Ask the experts

[Benneke10]

Are there any XC shoes with a decently rearward cleat mounting position? I’ve got a pair of Pearl Izumi X-Alps that have a great rearward position and now I can’t stand riding my old SWorks shoes but I would like something more XC style

[zion zig zag]

I'm hesitant to come back here and ask another fork question since I was so dumb last time, but hey, I learned a better set-up, and besides, where else am I gonna ask?

So got to a decently happy place with the fork, Fox 36 Grip2. Fork had 82 psi, suggested high and low speed rebound, high speed compression all the way open, and 4-5 clicks of low speed compression. Local trail that I ride frequently was using all but maybe 30mm of travel, it has high speed chunk, some 2-3 foot jumps to flat but nothing big, so that seemed right. Hands felt pretty good.

Rode the trail yesterday and hands went numb halfway through, traction felt poor/off, and I just felt slower. Got to the bottom and had only used half of the forks travel. I had made no changes to the fork. Any reason for that to happen?

[XtrPickels]

Stiction from dry seals?
Air need to be bled from the lowers? (Either with the bleed button on newer Fox forks or a zip-tire between the stanchion and the seal

[XtrPickels]

Are there any XC shoes with a decently rearward cleat mounting position? I’ve got a pair of Pearl Izumi X-Alps that have a great rearward position and now I can’t stand riding my old SWorks shoes but I would like something more XC style

What Year Specialized?
My SWorks Vents are further back than my Sphryes and PI Shoes.

[zion zig zag]

Stiction from dry seals?
Air need to be bled from the lowers? (Either with the bleed button on newer Fox forks or a zip-tire between the stanchion and the seal

I’ve tried the bleed button, didn’t hear any air escaping. Definitely time for a service and new seals but losing more than an inch of travel seems weird just for seal stiction?

[sfotex]

I’ve tried the bleed button, didn’t hear any air escaping. Definitely time for a service and new seals but losing more than an inch of travel seems weird just for seal stiction?

Let the air out of the leg and see if you can feel the damper binding up. My Fox 36/Fit3 needed a bleed and when I let the air out I could feel the damper hit a wall 1/2 way thru the travel.

[toast2266]

I'm hesitant to come back here and ask another fork question since I was so dumb last time, but hey, I learned a better set-up, and besides, where else am I gonna ask?

So got to a decently happy place with the fork, Fox 36 Grip2. Fork had 82 psi, suggested high and low speed rebound, high speed compression all the way open, and 4-5 clicks of low speed compression. Local trail that I ride frequently was using all but maybe 30mm of travel, it has high speed chunk, some 2-3 foot jumps to flat but nothing big, so that seemed right. Hands felt pretty good.

Rode the trail yesterday and hands went numb halfway through, traction felt poor/off, and I just felt slower. Got to the bottom and had only used half of the forks travel. I had made no changes to the fork. Any reason for that to happen?

Dry seals seems the most likely, not sure they'd dry out that quick though. Any evidence that the oil in the lowers leaked out (either out the bottom, out past the wipers, or out the bleed valves)? Could also crack open the air chamber and make sure there's still some oil floating around in there.

Aside from that, and pure speculation, but maybe some bit of debris shook loose inside the damper and gummed one of the ports up?

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[zion zig zag]

Let the air out of the leg and see if you can feel the damper binding up. My Fox 36/Fit3 needed a bleed and when I let the air out I could feel the damper hit a wall 1/2 way thru the travel.

Thank, I'll check this out.

Dry seals seems the most likely, not sure they'd dry out that quick though. Any evidence that the oil in the lowers leaked out (either out the bottom, out past the wipers, or out the bleed valves)? Could also crack open the air chamber and make sure there's still some oil floating around in there.

Aside from that, and pure speculation, but maybe some bit of debris shook loose inside the damper and gummed one of the ports up?

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Don't see any signs of oil leakage, but I'll open things up and check it out. Thanks for the ideas.

