Tuning the 2015 Fox 36 on HD3

scepticshock · Feb 18, 2015

So I just pulled the trigger on a Black HD3 Wx with the Fox 36. When I demoed the HD3 it had the 150 pike, which felt great, but I also heard great things about the 36, so I went for it.

Back from my second ride on it and the fork feels "chattery." High frequency baby head stuff felt way off form the plushness of the Pike.

I'm wondering where you 36 people are setting your air pressure compared to the Fox recommended pressures? I'm 165 lbs and ran 60 psi today (Fox recommends 66) and think I need to drop it more. I needed to back of the HSC 4 clicks to get it feeling smoother.

Thanks! I just hope I can get this thing feeling a lot better.

nybike1971 · Feb 19, 2015

I have a 2015 Fox 36 on my HD3 and had a chance recently to ride it back to back to a Pike. The air springs are very different: the Pike sinks in deeper, uses more of its travel and it softens chatter better. On the other hand the Fox offers a much more stable ride, dives less, and is more supportive on fast hits. The Fox is a fork built to ride fast, truly a race fork (not to say that the Pike can't be raced, Jerome Clementz proves the contrary). Personally, I am willing to give a little small bump compliance for the added support and planted feel of the Fox. It feels very close to the Fox 36 Van in how it supports the rider off of steep log drops or harsh transitions, without slumping in the way typically air forks tend to do.

As for settings, we weigh roughly weigh the same (i am 165lbs out of the shower) and I am running 60psi in the air spring, fully open HSC and 6 clicks in LSC. So far all my rides on this fork have been in freezing temperatures (25-35F) and the damping and lubrication oil is probably pretty sluggish. I expect to close down the compression circuits a bit more as temperatures go up and riding gets faster.

scepticshock · Feb 19, 2015

nybike1971 said:
I have a 2015 Fox 36 on my HD3 and had a chance recently to ride it back to back to a Pike. The air springs are very different: the Pike sinks in deeper, uses more of its travel and it softens chatter better. On the other hand the Fox offers a much more stable ride, dives less, and is more supportive on fast hits. The Fox is a fork built to ride fast, truly a race fork (not to say that the Pike can't be raced, Jerome Clementz proves the contrary). Personally, I am willing to give a little small bump compliance for the added support and planted feel of the Fox. It feels very close to the Fox 36 Van in how it supports the rider off of steep log drops or harsh transitions, without slumping in the way typically air forks tend to do.

As for settings, we weigh roughly weigh the same (i am 165lbs out of the shower) and I am running 60psi in the air spring, fully open HSC and 6 clicks in LSC. So far all my rides on this fork have been in freezing temperatures (25-35F) and the damping and lubrication oil is probably pretty sluggish. I expect to close down the compression circuits a bit more as temperatures go up and riding gets faster.

Thanks for your feedback! As it turns out, I just rechecked my air and I had 70 psi in there instead of 60. My bike shop for some reason really aired the fox up, and I have been reducing it each ride. So now I have 60 psi, and set the dampers back to the stock setting to see how it feels. Im pretty sure it will improve things a lot, but like you say, it may never equal the Pike in the chatter. But thats ok as long as its close.

btheb · Feb 19, 2015

Not sure this is similar but I am close to your weight. One thing I was initially concerned about was the fact that even with correct psi I wasn't utilizing the full travel of the fork even after some bigger hits. After a dozen rides the fork seems to eat up the full amount of travel on the bigger hits now. Don't know if that is normal break in time for a new fork but this was my experience.

Salespunk · Feb 19, 2015

scepticshock said:
So I just pulled the trigger on a Black HD3 Wx with the Fox 36. When I demoed the HD3 it had the 150 pike, which felt great, but I also heard great things about the 36, so I went for it.

Back from my second ride on it and the fork feels "chattery." High frequency baby head stuff felt way off form the plushness of the Pike.

I'm wondering where you 36 people are setting your air pressure compared to the Fox recommended pressures? I'm 165 lbs and ran 60 psi today (Fox recommends 66) and think I need to drop it more. I needed to back of the HSC 4 clicks to get it feeling smoother.

Thanks! I just hope I can get this thing feeling a lot better.

Even 60 psi is probably going to be too much. I am 175 lbs and run 55 while another of my riding buddies runs 50 at 165 lbs. My settings are 3 clicks LS compression, 4 clicks of HS compression and 4 clicks of rebound all from wide open (save me the lecture on measuring from full closed). I have not played with the volume spacers, but my next step is to remove them to get it more linear. For local riding I don't come close to bottoming out, but for races and places like Mammoth I have to up my pressure to 62 psi and then slow down my rebound by a few clicks.

scepticshock · Feb 19, 2015

Thanks Salespunk. That's very helpful info. Do you and your buddy both have the 170mm fork? Do you think that affects the psi compared to the 160?

scepticshock · Feb 19, 2015

btheb said:
Not sure this is similar but I am close to your weight. One thing I was initially concerned about was the fact that even with correct psi I wasn't utilizing the full travel of the fork even after some bigger hits. After a dozen rides the fork seems to eat up the full amount of travel on the bigger hits now. Don't know if that is normal break in time for a new fork but this was my experience.

Thanks. I was considering the break in aspect as well.

Rick Draper · Feb 19, 2015

scepticshock said:
Thanks Salespunk. That's very helpful info. Do you and your buddy both have the 170mm fork? Do you think that affects the psi compared to the 160?

