Beginner question...

lukew41

Hi All,

Just got back into biking after a few years. My old hardtail had a front fork lockout system. I have bought an older orange 5 (2008). I have noticed I don't seem to have a lockout on the Fox Float 32 front forks. There is a red dial on the right which has rebound noted on it, when it turn the dial either way nothing much seems to happen in regards to lockout/rebound.

Forks were recently serviced and have good compression etc.

Any help appreciated.

Luke

whyamihere

That should adjust the rebound damping, in other words, how quickly it returns to an extended position after being compressed. Turning it in the direction of the + symbol will make the fork rebound more slowly. This is important to get right because it has a fairly large impact on how the fork feels. If the rebound is too fast, then it will feel like a pogo stick. Too slow, and it won't react well to bumps coming close together as it won't have time to extend before the next one.

If you don't feel like it's doing anything, set it all the way on, bounce on the fork and see how it reacts, then set it all the way off and do the same thing. If it's working correctly, you should feel a fairly significant difference in how the fork extends after a compression. If not, the fork will need looking at. Assuming it does work, set it somewhere in the middle and then play with it while on a trail. Being able to ride the same section a few times with different settings would be ideal. Your preferred settings will differ from other people's, so be wary of anyone who says a particular setting is 'correct'.

steve_sordy

What sort of service was the "recent service"?
I suspect a simple lower leg service would not touch any rebound damping problems.

mully79

Lockouts are a waste of time. By my unofficial calculations it saves 0% energy locking out a fork and makes it 100% likely you will forget to turn it off and spoil a perfectly good descent which in turn wastes all the energy pedalling to get there in the first place.

JBA

If that is a Float R then it does not have lockout, just rebound adjustment.
Have a look at page 39 onwards of THIS DOCUMENT.

lukew41

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.