[Jayphus]

soooo.... its a recon with uturn. here's how i screw it up:

1. take off the uturn knob and the indexing hardware.

2. undo the top cap.

3. loosen the foot nut tap it loose remove it.

4. pull out the uturn/coil/rod assembly.

5. slide a preload spacer onto that rod.

6. put it all back together in reverse order.... having to crunch down on the coil to thread in the top cap.

7. discover that my for no longer will wind out to 130.

after repeating this prcess a few times i understand why the preload spacers limit the fork extrension. my question is:

if i'm not supposed to stack the spacers on the end of the rod, then where the **** do they go???!!

i have had an absolute hell of a time trying to find out where these spacers go. they came with the fork they must go somewhere. and surely.....shooorly i am not doing this right. there's not way that a preload adjustment intended to let me ride higher is going to actually limit travel. that can't be right.

 

[kapusta]

soooo.... its a recon with uturn. here's how i screw it up:

1. take off the uturn knob and the indexing hardware.

2. undo the top cap.

3. loosen the foot nut tap it loose remove it.

4. pull out the uturn/coil/rod assembly.

5. slide a preload spacer onto that rod.

6. put it all back together in reverse order.... having to crunch down on the coil to thread in the top cap.

7. discover that my for no longer will wind out to 130.

after repeating this prcess a few times i understand why the preload spacers limit the fork extrension. my question is:

if i'm not supposed to stack the spacers on the end of the rod, then where the **** do they go???!!

i have had an absolute hell of a time trying to find out where these spacers go. they came with the fork they must go somewhere. and surely.....shooorly i am not doing this right. there's not way that a preload adjustment intended to let me ride higher is going to actually limit travel. that can't be right.

Are you sure those are "preload spacers?" AFAIK, you are not supposed to preload a u-turn coil, it would interfere with the u-turn function being under pressure like that. I don't know why it came with a spacer. It sounds like the spacer used on the air forks to limit the travel.

 

[Jayphus]

i considered that. but why would my uturn fork come with travel spacers?

so really there is no preload adjustment at all? i think that is a major ding against uturn forks. i can live without it i guess but it's been the fundamental adjustment of every wire-sprung suspension device ive ever used.

btw, i do effectively get the preload. due to having to crush the whole assembly into the chassis. it's just that i lose max extension equal to whatever spacers i put in there.

and also- in my extensive searching i have found hints that coild uturn forks are adjustable via internal preload.

 

[kapusta]

i considered that. but why would my uturn fork come with travel spacers?

I don't know. I did not get any spacers with mine. I would guess it was a mistake.

so really there is no preload adjustment at all? i think that is a major ding against uturn forks. i can live without it i guess but it's been the fundamental adjustment of every wire-sprung suspension device ive ever used.

Nope, none. That was initially a turn off for some when u-turn coils came out (it was a concern of mine before I got one) but I rarely hear of anyone caught between springs. It is really a non-issue in practice

btw, i do effectively get the preload. due to having to crush the whole assembly into the chassis. it's just that i lose max extension equal to whatever spacers i put in there.

I'm sure you do get the preload. The point is, though, that it was not meant to do this. You are putting a lot of strain on the u-turn assembly when you start turning the u-turn dial with the spring preloaded. U-turn works by threading the spring into the spring seat. Turning the u-turn knob with a preloaded spring is like turning it when you are still on the bike, that is why there is no preload adjustment.

If your spring is too soft, try the next stiffer spring.

and also- in my extensive searching i have found hints that coild uturn forks are adjustable via internal preload.

Yeah, there is a lot of misinformation out there if you look hard enough. Sure it can be done (as you have discovered) but it is not what it was designed to do. In practice it is just not necessary.

 

[Jayphus]

thanks for the replies.

i think that simply pretending that preload is suddenly not needed is not honest marketing. rockshox should openly recognize that an elementary adjustment is sacrificed for uturn.

 

[kapusta]

thanks for the replies.

i think that simply pretending that preload is suddenly not needed is not honest marketing. rockshox should openly recognize that an elementary adjustment is sacrificed for uturn.

Well, in this case it is not needed. This is coming from the fact that almost nobody seems to miss it. U-turn coils have been around since the Psylo came out (what was that, 8+ years ago?) so there is nothing "sudden" about this, and during that time the lack of preload has not been considered to be an issue.

However, they are not being dishonest about anything. They clearly say in the specs what the adjustments are, and preload is not one of them. In fact, under spring adjustment it says "change spring". For shocks that do have a preload adjustment, under spring adjust it says "preload". How much more clear could it be?

Besides, since when do companies list the features they DON'T have? Do forks without a compression adjustment (which I consider critical) openly state "there is no compression adjustment"?

The only thing they screwed up here was sticking spacers in the box that don't go to your fork.

 

[Jayphus]

yeah i guess you could say that. if they had not put the things in there in the first place i probably would have found out the easy way and saved alot of grief.

i guess im just used to being able to dial in static ride height on everything from rc cars to snowmobiles. i was in denail about the lack of preload adjustment.

well hopefully this little thread will turn up on a google search for someone in the future and they'll have an easier time than i did.