A 170mm fork has a lower + air spring chamber than a 160mm eom or 160mm aftermarket fork so will have a greater ramp up. A 170mm fork reduced to 160mmwould have a similar air volume to a 160mm pen fork with no volume spacers.

dacarbon · Feb 20, 2015

I'm about 135 lbs with riding gear on, and am running about 45 psi in my Fox 36 with HSC fully open and LSC about 5 clicks in from fully open. Rebound is 5 clicks in from fully open as well. Not getting full travel yet but just got the fork/bike this week, so has not had an appropriate break in time yet either.

Coming off my Pike, it feels more composed but not quite as plush. Notably stiffer at high speed - point and shoot, baby!

scepticshock · Feb 20, 2015

Thanks for the continuing feed back guys. I'm getting the feeling that break-in is a little more of a factor on the Fox. The demo HD3 I rode had a totally new pike, and I was able to get near full travel once i figured out how much psi to use.

Salespunk · Feb 20, 2015

scepticshock said:
Thanks Salespunk. That's very helpful info. Do you and your buddy both have the 170mm fork? Do you think that affects the psi compared to the 160?

Yes, we are both on 170's. I had a 160 on it for a few weeks and pressure was the same. If I am not mistaken the volume of the 170 is very close to the 160. When the 170 is reduced to 160 the volume is smaller than the standard 160. I am probably being clear as mud, but in essence the fork that maxes out at 160 should have very similar air volume to the 170.

BTW I also removed the stock blue volume spacer this morning before my ride. Result was about 20 mm more travel useage with the same air pressure. Liking it much more for local riding since it seems to be significantly more linear.

scepticshock · Feb 21, 2015

Salespunk- Thanks for your input. I'm suspecting my fork is more liner then yours. I took it out on the trail today with 60 psi and 4 click of high speed from open, and it looked like I got near full travel on a few drops to flat that were not that big. I ended up going with 5 clicks of HSC and 7 clicks LSP for that ride. Overall it felt really good. Much better then my experience the other day.

I'm curious what your running for air and HSC on your DB air inline?

Salespunk · Feb 23, 2015

My DB is straight off the recommendation from Cane Creek. Haven't made any changes yet. One thing I have noticed is that any changes to the fork or rear shock have a dramatic affect on the other end. The other thing is to make sure that your tire pressures are very accurate when you are trying to tune suspension. I have found that a 2 lb pressure difference in tires has a more dramatic effect than 10 psi in difference in suspension. I bought a digital tire gauge just because of this.

Yody · Feb 23, 2015

You don't need much HSC on this fork. Leave it completely open unless you're hitting jump lines or hucks. I mean if you are by all means crank some in, but if you're just doing normal trail riding and not leaving the ground too often leave it open. Drop your psi to 55 (who knows if you're guage is accurate? check sag too) and run your LSC between 4-10 clicks (from open) Rebound is rider preference, but if you're running it extremely slow it will pack up. And yes this fork gives more feedback making it feel more chattery.

Yody · Feb 23, 2015

The day you drop your front wheel into something nasty that makes your heart pause, and instead of it diving and using full travel and then unloading and bucking you, or making your bars tuck....you will be grateful for its support and learn to deal with a little bit of chatter. In my head thats the best feature of this fork, is how it does'nt dive on mid compression hits

Zatoichi · Feb 23, 2015

Suspension SETUP, a 'how to' guide... from pinkbike...

If you're like me and often wonder or forget how HSC, LSC and rebound all work together, this article on pinkbike is a good primer...

Suspension SETUP, a 'how to' guide... - Pinkbike Forum

nybike1971 · Feb 23, 2015

Yody said:
The day you drop your front wheel into something nasty that makes your heart pause, and instead of it diving and using full travel and then unloading and bucking you, or making your bars tuck....you will be grateful for its support and learn to deal with a little bit of chatter. In my head thats the best feature of this fork, is how it does'nt dive on mid compression hits

This. A thousand times.

benja55 · Feb 23, 2015

Salespunk said:
I have found that a 2 lb pressure difference in tires has a more dramatic effect than 10 psi in difference in suspension. I bought a digital tire gauge just because of this.

Same. This is huge. I think I spend more timing tweaking tire pressure on my new-ish wide rim wheels then anything else on my bike. A 2lb drop makes crazy differences, with one example being traction limits. I've cleaned at least one tech climbing section largely because of shaving 2-3lbs off my pressure.

As for the 2015 Fox 36, I'm sure it's amazeballs but right now I'm still loving my 2014 Pike! :thumbsup:

scepticshock · Feb 23, 2015

It is quite possible my shock pump gauge is off. 55psi feels pretty soft and its sagging in quite a bit with my pump. 60 psi seems to yield about 1.3" of sag, and feels pretty good. I probably could start backing off the HSC more.

Here a picture for referance after my last ride, and travel used after a 3 footish drop. Do you really think I could go any lower?

I'll have to look into getting a digital pump and tire gauge. I guess I should now that I have carbon rims!

Yes, I would make that trade off for a bit more chatter Yody. I'm sure I'll appreciate it when I get it somewhere steep. It's really gotten a lot better since I dropped the pressure. Also, with the added sag, its cornering much better too.

Salespunk · Feb 24, 2015

I would expect that from a 3' drop to flat. Unless your normal trails include more than this then I would say you are close. For my local riding I run 55 psi, but at Mammoth I run 65-70. If you are looking for a do it all setting then 60 PSI is probably close.

BTW is that a Butcher up front on the 741?

Tuning the 2015 Fox 36 on HD3

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Salespunk

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Rick Draper

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