[Spencer123]

A friend of mine who is a somewhat casual rider is looking for a solid trail bike that can do some occasional light duty up at the Targhee bike park (blues and blacks, but not pushing it at all). He missed out on all the amazing deals on the nice builds of the stumpjumper EVO, alloy sentinal and others what were around. This Switchblade popped up on Jenson which seems like a pretty good deal. He rode and really enjoyed the Ripmo, the sizing is very similar on the chart, the major differnce I see is a steeper headtube angle, which should be ok for him. Has anybody ridden it, good reccommendation at this price? Does it feel relatively capable downhill compared to other bikes in the category ? Thanks!

https://www.jensonusa.com/Pivot-Swit...tion=sfdetails

[Roxtar]

A friend of mine who is a somewhat casual rider is looking for a solid trail bike that can do some occasional light duty up at the Targhee bike park (blues and blacks, but not pushing it at all). He missed out on all the amazing deals on the nice builds of the stumpjumper EVO, alloy sentinal and others what were around. This Switchblade popped up on Jenson which seems like a pretty good deal. He rode and really enjoyed the Ripmo, the sizing is very similar on the chart, the major differnce I see is a steeper headtube angle, which should be ok for him. Has anybody ridden it, good reccommendation at this price? Does it feel relatively capable downhill compared to other bikes in the category ? Thanks!

https://www.jensonusa.com/Pivot-Swit...tion=sfdetails

That is a stupid-good deal on a great bike. That bike will work very well for what he's looking for.
Granted, it's the model before this years new version but still a killer deal on a decent component spec.
Tell him to grab it.

[ASmileyFace]

I have a friend who demoed that era switchblade a while back and loved it... Damn good deal

[zion zig zag]

Dry seals seems the most likely, not sure they'd dry out that quick though. Any evidence that the oil in the lowers leaked out (either out the bottom, out past the wipers, or out the bleed valves)? Could also crack open the air chamber and make sure there's still some oil floating around in there.

Aside from that, and pure speculation, but maybe some bit of debris shook loose inside the damper and gummed one of the ports up?

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

So I opened up the air chamber and the oil inside looks congealed. Bits of it are clung to the inside chamber instead of flowing like liquid. I assume this isn’t normal? It seems like one of those chunks could be blocking a port damper like you suggested. When I let the air out and pressed the fork it seemed to go through its travel smoothly, didn’t notice any hangups.

Also, when pumped back up to 82psi, I put both hands on either side of the stem and bounced all of my weight on the fork and I could only get through half or less of the travel. Fork also wheezes like an asthmatic. So what are we talking here? Pull it off and send to Fox for full service and damper rebuild?

[Spencer123]

Thanks for the input!

[toast2266]

So I opened up the air chamber and the oil inside looks congealed. Bits of it are clung to the inside chamber instead of flowing like liquid. I assume this isn’t normal? It seems like one of those chunks could be blocking a port damper like you suggested. When I let the air out and pressed the fork it seemed to go through its travel smoothly, didn’t notice any hangups.

Also, when pumped back up to 82psi, I put both hands on either side of the stem and bounced all of my weight on the fork and I could only get through half or less of the travel. Fork also wheezes like an asthmatic. So what are we talking here? Pull it off and send to Fox for full service and damper rebuild?

Yeah, probably time for a rebuild. You could send it to fox, or better yet, pretty much anyone else that does fork rebuilds. If you're not looking to re-tune anything, I'd just see if any of your local shops are set up to do it.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[beaterdit]

If it were me I’d get it serviced locally at Suspension Syndicate down here in Salt Lake. Other thought on the current state of it: grease or other shit can clog the negative port in the air spring and prevent it from filling, or equalixing. Does it feel stiff off the top? A lower service will take dare of that. Clean, regrease, re-oil.

[zion zig zag]

If it were me I’d get it serviced locally at Suspension Syndicate down here in Salt Lake. Other thought on the current state of it: grease or other shit can clog the negative port in the air spring and prevent it from filling, or equalixing. Does it feel stiff off the top? A lower service will take dare of that. Clean, regrease, re-oil.

I’ll give them a call, I’m not sure any Ogden shops do rebuilds. Was heading out of town this weekend and hoping to ride but that kind of turn around seems unlikely I guess. Doesn’t really feel stiff off the top, maybe a little more stiction, but getting normal sag.

[toast2266]

I’ll give them a call, I’m not sure any Ogden shops do rebuilds. Was heading out of town this weekend and hoping to ride but that kind of turn around seems unlikely I guess. Doesn’t really feel stiff off the top, maybe a little more stiction, but getting normal sag.

