Fox CTD rear suspension

Art Vanderlay

Hourly daily
I'm sure there are peeps out there that know a lot more about suspension than me.
I have an anthem 29er 100mm travel, set up feels pretty good. Only had a full suspension bike for a few months.

Climb and trail feel the same to me, where as the descend mode feels softer.

From what I understand, the rear shock isn't a total lock out like the fork or can't be totally locked out like the fork? I would like to get the climb mode stiffer, less movement if possible

Would just like to hear others opinions on the CTD. My rear shock is the Fox CTD performance model (non kashima)

Cheers
 

SlowManiac

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I have a Fox CTD shock. I'm no expert (first DS bike).

To me the climb and trail mode feet totally different. Climb is pretty much a lockout, very little movement. Trail is soft enough for descending but firm enough for the flat. a bit of pedal bob.
 

Ezkaton

Eats Squid
My Lady has a CTD rear shock.

Climb is practically locked, maybe 0.5-1mm movement.
Trail is standard.
Descend is softer.

If your climb has the same movement as trail, perhaps a service is in order.
 

Art Vanderlay

Hourly daily
Thanks for the replies, sounds like I may have a bit to much movement in the climb mode. Definitely getting it back in for a service / check over
 

BLKFOZ

Likes Dirt
I find climb mode useless on my superfly 100. I leave it in trail all the time - even commuting to trail heads.
When in climb, it is very stiff but seems like it has no rebound and feels like a (very short travel) pogo stick.
 

99_FGT

Likes Bikes and Dirt
OP - is the Climb too relaxed or the Trail too firm.
There is adjustment on the Trail mode that changes the platform, and again, Climb is still a platform mode
Also, and I ask this genuinely, how have you assessed that they are not right? Is it while pedalling, or off the bike? Yes, it is a personal thing, but smooth pedalling technique is extremely important on a dually, even with modern platform shocks (on my TRc I only locked out on long road climbs)
Al..
 

Rhys_

Likes Bikes and Dirt
It totally depends on the factory shock tune guys. The CTD shock that came with my pivot is very lightly valved, and there is not a lot of difference between trail and climb. If this is the case on your shock, it doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with it.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
 

Art Vanderlay

Hourly daily
OP - is the Climb too relaxed or the Trail too firm.
There is adjustment on the Trail mode that changes the platform, and again, Climb is still a platform mode
Also, and I ask this genuinely, how have you assessed that they are not right? Is it while pedalling, or off the bike? Yes, it is a personal thing, but smooth pedalling technique is extremely important on a dually, even with modern platform shocks (on my TRc I only locked out on long road climbs)
Al..
I find while pedalling the trail & climb mode is very similar. I can notice a small difference between the two, but it is very small. I am coming from a hardtail background so my pedalling technique probably needs to smooth out a bit to get the full benefit of riding a dually.

As with yourself I am only looking to use the climb mode on long road / fire road climbs.

As mentioned earlier I am new to the dually thing so I am still learning and playing around with the adjustments, pressures, etc.

**I find the climb mode to relaxed
 

lockykk

Cannon Fodder
With fox forks the climb feature is very much usless in my experience but i think thats due to me not having the money to service them every day like they need to be. I'd be going to get it serviced right away to see if it makes a difference but in all honesty i dis;ike fox forks alot.
 

willsy01

Eats Squid
With fox forks the climb feature is very much usless in my experience but i think thats due to me not having the money to service them every day like they need to be. I'd be going to get it serviced right away to see if it makes a difference but in all honesty i dis;ike fox forks alot.
Works fine on mine *shrugs*

No need for 'daily' servicing either.
 

VEX33D

Likes Dirt
My Remedy is fitted with a Fox Performance Series CTD shock.

Noticeable difference between all three settings, with climb mode being near 'locked' out. This coming off a hardtail as my last bike, I was impressed.

Usually though, the CTD settings rests in the trail position.
 

DJR

Likes Dirt
For me there is a rather large difference between the climb and trail modes (2014 float ctd on a trance 1), climb is stiff but the climb mode still has a shim stack to blow off high speed compression (big hits) so you don't break the shock if you happen to descend on climb. Definitely stiffens up from pedaling though which is low speed compression.

I would take it back to the LBS and try another Anthem to see if it does the same thing. It might be a problem with the shock internals or could just be by design...
 

Ricker

Likes Dirt
Same here. trance 1. Climb is locked out fully. I use it a lot on steep ass fire trail where I need to leave the seat. Trail is 90% of riding. Descent is when I want an easy time on rough rugged downhills. All 3 hugely different
 
It depends on the ride and rider

I think it's been pointed out many times in this thread that different suspension designs play a significant role in the usability and sensitivity of the ctd feature. I've had a number of bikes that truly benefitted from the climb and descend modes and others I could hardly tell the difference from trail.

The other important factor, IMHO, is rider experience. Time in the saddle, especially on a new ride will make a rider more sensitive to small adjustments outside of the ctd function (rebound and preload).

Not everyone is going to be thrilled with the lack of adjustability for the ctd, but it's probably an 80% solution for most of us that can be easily overwhelmed by suspension adjustments.
 

Tyre Kicker

Likes Bikes
I think it's been pointed out many times in this thread that different suspension designs play a significant role in the usability and sensitivity of the ctd feature. I've had a number of bikes that truly benefitted from the climb and descend modes and others I could hardly tell the difference from trail..

Just to add to the above,

Fox run two types of dampening systems on their Float CTD shocks, one is Boostvalve the other is Dish.

Boostvalve shocks don't have a lockout climb mode but are much more active giving better grip and ride quality as they are both speed and position sensitive, they can also be fine tuned more effectively from factory but require more maintenance (every 12 months to keep them at their best)

The Dish is a mechanical system that encompasses a lock out plate and pre loaded shims. A more basic system but offers a lockout climb mode and good efficiency for XC riding and great reliability.

So it is difficult to compare CTD shocks as they can be very different internally. Best to keep up with the recommended service intervals and take to to a bike shop you can trust who knows there stuff!
 
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Rhys_

Likes Bikes and Dirt
In addition to the above posts, there are the added complicating factors of the different rebound, velocity and boost valve (if applicable) tunes provided by fox, and again this will affect the feel of the ctd. Your tune for each should be written around the shock can just above the shaft seal.


Like I said, it's difficult to compare.
 
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