REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Can it be made softer, Fox float 34 factory fork

5157 Views 35 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Cary, Jan 1, 2022

cityjackit

Discussion Starter · Dec 25, 2021

Morning all and Merry Christmas,

I am still getting used to my new Ripley with the NX/GX build and factory Fox suspension front and back. Still searching a little in the front though. The rear is pretty good I think. I weigh 200lbs and am at 100 psi for air pressure on the fork. LSR is at 4 and HSR at 5 out. HSC is 6 out and LSC is 5 out. The front I would like to feel less chatter in my arms when hitting a bunch of roots in succession. If I open the low speed up more(less compression), will that allow the HSC to open up sooner thereby allow me to be at 4 or 5 on HSC instead of at 6? I feel like I am at the nd of the HSC adjustment at 6 even though it goes to 8.
I feel like I should be somewhere in the middle of the adjustment range. Long shot, will a little less air in the fork help with any of this?

Thanks

Sid

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Cary

· #2 · Dec 25, 2021 (Edited)

Opening the low speed more will cause the high speed to open later, as you are allowing more oil flow through the low speed needle. The high speed stack will only open when the pressure of the oil becomes high enough to push it open because the pressure pushing through the low speed has reached a high enough level. Chatter is a high speed event, so you should be opening up your high speed. A few other items:

1) Dropping pressure will likely not help and probably make it worse. As you drop pressure you put the fork into the steeper part of the air curve, so it will get harsher on chatter.
2) Pay attention to rebound, too much rebound will cause the fork to be stuck down, putting it in the steep part of the spring curve and creating harshness.
4) Tire pressures are important, Assuming you have the stock 35mm internal wheels, your front tire pressure should be about 20psi to start with and likely will end up lower.
5) Forks tend to bed in over the first few rides. Do not be suprised if after 5-10 rides the fork feels much different than it does now.

Enjoy it, great bike.

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Jukka4130

· #3 · Dec 25, 2021

Consider the Vorsprung Luftkappe upgrade. Everyone who has made the move to it on Fox 34's I know have been very happy with the result.

EJ_92606

· #4 · Dec 26, 2021

Service fork lowers and remove excess grease from air spring. If that doesn't work, start looking at your fork and linkage bushings.

cityjackit

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 26, 2021

Cary said:
Opening the low speed more will cause the high speed to open later, as you are allowing more oil flow through the low speed needle. The high speed stack will only open when the pressure of the oil becomes high enough to push it open because the pressure pushing through the low speed has reached a high enough level. Chatter is a high speed event, so you should be opening up your high speed. A few other items:

1) Dropping pressure will likely not help and probably make it worse. As you drop pressure you put the fork into the steeper part of the air curve, so it will get harsher on chatter.
2) Pay attention to rebound, too much rebound will cause the fork to be stuck down, putting it in the steep part of the spring curve and creating harshness.
4) Tire pressures are important, Assuming you have the stock 35mm internal wheels, your front tire pressure should be about 20psi to start with and likely will end up lower.
5) Forks tend to bed in over the first few rides. Do not be suprised if after 5-10 rides the fork feels much different than it does now.

Enjoy it, great bike.

Thank you. What you said about the high speed opening later if I open low speed more makes sense now. I hear you in the rebound too. I was wondering before I went out thus morning if I was packing up the front due to the rebound being too slow. But then you mentioned tire pressure. Dude, I am running 28 in the front and 30 in the rear. Wow! I am way off. Im wondering how the bike will even ro with pressures that low. Definitely makes sense how that could lead to harsh feeling.
Im going to try some of your advice tomorrow. Ill let you know.

Thank you again and hope you had a good Christmas.

Sid

Reactions: 1

The_Bob

· #6 · Dec 26, 2021

I found my 2020 Fox 34 Factory to be quite firm. The factory rebound settings were in the ballpark, I think I ended up one click faster for both HSR and LSR than the recommended settings. The HSC I ran one click from fully open. The biggest factor in getting the fork to feel nice and plush was opening up the LSC a few more clicks than the factory settings (think 4 clicks). Once I worked that out, the fork was amazing for me

POAH

· #7 · Dec 26, 2021

cityjackit said:
The front I would like to feel less chatter in my arms when hitting a bunch of roots in succession.

There are many things that can affect the front of the bike. However, don't expect a fork to totally smooth out a trail.

by chatter in your arms do you mean arm pump or other pain in your hands/wrists?