Not sure about down that way, but getting a fork rebuilt locally within a few days isn't out of the question.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[evdog]

A friend of mine who is a somewhat casual rider is looking for a solid trail bike that can do some occasional light duty up at the Targhee bike park (blues and blacks, but not pushing it at all). He missed out on all the amazing deals on the nice builds of the stumpjumper EVO, alloy sentinal and others what were around. This Switchblade popped up on Jenson which seems like a pretty good deal. He rode and really enjoyed the Ripmo, the sizing is very similar on the chart, the major differnce I see is a steeper headtube angle, which should be ok for him. Has anybody ridden it, good reccommendation at this price? Does it feel relatively capable downhill compared to other bikes in the category ? Thanks!

https://www.jensonusa.com/Pivot-Swit...tion=sfdetails

I demo'd a Switchblade along with a bunch of other Pivot models 5-6 years ago. May not be relevant now but the Switchblade was the only bike I liked out of the bunch. It climbed well but felt pretty plush descending. All the other pivots only seemed to climb well or descend well. Some did neither well. My only hangup with Pivots was the super boost rear hub.

[Roxtar]

My only hangup with Pivots was the super boost rear hub.

Not really an issue anymore since pretty much all hub companies make them.

[sfotex]

So I opened up the air chamber and the oil inside looks congealed. Bits of it are clung to the inside chamber instead of flowing like liquid. I assume this isn’t normal? It seems like one of those chunks could be blocking a port damper like you suggested. When I let the air out and pressed the fork it seemed to go through its travel smoothly, didn’t notice any hangups.

If you never cleaned out the 5 lbs of slickolium the Fox factory puts in the air side that's probably what your seeing.....

[rideit]

Not really an issue anymore since pretty much all hub companies make them.

We have 12 bikes. 7 with boost 148. Introducing a new size to the fleet sucks ass, especially if you tend to get bikes as frame sets or whatever. .
Every single company might make them, but that sure doesn’t mean that I want to buy them.

[LeeLau]

We have 12 bikes. 7 with boost 148. Introducing a new size to the fleet sucks ass, especially if you tend to get bikes as frame sets or whatever. .
Every single company might make them, but that sure doesn’t mean that I want to buy them.

Same. I have 4 (including 1 dumpster). Shar has 3. All are boost. All have Maguras. So much easier to maintain.

1 spare 650b, 1 spare 29er wheelset

[Huskier]

Trying to repurpose some old cable-actuated disc brakes from the mid 2010's. "Promax". They feel janky as f**k and I have never seen a mechanism like this let alone pads for it. Actuating the brake causes the caliper to twist or screw closed to make contact with the rotor. On a scale of 1 to you-will-die, how inadvisable is it to run these? 160mm rotors stopping a 40lb gravel E-bike, 200lb rider, bike trailer and occupants. The alternative is plunking down $200 or so for a hydraulic Sora setup Question 2: Is rotor up-sizing on a gravel bike a thing and would it more effectively increase pure stopping power? I feel like I've only seen 160mm outside of mtb...

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL) using Tapatalk

[Roxtar]

Trying to repurpose some old cable-actuated disc brakes from the mid 2010's. "Promax". They feel janky as f**k and I have never seen a mechanism like this let alone pads for it. Actuating the brake causes the caliper to twist or screw closed to make contact with the rotor. On a scale of 1 to you-will-die, how inadvisable is it to run these? 160mm rotors stopping a 40lb gravel E-bike, 200lb rider, bike trailer and occupants. The alternative is plunking down $200 or so for a hydraulic Sora setup Question 2: Is rotor up-sizing on a gravel bike a thing and would it more effectively increase pure stopping power? I feel like I've only seen 160mm outside of mtb...

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL) using Tapatalk

I REALLY hope this is a joke.

[toast2266]

Trying to repurpose some old cable-actuated disc brakes from the mid 2010's. "Promax". They feel janky as f**k and I have never seen a mechanism like this let alone pads for it. Actuating the brake causes the caliper to twist or screw closed to make contact with the rotor. On a scale of 1 to you-will-die, how inadvisable is it to run these? 160mm rotors stopping a 40lb gravel E-bike, 200lb rider, bike trailer and occupants. The alternative is plunking down $200 or so for a hydraulic Sora setup Question 2: Is rotor up-sizing on a gravel bike a thing and would it more effectively increase pure stopping power? I feel like I've only seen 160mm outside of mtb...

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL) using Tapatalk

That's more or less how most of the cable actuated discs worked. Same mechanism on an Avid BB7, which were the most common mechanical calipers and actually worked pretty well. I'd run them.