You can get a lot of what you need by lowering the negative pressure and keeping the poploc. You haven't told us what negative/positive pressures you are running.
le_buzz said:
Thanks for the info. On my last ride I tried setting the floodgate about halfway
but with the compression dial all the way open, and with the red rebound knob
on the bottom of the right leg all the way to the right, which I think made the rebound all the way fast.
Reading about some of the things you've tried, I think you need to go back to basics on your suspension setup.
With the Pike (poploc) you have:
- two air chambers to tune the spring rate
- a rebound adjust
- a lockout control (poploc)
- a blow-off threshold for the compression (floodgate)
It sounds like you haven't set up the air pressures properly. All other changes are sticking plaster until you get the air pressures right. I'd be very surprised if you've got 200 psi in your positive air chamber. You need to be accurate with air pressures.
The dual air concept allows you lots of fine tuning of the fork feel. The way most people seem to be approaching dual air setups these days is to set a positive pressure that means you get to use most of the travel with the bigger hits - this is usually less than the Rockshox recommendation. The negative pressure usually works out best if kept a little lower than the positive pressure, but this is worth experimenting with *a lot*. If you keep the negative too close to the positive, the top part of the stroke becomes too soft and the travel falls through the midstroke before the rising rate of the positive spring suddenly comes into play. It sounds like you have this situation. It is very disconcerting.
As you lower the negative pressure, the spring behaviour becomes more 'joined up'. I would recommend lowering the negative pressure just enough to eliminate the 'falling through the midstroke' feeling. This probably means no more than 10 psi lower than the positive, although some riders find they need more difference. You need to start making your changes in 5psi increments and you need to know what pressures you are running. Currently you have told us you don't know whether you are running 190 or 200 in the positive chamber, both of which sound far too high to be believable.
The rebound adjust is responsible for delivering most of the grip out of the fork. Winding it all the way to the extreme ends of its travel results in a fork that will not be working properly. i.e. no grip... pogo stick... another broken wrist accident beckoning. If you have wound it all the way slow, the fork will be packing down and will again have less grip and the geometry will steepen leading to the chance of the fork tucking under. The ride will be harsh in both cases. To set up rebound it is probably easiest to start with it too fast and dial it in until the trail chatter starts to smooth out. You shouldn't be planning any aggressive moves until you have got it close. From the point where things smooth out, you have a turn or two for fine adjustment before the fork will definitely be too slow.
If you change the spring rate, the rebound will need more fine adjustment. If you lower positive air pressure, the rebound should be set faster. If you lower the negative air pressure, the rebound can afford to be a bit slower - this is a nice effect; if you tune the rebound for small bumps, the fork will take big hits in a more controlled way and the rebound won't throw you off the bike.
I think that's about it. You would do well to get the basic setup right before getting a poploc adjust. If you need more slow speed compression control after doing this setup, then it is time for a poploc adjust.
