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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

Well guys, just got back from riding a ton of roots up and down hill. Probably about 8 - 10 miles worth. I didn't have time to mess with the LSC at all today as I was in a hurry to get some ride time with my son. I did however lower the air pressure in the tires from 30 and 28 to 26 and 24 front to back respectively. I could definitely feel a nicer difference going over roots and square edge bumps. Bike climbs crazy good. Going downhill singletrack with roots and rocks, the bike just isn't as plush. I can definitely feel harshness and it feels like the front end wants to dart if I'm not holding tightly.
I think maybe tomorrow if I can escape for a bit, I'll go try to slow up the LSC and try to get the HSC to act a little better.

Surprisingly though, the lower air pressure in the tires made little to no difference in rolling resistance. I was pleasantly surprised. But DANG this Ripley climbs. Power into the pedals and there is little to no squat, just forward motion. And that was with the shock in medium setting.

I think I'm going in the right direction though.

Thanks again guys and to you Cary.

Sid

 

Tire pressure will definitely make difference in getting grip and control.

as I said before, I’m usually around 22-23psi up front and 25-26 out back. Higher volume rims and tires of today allow for lower pressures without the slap of rolling resistance loss that we had before. In many cases, you’re faster at lower pressure because of the increase in control thanks to your tire conforming to smaller obstacles.

When pressure is too high on a modern set up you end up with a really harsh and bumpy ride. The tire can’t conform and you end up with a lot of uncontrollable rebound from the tire.

In all honesty, I adjust tire pressure before every ride. Conditions and trails dictate what tires and pressures I want to run. Roots, rocky, wet, muddy, pressure is on the lower end. Fast, grippy, smooth flow with jumps, pressure goes up.

With Higher volume tires that we have now, a few psi in either direction can made a pretty noticeable difference.

 

Ripley V4, same here sir. What do you weigh can I ask and what do you primarily ride?

Thanks Frank

 

The damper in that fork does not have enough compression damping for you. So you have to compromise with spring rate and progression (air pressure and tokens) which means you need more rebound damping to control it etc.

You end up in a spiral of contradictions that don't help. Ultimately you need a much much firmer base-tune. Like twice as firm as stock. Fox doesn't offer any, I do custom tuning but I'm on the other side of the planet.

 

Dougal, Im all ears sir and more than willing to listen.
By you saying theres not enough compression damping for me, ate you saying Im running out of clucks to make it softer essentially? I do not follow why a more firm or 2x firmer than stock will give me the plushness I seek. And by you saying theres not enough for ME, are saying me being 200 lbs and 6'3?
Can you explain briefly how the air spring and tokens will give me more compressio. Adjustment?

Thanks a ton Dougal

 

My Ripley V4 has (kinda) DVO front and rear suspension. Topaz T3 rear shock and used to run a Sapphire D1 fork, waiting on a Diamond D1 to be shipped.

I weight in at about 200lbs as well.

the two Wheelsets I run are both I9 Enduro 305 wheels. Fronts are Minion DHF (2.5” 3C Maxterra) front and Dissector (2.4” 3C Maxterra). Rear are Dissector (2.4” 3C Maxterra) and the other Rekon (2.4” 3C Maxterra)

I swap up wheels with trails, conditions or bikes I’m riding.

I tend to ride standard North East tight, twisty and chunky trails. Some newer stuff is machine built flow.

I will also bring my bikes on trips and this summer brought my Ripley on trip to ride in Pisgah.

So, I basically ride a lot of different stuff.

 

DAMN, you do get around. Pisgah is right down the road from me.
So you immediately swapped out the Fox stuff for DVO stuff? My fox stock stuff is 130/120. You still there with your DVO stuff? Why'd you swap?

Sid