Grips, brake lever angle, brake lever distance to bar, bar rotation, bar width, bar sweep, tyre pressure, speed that you are going through the roots. All that before you even get to the fork settings.

kpdemello

· #8 · Dec 26, 2021

You're trying and people are suggesting all sorts of things but the first thing you need to focus on is air pressure followed by rebound. If you are not sure about air pressure settings, try adjusting that first. When you feel that is close to where it should be, play with rebound. Then if you're still not happy, try playing with air pressure again, maybe involving tokens. Repeat until it feels as good as you can get it. Only then should you move on to all these other suggestions.

Fox tends to make fairly responsive forks, which some people interpret as harshness. But often lowering air pressure below the recommended setting, sometimes adding a token for support, is advisable.

MSU Alum

· #9 · Dec 26, 2021

Have you tried adding or removing tokens? It's a pretty easy thing to experiment with.

cityjackit

Discussion Starter · #10 · Dec 26, 2021

POAH said:
There are many things that can affect the front of the bike. However, don't expect a fork to totally smooth out a trail.

by chatter in your arms do you mean arm pump or other pain in your hands/wrists?

Grips, brake lever angle, brake lever distance to bar, bar rotation, bar width, bar sweep, tyre pressure, speed that you are going through the roots. All that before you even get to the fork settings.

POAH said:
There are many things that can affect the front of the bike. However, don't expect a fork to totally smooth out a trail.

by chatter in your arms do you mean arm pump or other pain in your hands/wrists?

Grips, brake lever angle, brake lever distance to bar, bar rotation, bar width, bar sweep, tyre pressure, speed that you are going through the roots. All that before you even get to the fork settings.

POAH, no arm pump at all. Hands feel good too. I am 6'3 and 200 lbs. I just put a new set of Deity black label 38mm risers on too coupled with the wolftooth mega fat paw grips. I like those grips. I have them on my Intense tracer.
Maybe im just used to my 165 Lyric fork on that bike. On that fork, you can hear the chatter when going over roots, but can,t feel a thing in my shoulders. 90psi in the forks there and 26 in that front tire.
I was just thinking this new Ripley 2.4 tire needed a little more air at 28 than 26 with my Intense given its a fatter tire. Im looking for less rolling resistance and thought the fatter 2.4 that came with the Ripley wouldnt do it. So I gave it more air.

Ill report back later

Sid

cityjackit

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 26, 2021

MSU Alum said:
Have you tried adding or removing tokens? It's a pretty easy thing to experiment with.

Neverr really understood tokens. I thought of them as just support and ride height. Once the high speed chatter or sharp edges kicked in, it was oil flow after that. Plushness and all that.
Thank you for your help.

cityjackit

Discussion Starter · #12 · Dec 26, 2021

kpdemello said:
You're trying and people are suggesting all sorts of things but the first thing you need to focus on is air pressure followed by rebound. If you are not sure about air pressure settings, try adjusting that first. When you feel that is close to where it should be, play with rebound. Then if you're still not happy, try playing with air pressure again, maybe involving tokens. Repeat until it feels as good as you can get it. Only then should you move on to all these other suggestions.

Fox tends to make fairly responsive forks, which some people interpret as harshness. But often lowering air pressure below the recommended setting, sometimes adding a token for support, is advisable.

This is interesting. Lower the psi, but add a token. Hmmm

Thank you

Cary

· #13 · Dec 26, 2021

kpdemello said:
But often lowering air pressure below the recommended setting, sometimes adding a token for support, is advisable.

Sorry, but this incorrect. Tokens are used to control bottoming and ramp up in the second half of travel, and should only be added if there is excess bottoming once the first 50% of the travel is properly established with proper air pressure. By doing what you suggest, you will increase sag, increase rampup, and have a fork that gives less travel in repeated high speed bumps and feel harsher. Doing this is how you turn a 140mm fork into a 120mm or 100mm effective fork.

Setup should always follow the same process and order:

1) Spring rate. Set your pressure to where you have a balance between plushness off the top and support into the midstroke. For Fox forks, this is generally pretty close to the recommended pressure and about 15-20% sag (I say about, as fork sag is very hard to get repeatable numbers). If after doing this you find you are bottoming the fork, add tokens. Not using all the travel, subtract.
2) Rebound- This must be set after sag, as the spring rate will effect the amount of rebound needed.
3) Compression- Low speed to adjust how the bike shifts weight when you do things like tap the brakes. High speed will have some effect on bottoming.

Seb Stott has an excellent 10 minute video:

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kpdemello

· #14 · Dec 26, 2021 (Edited)

Oh I pretty much agree with you. I just think op probably has his pressure set too high, likely because at 200lbs he would bottom out too easily without a token or two.

