[Danzzz88]

Anyone have experience with the FAST SC4 cartridge damper? It's time to rip out the crappy Select damper from my ZEB...was originally thinking AVY cart or selling the fork and getting a new Dorado but AVY is the other side of the planet, more expensive and has less adjustment...Dorado requires 20mm axle, cost 1500 for the best model and would need a new wheel for the 20mm axle and I'm plenty happy with the ZEB's stiffness as it is.

The FAST looks very intriguing, offer low, mid and high speed compression but it seems there is nothing on the Web in terms of how it performs...only older damper modifications from years ago.

SC4 cartridge for fork ROCK SHOX YARI REVELATION ET LYRIK, FOX 36, MARZOCCHI Z1 Maintenance service No Fork model RS ZEB

Fast Suspension offers a cartridge for ROCK SHOX YARI REVELATION ET LYRIK, FOX 36, MARZOCCHI Z1 !

www.fast-suspension.com

 

[POAH]

Anyone have experience with the FAST SC4 cartridge damper? It's time to rip out the crappy Select damper from my ZEB...was originally thinking AVY cart or selling the fork and getting a new Dorado but AVY is the other side of the planet, more expensive and has less adjustment...Dorado requires 20mm axle, cost 1500 for the best model and would need a new wheel for the 20mm axle and I'm plenty happy with the ZEB's stiffness as it is.

The FAST looks very intriguing, offer low, mid and high speed compression but it seems there is nothing on the Web in terms of how it performs...only older damper modifications from years ago.

what is wrong with your current fork?

 

[Danzzz88]

what is wrong with your current fork?

Initially wasn't happy with small bump performance so fitted a Smashpot...that improved things and the bottom out control works fine. But now with the increased mid stroke support larger hits feel a bit harsher but at the same time the fork uses too much travel o these hits as it's like there is almost no HSC whatsoever...it's like it's just blowing off. It's a fairly supportive fork but feels like I'm riding a pogo stick around...things feel more supple when I open up rebound but then the fork wallows and gets unstable feeling like the front end is loose. If I close rebound it just packs down and feels like it sits deeper in it's sag as there is no compression to stop it packing.

 

[POAH]

Initially wasn't happy with small bump performance so fitted a Smashpot...that improved things and the bottom out control works fine. But now with the increased mid stroke support larger hits feel a bit harsher but at the same time the fork uses too much travel o these hits as it's like there is almost no HSC whatsoever...it's like it's just blowing off. It's a fairly supportive fork but feels like I'm riding a pogo stick around...things feel more supple when I open up rebound but then the fork wallows and gets unstable feeling like the front end is loose. If I close rebound it just packs down and feels like it sits deeper in it's sag as there is no compression to stop it packing.

stiffer spring? - £400 for a damper is hugely expensive. Have you tried turning the knob on the fork to see what affect that has? AFAIK it preloads the shim stack but how effective that is I don't know. You could get the stock damper tuned which would be a lot cheaper. @Dougal will be able to give better and correct advice than I can.

 

[Danzzz88]

stiffer spring? - £400 for a damper is hugely expensive. Have you tried turning the knob on the fork to see what affect that has? AFAIK it preloads the shim stack but how effective that is I don't know. You could get the stock damper tuned which would be a lot cheaper. @Dougal will be able to give better and correct advice than I can.

£330 it works out before postage..
But I save about that by buying the Select over the Ultimate...
Select damper is pretty bad...untuneable and the compression dial does literally nothing so I don't want to waste any money on servicing it.

 

[POAH]

£330 it works out before postage..
But I save about that by buying the Select over the Ultimate...
Select damper is pretty bad...untuneable and the compression dial does literally nothing so I don't want to waste any money on servicing it.

Are you thinking about buying another fork?

 

[Danzzz88]

Are you thinking about buying another fork?

Well yea and no...only other fork I would consider is the Dorado...but wouldn't want to get the lower end models..and 1500 for top model is too much, then on top of that would need a new hub and wheel lacing.. making my front carbon ti hub and stans carbon rim go to waste..so would be looking at nearly 2 grand all in...plus they don't do a DH hub to match my rear hub. So £330 sounds like a steal if I can get my fork feeling right considering how much I spent on the rest of the bike.

 

[POAH]

Well yea and no...only other fork I would consider is the Dorado...but wouldn't want to get the lower end models..and 1500 for top model is too much, then on top of that would need a new hub and wheel lacing.. making my front carbon ti hub and stans carbon rim go to waste..so would be looking at nearly 2 grand all in...plus they don't do a DH hub to match my rear hub. So £330 sounds like a steal if I can get my fork feeling right considering how much I spent on the rest of the bike.

Mezzer?

 

[Danzzz88]

Mezzer?

I don't think so..I much prefer coil in general...if I was to get a single crown air fork it would be the EXT era but I rather stick with coil.

 

[HollyBoni]

I've heard good things about M-Suspensiontech in Germany, and he tunes the Select dampers.

http://instagr.am/p/CVidtgEsmtf/

MST Charger Select Tuning – M-Suspensiontech GmbH

www.m-suspensiontech.com

No personal experience tho, i'm sending him my Pike soon. Pretty reasonable prices IMO.

