two (but i ride nearly eveyr weekend). Just that the LBS nearly has his credibility brought into question through a small mis-communication0 -
The Beginner wrote:You've forgotten the angles he said were fine on the middle ring and not fine on large or small....
I didn't say anything about angles.0 -
OK, so please explain why Big and third from the biggest at the rear is not OK if you are not talking chain angle, then after that why middle and biggest at the rear (which is a bigger chain angle) is OK, likewise for small and third from smallest verses middle smallest, that or correct your advice to something that stacks up as being vaguely consistent!mcnultycop wrote:I'm assuming you are 3x9 or 3x10, if so what he says is correct. Avoid big chainring to the 3 biggest sprockets at the back, ditto small chainring to the smallest sprockets. In the middle ring you can use what you want.
Njee, measure a chainring and a cassette, the gear seperation is almost (but not quite) identical, so the chain angle in big/2 biggest is only a fraction worse than mid/big and certainly less than Big/3rd from biggest which is apparently not OK.Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0 -
Fair enough, having not run a triple for years I forget, but he's just regurgitating the stock advice, which is that you should avoid the big ring and the 1/2/3 biggest, and the inner ring and 1/2/3 smallest. The angle's much less acute on the inner ring anyway as the sprockets are so much smaller. So actually small/small is probably better than middle/big.
I stand by my comment that people stress too much about all that though.0 -
I agree, it's just the 'stock advice' is ill thought out and illogical,kind of an urban myth brought out without thought, as an engineer I like to challenge things which are obviously 'not right'. The other variables are the crank chain line and the equivalent for the cassette mid point which adds a further question mark!Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0
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ilovedirt wrote:
+1 the guy sounds like a moronsupersonic wrote:The guy in the shop is talking crap. Shock pumps are important. Sometimes lots of small changes are needed to get the right pressure for your riding, and often you need to take the pump with you to do that. maybe you want to change it for a certain terrain, check the pressure, when you service the fork.
Are useful things to have, the guy should be ashamed of that advice.
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