[Mr. Lynch]

I just install a 120mm Bluto on my Fatboy and it is amazing! Glad I didnt go shorter. I need to find a token though, i think it would help. Ive tired a few different pressures and you can blow thru travel easy. I added a token to my Pike and it was a big help so Im hoping 1 or two in the Bluto will do the same.

 

[hans2vt]

I took my Fatboy/Bluto out on a 10 mile ride this morning. The ride was full of intense rock gardens and screaming downhills. I have been reluctant to bring my fat bike on rides like this in the past, the necessity to slow down bugs me - I like going fast. I just put my dropper post back on - so I had a bit of an issue with seat positioning.

The Bluto definitely made the Fatboy a full bore machine. I found myself able to keep my fingers off the brakes and really crank through the rock gardens.

Definitely worth the money. So glad to have one on my bike.

My experience on my first big ride Friday is the same!!! roots, rocks, not quite as fast as my FS, but fast... and the fat tires changed the game with grip. and, it just a different kind of fun.

 

[Forged1]

Did you check air pressure?

 

[Father Guzzi Obrian]

Picked up my fatboy with the 80mm bluto, my LBS first install. The manual just addresses install in 50 languages. It is springy, seems limited in both compression and rebound damping and no info provided on what the doodads do. Is their a tuning manual that addresses the Bluto specifically, my LBS did not have one, and I see I am only getting ~2 inches of travel, and it is overly springy. Any suggestions on setup are appreciated, I don't blame my LBS, this is their first install. Thanks for any input.
Cheers,
FGO

 

[Jisch]

Red compression knob on the bottom of the fork controls how fast the fork rebounds, if its overly springy, turn the knob 3 or 4 clicks slower - there is a LOT of difference between full slow and full fast. If you're not getting full compression - then try letting a little air out, I'm running about 90PSI, I weigh about 170 with my gear on, I get full travel on big hits (though I don't feel the fork bottoming out).

Those two things interact - so if your rebound is overly slow then you will not get full compression - I had that problem at first until I sped up the rebound.

 

[Father Guzzi Obrian]

Thanks, I am doing a tuning run tomorrow, I can already tell that with not tuning it is much more capable in the stuff I ride in.
Thanks for the input, I will report back when I dial it in...

 

[Way2ManyBikes]

Couple things to consider. Most fat bike where not designed with a suspension fork in mind. Therefore the head angle could be off and preventing the fork from actually using all the travel.

I am going to go way back and talk about when suspension forks first came out and people where saying the same thing that you are saying now.

I have a trek farley and when the designed the bike they designed it with a suspension fork in mind so for me the fork has worked perfect your of the box.

In the old days we only had 65mm travel forks which worked but when they finally offered 80mm forks it changed the head angle enough to actually make the fork work.

Ps I could be totally wrong here but some fat bikes just don't have the right head tube angle to allow the fork to work correctly.

 

[hans2vt]

Couple things to consider. Most fat bike where not designed with a suspension fork in mind. Therefore the head angle could be off and preventing the fork from actually using all the travel.
....

Ps I could be totally wrong here but some fat bikes just don't have the right head tube angle to allow the fork to work correctly.

What is the "right" head tube angle then?

 

[Way2ManyBikes]

Not sure but the Farley has a 70 degree angle and if you read about the bike they built the entire geometry around a suspension fork.

I was told buy the guys at Trek that they just copied the Geometry off of one of there current 29'r and just widened the rear triangle to make the 3.8 fit and the 4.0 barely fits with a 2x10 drivetrain.

The Farley has the shortest rear chain stays out of any of the fat bikes which make it support short in its overall length which works great in the tight twisty single track trails.

With the bluto on my bike it has now become the only bike i ride.

Today I was forced to take a line I would have never I repeat never considered or even saw as a line but because I was riding faster them I have ever ridden and came up on a jogger it was either hit him or swerve to the right and hope for the best. Which I did and the bluto performed like magic and I didn't even notice all of the tree roots, wash outs and drops going down the hill all I did was aim between the two trees and smile.