I was looking at the Fast too and couldn't really find too much info. Can't really find anything on servicing either, and their manual says the damper must be serviced by "an authorized service center". I don't know how strict are they on this, but if that's the case, for me that would mean shipping the damper abroad for every service.

 

[mike156]

Can't offer any experience with the SC4, I have had the FAST 3-way damper in a Pike though. Their quality and design seemed high for machining and finish. Compared to the 2017 RS RTC3 damper it replaced, it was great. Probably about equal to the Charger 2.1 RC2/Ultimate damper.

I'd be curious to try out the SC4 and compare it to the AVY I have now. Doesn't seem likely though as I really like the AVY damper.

 

[Jesse Hill]

I think I’d look at the mst upgrade for the charger RC. I’m actually a bit surprised more like Vorsprung haven’t made a Fractive modification for it since there are a lot of them out there in the Lyriks and Zebs. Or Push who spent all the time re engineering the charger 2 to use the HC97 to make a decent damper become even better but seems the charger RC with a simple piston and shim engineering could take a mediocre at best damper and turn it into something really good for what I’d think wouldn’t be nearly as costly. Usually they have their reasons or something is shortcoming on the original design and can’t be worked around (like the dpx2) but looking at the mst upgrade it looks like it would turn it into a modern grip/grip2 style damper and possibly have even better internal HSC tuning capabilities.

 

[Danzzz88]

Trouble with the MST is it's half the cost of the complete FAST damper just for what is basically a shim stack and piston and I believe you have to send the damper to Germany for them to do it. The FAST is a complete new unit, with low, mid and high speed adjustability and a better rebound stack that isn't plastic for only twice the price but only need to wait and pay for it to be shipped to me and drop straight into the fork rather than send the damper/fork to Germany.. pay postage/insurance and wait for it to be returned.

 

[mike156]

I mean, out every suspension mod I've tried, two where actually very apparent on their impact.

1. DSD Runt
2. Coil shock

#2 came with just as many negatives as positives and it wasn't a clear winner, but the impact was very noticable. I have 3 other buddies that have all picked up the Runt for the Lyrik and all of them have been very happy with it.

 

[Jesse Hill]

Mike 156 makes a point. The air springs can be improved and the springs generally make a bigger difference. I think for the Zeb you might consider the luftkappe as there is larger lower leg volume so ending progression won’t be as great a concern with it as the lyrik. Also as they say imitation Is the greatest form of flattery so you might want to look at the RS 2022 zeb flight deck service manual and see what that air piston looks like.

 

[Danzzz88]

I have a Smashpot already installed...it's the lack of HSC support that is the issue...I'm already 5lb higher spring rate than recommended by Vorsprung and getting around 20% sag on a 180mm fork. The problem is on square edges the fork just pushes right through it's travel and feels like it gets hung up creating harshness...the rebound is set fast but because it is compressing so much the transition between compression and rebound is not fast enough even though the rebound speed itself is set probably faster than it should be...so the fork just momentarily hangs up and stays deep in it's travel before re extending.

 

[HollyBoni]

Trouble with the MST is it's half the cost of the complete FAST damper just for what is basically a shim stack and piston and I believe you have to send the damper to Germany for them to do it. The FAST is a complete new unit, with low, mid and high speed adjustability and a better rebound stack that isn't plastic for only twice the price but only need to wait and pay for it to be shipped to me and drop straight into the fork rather than send the damper/fork to Germany.. pay postage/insurance and wait for it to be returned.

From what I understand he does something with the rebound as well (google translate says "new midvalve in the rebound stage"). You can just send the damper which is a pretty small package to ship.

But yeah, I did the math too and the FAST is more fancy for sure, but if the fork will do what I want with just an MST tune (mine is a 2.1 RC) for ~half the price then i'm fine personally, but we're all different.
I'm still not sure about the service side do. I want to do everything myself, will FAST even give you a service manual, and sell you parts if needed? It's a bit funny to see an aftermarket part where they say "any attempt by the owner to dissasemble will void the warranty". 😁

 

[POAH]

Compared to the 2017 RS RTC3 damper it replaced, it was great. Probably about equal to the Charger 2.1 RC2/Ultimate damper.

That isn't a glowing report.

 

[reo-fahrer]

I'd recommend MST, Mario knows what he's doing and over on mtb-news.de there's a lot of positive feedback. It's just plain forward new pistons and shims, no special stuff, easy to work on

 

[Cary]

Trouble with the MST is it's half the cost of the complete FAST damper just for what is basically a shim stack and piston and I believe you have to send the damper to Germany for them to do it. The FAST is a complete new unit, with low, mid and high speed adjustability and a better rebound stack that isn't plastic for only twice the price but only need to wait and pay for it to be shipped to me and drop straight into the fork rather than send the damper/fork to Germany.. pay postage/insurance and wait for it to be returned.

Replacing the piston and shim stack is basically making an entirely new damper (unless the midvalve dominates so much it can’t be tuned or there is a fundamental bad design of the cartridge that limits oil flow or prevents it being controlled). The fact the tuner has a shock dyno indicates he is actually measuring and aiming for a specific tune rather than just changing things until it feels right. Perhaps email and ask what effects his changes have and if he willing to share his before and after graphs.