Cary

· #15 · Dec 26, 2021

kpdemello said:
Consider for example someone who thinks the ride is too harsh, so decreases air pressure. Then they start to bottom out because air pressure is to low, so they add a token. That person has decreased pressure and added a token just as I suggested. Based on what op said, I suspect this is what he needs to do.

You have restated what you stated before and it still is incorrect. What you are suggesting is a common fallacy that leaves people chasing lower pressure and more tokens all while making the ride harsher. See the below link where I explain in detail why this thinking is incorrect and often leaves people chasing their tails.

www.mtbr.com

2021 RockShox Pike Ultimate 130mm setup Bottomless...

The specifications indicate that I can put 6 tokens in, but when I put 5 or 6 tokens in, the shock becomes stuck compressed. At 4 tokens, the shock works fine. Has anyone setup with more than 4 tokens?

www.mtbr.com

The fact that you weight 200 pounds and use X number of spacers doesn't help with the OP's setup. The pressure needed to set the initial spring rate is partially due to weight, but also riding position. The number of tokens needed are almost entirely dictated by the riding conditions and how hard the person rides. An agressive rider hitting 5 foot drops to flat, at the same weight and base pressure will need more tokens than a rider that hits no drops and is not as aggressive.

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kpdemello

· #16 · Dec 26, 2021

Yikes, you were ready to jump right on this reply. I edited it because I mostly agree with you and think we're saying the same basic things. You just explained it with more detail. Every situation is different, we don't know op's riding style, and your common fallacy assertion does not seem rsponsive to this situation. I think he needs to experiment a bit with air pressure and tokens should probably be part of it.

FrankS29

· #17 · Dec 26, 2021

I personally never got along with my old Fox 34, granted it was the FiT4 and not a Grip2. I just couldn’t get it to not feel harsh in chatter or supportive when I needed it to. Just loaded in compromises that I wasn’t willing to deal with

As I understand, the Grip2 is supposed to be a lot better than my old FiT4 but I never felt motivated to throw another $400 at that fork.

I would also keep playing with tire pressure. I’m also about 200lbs and I run my 2.4” dissector up front at about 22-23psi on my Ripley.

Not sure what temps you’re riding at right now, but low temps can also make a lot of forks feel a lot harsher. My DVO Sapphire really doesn’t like it when it starts to get below 40* Fahrenheit.

As for tokens, I think the 34 sucks big time with tokens installed. Midstroke support starts to disappear and the air spring starts to ramp up too fast. Unless your sending big jumps, I personally don’t think the 34 should use tokens, but if that’s the case I doubt you really want a 34 anyway.

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MSU Alum

· #18 · Dec 27, 2021

When I had the 130 Performance 34 I ran it without tokens. I now have the 140 Fox factory Grip2 and run it without tokens. I liked both forks but do like the Grip 2 more. Not everyone needs tokens.

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Cary

· #19 · Dec 27, 2021

FrankS29 said:
I personally never got along with my old Fox 34, granted it was the FiT4 and not a Grip2. I just couldn’t get it to not feel harsh in chatter or supportive when I needed it to. Just loaded in compromises that I wasn’t willing to deal with

As I understand, the Grip2 is supposed to be a lot better than my old FiT4 but I never felt motivated to throw another $400 at that fork.

I would also keep playing with tire pressure. I’m also about 200lbs and I run my 2.4” dissector up front at about 22-23psi on my Ripley.

Not sure what temps you’re riding at right now, but low temps can also make a lot of forks feel a lot harsher. My DVO Sapphire really doesn’t like it when it starts to get below 40* Fahrenheit.

As for tokens, I think the 34 sucks big time with tokens installed. Midstroke support starts to disappear and the air spring starts to ramp up too fast. Unless your sending big jumps, I personally don’t think the 34 should use tokens, but if that’s the case I doubt you really want a 34 anyway.

FIT4 was terrible. I tried everything with it short of a fractive tune and sold it for the same price the new Mattoc Pro that replaced it cost. Ryhthm with the basic grip is so much better it isn’t funny. Not Mattoc Pro or Mezzer good, but pretty darn good.

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cityjackit

Discussion Starter · #20 · Dec 27, 2021

I am 58 years old guys. No big drops at all. Nothing more than a couple feet and even that is rare. Im thinking the tokens that are in there are good. The fork feels supported, it stays planted in the turns, and only bottoms out rarely. Mostly on g-outs and those occasional drops. But rarely.
It is probably 50 to 60 deg F where I ride here in western NC. I am going to mess with the tire pressure and lsr today.

Ill report back.
Cary..... Thank you for that 10 mun suspension setup link too.

Sid

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