Ps my buddy's 9 Zero 7 works incredible with the 100mm fork even thought specs say it should be an 80

 

[Stevob]

I ride often at my local trail system, its five minutes from my house and I can get 10 miles of riding in when I don't have time to drive further.

I run Strava, I have a few KOMs out there, mostly because of the number of times I have ridden everything, sometimes the stars align. There's a nice switchback climb out there that I have been gunning for - today with the Fatboy and the Bluto I got the KOM back.

Its weird because I really didn't feel like I was going that hard. Is it all because of the Bluto? No way, but at a minimum it didn't hurt my time either. I rode it with my Niner a week ago gunning for the KOM, I felt like I rode way harder than today and I didn't get it.

All this to say that the Bluto is a good addition to this bike, happy to have it (and all this could be because my phone/Strava glitched too).

Switchback climbs/descents are notorious for false start/finish point readings on Strava. It's usually because different levels of the track come too close to each other.

 

[Jisch]

Yep, and that could have happened here for sure, never trust strava.

 

[dfiler]

125psi and compression damping one click back from locked out... still not stiff enough for my tastes. (160 pounds of rider and gear)

I'm gonna research adjusting the progressiveness. That's just some spacers right? Any suggestions?

 

[Mr. Lynch]

The Bluto can use the black 32mm bottomless tokens, but the fork didnt come with any and I'm not sure they are available for sale yet.

I know on my Pike the Bottomless tokens made a huge difference and I'd love to get 1 or two for the Bluto.

 

[dfiler]

Hmmm, there 2014 rockshox spare parts catalog only lists bottomless tokens for the Pike.
https://sram-cdn-pull-zone-gsdesign.../files/techdocs/2014_rockshox_spc_rev_a_0.pdf

But it seems if a token existed for a 32mm stanchion fork, it should work. This article makes it sound like such a token should exist and would work at least for the RS-1, reba, SID and revelation.
RockShox Officially Introduces The 29er specific RS1 Inverted XC Fork

I'll contact rockshox and see what they have to say. Edit: Looks like I won't be contacting them since SRAM appears to not want any direct contact with customers. In my opinion, that's a shitty way to run a company.

 

[mgersib]

A few rides on the bluto now... 115psi is working for me (160 pounds with gear). The o-ring shows I've been bottoming it but I haven't felt it behave like it was bottoming.

You and I are in the same ball park. I have been surprised how much pressure I need to run to keep the fork from bottoming. I'll eventually try one or two bottomless tokens, but don't have them to try yet.

 

[dfiler]

You and I are in the same ball park. I have been surprised how much pressure I need to run to keep the fork from bottoming. I'll eventually try one or two bottomless tokens, but don't have them to try yet.

Yep, and i'm up 10 125psi with it still a bit too easy to bottom. I'll try bumping it up a bit more but tokens (a more progressive spring rate) would be preferable.

 

[Jisch]

Do you guys have 100 or 120mm Bluto's? I'm 170 or so with my pack on and I'm at 95PSI. I've maxed the fork out on every ride so far, but I don't notice any dive while pedaling and haven't felt any true bottoming out of the fork. I'm one of those guys who sets and forgets though, so sometimes I change something and I realize just how off I was before. Maybe I'll try adding a bit of air.

Oh and I'm running a 100mm Bluto.

 

[Mr. Lynch]

The 32mm tokens wont be available until late August.
I'm running the 120mm Bluto which doesnt come with any Pre-installed. The 100mm Bluto has 2 pre-installed and the 80mm version has 4, which is the max.

https://www.sram.com/sites/default/files/techdocs/95-4018-007-100_rev_a_bottomless_tokens_eeu.pdf

 

[alshead]

Converting my 100 to 120 and also thinking of picking up the RCT3 Damper (I'm a suspension snob): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...SIN=B006KV0QVG&linkCode=as2&tag=faqloadcom-20

 

[R3D2]

Which bike are you running the bluto on? I'm really interested in this swap too...please keep us posted.