[MrR]

Hello,

I have a bike equipped with a Fox Float 150RL.
Since I am kind of a lightweight, (150lbs) I don't need to add too much air to the fork to reach the desired sag. When I add the amount of air that Fox specifies, I won't come close to the 25% of sag I would like to have. I ended up with adding around 55 psi, but then I experience excessive brake dive. Since this particular model lacks compression adjustment, I was wondering if there's anything I can do to prevent this. I saw that for the open bath models, there is no such thing as a cartridge with compression adjustment. Is it possible to just swap the current cartridge with a FIT RLC one or it isn't that easy?

Regards

 

[Renovatio]

Sag is a little weird. 25% should be the amount of sag for all riders, depends on your style. Personally I find a lot of people ride their forks a bit too soft.

I would try riding it near fox's recommend psi. If you aren't diving or small bumps aren't killing yo--then go for it.

 

[hatake]

That sounds too little air, but it you are achieving 25% sag, then it is what it is... I think the only way you can change the compression would be to use heavier weight oil, like 15 wt. But it cuts both ways, you maybe adding too much rebound force too - which you can control. Try it out and report back!

 

[MrR]

Sag is a little weird. 25% should be the amount of sag for all riders, depends on your style. Personally I find a lot of people ride their forks a bit too soft.

I would try riding it near fox's recommend psi. If you aren't diving or small bumps aren't killing yo--then go for it.

When I follow Fox's recommended psi, I won't come close to 25% of sag and will miss quite a bit of travel.

That sounds too little air, but it you are achieving 25% sag, then it is what it is... I think the only way you can change the compression would be to use heavier weight oil, like 15 wt. But it cuts both ways, you maybe adding too much rebound force too - which you can control. Try it out and report back!

That might be a pretty good idea, maybe then I can also replace the seals with the new SKF ones since I read good things about them. I guess the brand of oil doesn't really matter?

 

[hatake]

You can find a bunch of alternative oil threads here, so look for that if you are picky. I just use Fox 10 wt at $20 or so a bottle. As to changing to FIT, some people are having stiction issues - but you may actually like tighter feel. If you aren't hacking away with big drops, I'd just go with open bath RLC, easier on maintenance.

 

[MrR]

You can find a bunch of alternative oil threads here, so look for that if you are picky. I just use Fox 10 wt at $20 or so a bottle. As to changing to FIT, some people are having stiction issues - but you may actually like tighter feel. If you aren't hacking away with big drops, I'd just go with open bath RLC, easier on maintenance.

I used Motorex oil in the past for my Marzocchi fork, no complaints about it. On the Fox website, I didn't find anything about open bath RLC models, just found some FIT RLC ones. Anyway, a cartridge swap would be very expensive, wouldn't it?

 

[MrR]

Today I replaced the stock oil with Motorex 15wt oil. I haven't really tested the bike yet, but the fork seems a bit more firm now. However, when I released all the air, I couldn't completely compress the fork. Is it possible that not all the oil went out before I filled the damper side with 165ml and the spring side with 30ml of oil?

 

[hatake]

Amount of oil inside air chamber controls the bottom out. Some folks use minimal (like 3 cc) amount of 80wt oil in order to use up travel. You didn't happen to pour 30 cc in the air chamber, did you? 30 cc is for the lower lubrication, not air chamber.

 

[MrR]

Amount of oil inside air chamber controls the bottom out. Some folks use minimal (like 3 cc) amount of 80wt oil in order to use up travel. You didn't happen to pour 30 cc in the air chamber, did you? 30 cc is for the lower lubrication, not air chamber.

No, I didn't pour the oil in the air chamber, I only removed the lower legs of the fork.

 

[MrR]

I drained some oil from the damper side of the fork and now it's able to get full travel.
Not sure if Fox's specifications are a little on the higher side or that there was still some oil in it when I poured in the new oil.

It seems there is less brake diving now, but it's too early to say how the fork performs after the oil change. In a few weeks we're going for an enduro ride, that will be a good test.