beeb
Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
What do you not like about the fork? I've had a Fox Rhythm 34 with a Grip damper previously and thought it was decent. Didn't set the world on fire, but was still a competent fork. Only criticism I had of it was a bit too much flex under braking with a 203mm rotor up front. I see in the WTB section you're after volume reducer spacers for it x4 - just an FYI if you put all them in it'll be (probably) end up being divey in the first 1/3rd of travel and ramp up like a mofo after that. Honestly, I'd highly, strongly, wholeheartedly recommend trying to tune the fork before adding spacers (Seriously, please do this...). Take out all the spacers, wind the compression fully off (and check the dial allows this, it's not always positioned/installed correctly on the Marz Z1/Z2 Grip dampers). Then set your air pressure and ride the feckin' thing. If it's soft, add some air pressure. If it's still feels a bit soft around midstroke sacrifice a little small-bump flutter if needed to get the sag/midstroke support you need. It's (IMO) important and necessary to do this on a hardtail, as otherwise if you just setup the fork to have the right sag and shove a stack of spacers in there for "support" it'll still blow through on any moderate bumps, but then ramp up way too early/hard against the spacers and you end up with a fork where all the travel feels like shit. IMO, on a hardtail you want to set up the fork for how it feels going round a berm that creates a mild G-out feeling. If it feels divey or soft in the berm the spring is too soft (add pressure). So many people seem to go "but it feels great when I'm JRA". Well no shit! There's no force on the fork! The fact it eats up corrugations on the fireroad climb doesn't mean it's setup for the descents when all you're weight's upright and forward. Or the old trope of "but the sag measures correctly!". DILLIGAF what the sag measures at? How does it ride? Doughy but still harsh as anything over bumps? Well bump your air pressure up so you actually have some midstroke support and pull out some of the spacers so the fork can actually use more travel on bigger hits!So they went to all the trouble of actually writing on them to use resin only just to mess with me?? Like its engraved on there not just a rando sticker they went to some effort!
On another note rode for 30mins today round town - managed ok HOWEVER! - if you did not know better the bike is quite good - When you have seen better its a bit lackluster - Engagement is ok (better than cheap wheels from years ago ) - They don't roll very fast - Forks are well frankly very mediocre - They call it a :Big Trail" I am going to assume the Big refers to 29" wheels and the trail means rail trail - It is an XC bike at best - I'm still ok with it - just voicing opinions
All this may/may not be relevant to you @Minlak, I've just seen too many people do it (including myself early days). And often decent but simple forks get a reputation for being shit simply because they get sold to newbies who often make the fork ride worse than just following the manufacturer's recommended settings. I'm all for people trying different settings on suspension, but why does next to no-one seem to do any 'bracketing' when doing so? Just, "Ooh, I added two spacers - it must be better now because I saw a bloke on GMBN do it!".
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