[ddraewwg]

Question for the HH owners. I bought the AVA sleeve from Hammerhead to replace the float R can (mine's an 02 HH). I'm planning to have it PUSH'd but will probably wait till after they relocate. Anyways, I'm just wondering if anyone is running the AVA on the HH and what they set it to. I'm 155lbs and have the dial all the way out (so it's most linear). One thing that I didn't anticipate was that I have to use much more air pressure to get the same amount of sag as when it was just the Float R. I haven't really fiddled with the dial because it runs fine right now (i'm a believer that sometimes keeping it simple is best).

The shock actually feels firmer now than the float, especially in the initial 1/3 of the travel (so small stutter type bumps/rocks/roots). But I still bottom the shock out (that's fine..I expct to with the things I'm doing). I'm thinking that the higher air pressure is the cause of it (dur dur) but because the shock spring is more linear, it's easy(or maybe easier) to bottom the shock. Maybe I should adjust the dial? Put more air pressure? I don't think I want to do that. Really, I'm just curious....I'm gonna have it PUSH'd anyways so these questions won't pertain to my current set up after the modification. Just looking for some feedback, like is this normal? etc. Thanks.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

I weigh the same as you and set the AVA chamber to 40-60%. More than that is too linear & I bottomed. I ran around 120 psi prior to having it PUSH'd. 105 after the service.
They have relocated and are again open for business.

 

[ddraewwg]

Thanks Squeak......

I'll try messing with the AVA sleeve (I talked to you about getting the AVA/PUSH mod..thanks btw). I'll probably ride it around like this for a while before I get it PUSH'd (just had to pay the tax man so I gotta wait a bit......damnit!)

 

[Homebrew]

I completely agree with Squeak. Run the AVA about on half volume. I have mine set about 2.5-3 on the dial. The lighter you are, the lower number (higher volume) you can go. Also, if you don't plan on doing jumps or drops, the higher you can go. I would keep somewhere in the middle range though.

Before the AVA, I had to run about 30+% sag to get full travel out of the shock. With the AVA, 25% sag worked better with much more useable travel. Then when I got the PUSH mods, the pressure did go down some.

 

[ddraewwg]

Cool...

Thanks Homebrew. I knew both you and Squeak ran the AVA PUSH mod so I was hoping to get feedback from you guys. I'm going out on a ride tomorrow and will try your recommendations. Thanks again

 

[ddraewwg]

Much better.....

I reset the sleeve to right around ~2.8...lowered the pressure to about 108 or so and the rear end handled a lot better......smoother coming down rocks/boulders, etc. And just as you said, sag was about 25%. When I had the sleeve all the way out, I bottomed a lot of times throughout the trail so I checked during various spots that I knew I was blowing through the travel before. I still bottomed on occasion but not so much so......

Can't wait to get it PUSH'd though....

Thanks again for the recommendation.....

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

Your preload sounds a little light.
Prior to having it PUSH'd I ran closer to 115-120. Now that you have the AVA volume dialed in, you may want to play around with the preload a bit.

 

[ddraewwg]

?

Preload? On the shock? Are you talking about the sag I'm running? I have about 118 before I messed with the sleeve, then when I adjusted it, I lowered it by about 10 PSI, sat on the bike...looked good enough from there (about 25% travel...1/2 inch sag). I only rode it once since I messed with the settings though.

The ride that I did starts off with a 5 mi climb....straight up!!! Grannying the whole way! It felt better over the bumps than previous on the climb...didn't feel too soft or too firm (i'm not really that picky on the climbs). As long as my rear is not bobbing all over the place, I'm fine. The top of the climb is technical singletrack...lots of craggly football sized rocks. it felt better over those bumps than previous (more comliant...not as harsh as before). The descent starts off with about a 1/2 mile of really gnarly, craggly rocks (really does damage to rims and tires!!!), drops no more than about 2-2 1/2 feet or so. (I didn't bottom through that section). The rest is just fast back down to the road where we'll do some staircases and drops (maybe about 3-3 1/2 feet). I'll bottom there with this new set up.

I've always thought that I run really low pressure in my shock (even pre-AVA) but I would check the sag and it was in the recommended range.

Thoughts?

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

If it feels right, then go with it.
But if you find yourself bottoming excessively or blowing through the travel too quickly then up the preload by 5psi.
And, yes, preload = the amount of air.

 

[ddraewwg]

Ooops...

Seems like I was mistaken...PSI is up around 120.....read the hash marks wrong! dur dur

 

[VT Mike]

And, yes, preload = the amount of air.

I might be wrong, but I think you're mis-using the word preload. Air pressure is just air pressure (which equates to spring rate). Preload is more of a coil spring term, where you mechanically compress the spring (before you get on the bike). So more preload will make the suspension a bit less sensative to small bumps, but the spring rate stays the same once the spring does begin to compress.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

Yeah, you're probably right.