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I have a set of 2008 fox 36 van R forks and thinking its time for something diferent. Having had a great experience with a pushed dhx on the rear i’m thinking a custom tune might be the way to go.

So i’m looking at an avalanche advantage damper upgrade, has anyone done this to their forks? how easy is it to install youself?

Alternative would be to sell the fox and replace it with a marzocchi 55 rc3 ti fork(£££) or a new fox van rc2(£££).

Do it and tell us how you get on

I’m very tempted as both my forks have traits which the cartridge will be able to improve according to the emails in the last couple of weeks back and forth with Craig.

I’m close to buying… but I can’t decide whether to upgrade my 55 RC3 Ti to reduce the brake dive and increase the control, or upgrade my 36 Float RC2 to prevent the hydraulic lock on big/repetative hits. I know the 55 will always be the plusher fork due to the Ti coil but the Float is 250g lighter… I was going to decide today and speak to Craig this afternoon 😕

Cheaper for me than new forks as both mine are 1.5 steerer so worth buttons second hand… and I like the 1.5 steerer and stem as I’ve not managed to break one (touches wood).

Custom tuned, new RC2 inverted FIT cart. is another option.

I’d forgoten about that option Loco. Something that intrigues me about the Avalanche option is the the return to open bath and infinite user tweakability (if you get the tools and are willing to get stuck in).

Some chaps I rode with in the USA a few years ago had very good things to say about the Avy stuff… and I respect their opinions as they were some hard riders.

Cheers Loco, I didn’t realise the new fox bits could be retro fitted, will bear that in mind. do you know how much that damper unit would cost?

Messiah if you beat me to the order button I would be interested to hear how you get on with the Avalanche.

endurogangster – what “issues” with the fork are you wanting to improve?

Excuse my inner geek.

I’m hoping to get a better level of suspension control such as that offered by the CCDB I sometimes run on the back. Of the two forks I have I prefer the Float for low speed stuff as it has less wallow and is more controlled, but once I up the speed and hit the big stuff the Float becomes harsh (hydrolocks inside?) and the 55 RC3 Ti becomes by far the better fork soaking up the big hits like the rear… CCDB and RC3 Ti feel ballanced but only at speed.

I tried a Bos Deville which I realy liked as it was controlled with little brake dive and yet felt good at speed; unfortunatley it bottomed harshly off bigger hits and was a bit more flexy. My ideal fork would have the stiffness of the Float/55, the low speed chassis control of the Deville and the high speed bump absorption of the 55 RC3 Ti.

Craig reckons he can do that in either of my forks… but which one?

Edit… Craig like me reckons the 55 will always feel better due to the coil but I’m tempted to do the Float to get the weight saving 🙄

I’d like the ability to adjust the low speed compression as the fork is on an all mountain bike so, this would help it climb a bit better and still retain the plushness of a coil fork, also to have a more controlled rebound action, the fox is ok but doesn’t feel as good as my dt swiss fork on my hardtail.

Mainly looking at it as an alternative to shelling out for the 55 ti, which I understand to be a great fork with long service intervals but the avy looks to be easy to self service/tune in the future. Weight isn’t really of an issue, I had considered the deville but lack of UK service centre/spare part availability puts me off!

36 Float RC2 to prevent the hydraulic lock

What’s the issue here, are you referring to the oil in the lowers migrating to the top of the air piston or is this something else?

What year are they?

I’ve just converted my 36 Talas RC2s to Float RC2s, is it something I should be concerned about?

I can only speak for their rear shocks……. and how much I miss having one!

Do it.

dirtydog – it’s an issue with the RC2 damper thats in my Float RC2’s. If I try to use the compression adjustments (LSC/HSC) to (say) limit fork dive then the fork feels really harsh on big impacts as if it’s lost the ability to respond to impacts. I.e unable to move enough oil to dampen the impact or respond in time for the next one; hence the term hydraulic-lock (or hydrolock for short). Basically I have to leave the LSC and HSC pretty much full open or the fork feels terrible.

Which RC2 damper is it bladder at top or bottom? and have you replaced the air piston seal recently and done the foam ring/scraper seal mod on it? if applicable?

Sound like mine!

I usually dial in 8 clicks of LSC to control dive but they do become a bit unresponsive to everything else, I leave the HSC wide open.

Loco – compression adjusters at the bottom, not sure where the bladder is tbh. They were “serviced” by Mojo a while back and it made no difference hence thinking ditch the RC2 and go Avalanche rather than tweak what is there. I’ve been running them at 130mm travel on a hardtail hence the effects of the problems are minimised so I’ve not bothered to do anything with them. But I’ve got some other forks for the hardtail now so I could put these back on the big bike at 160mm rather than the RC3 Ti’s if I can get them to perform better.

Interested in your thoughts.

Ah, they’re the older FIT damper (newer ones with comp adjustments on top).

Also air seal upgrades not applicable.

The Inverted dampers (newer) versions are available, with a retro sized top cap as the top cap size was changed from 2011 onwards.

Thanks Loco, I did speak to Mojo about the FIT upgrade program but they actually advised me against it as mine were not actually broken and the new one was not hugely better for what I wanted… do you think the newer one is much better?

From what I remember a new FIT cartridge and service is £300 so about the same as the Avy cartridge… with the Avy bonus being I can service that myself as it’s open-bath.

Loads of Any info over on the Knolly MTBR forum:

Q and A with Craig from Avy
http://forums.mtbr.com/knolly/knolly-avalanche-q-819428.html

Avy Lyrik
http://forums.mtbr.com/knolly/lyrik-avalanche-%3D-good-786602.html

Avy Marz 55
http://forums.mtbr.com/knolly/avyd-marzocchi-55-a-829884.html

Having had an Avy rear shock, I can highly recommend their products. It’s a shame they don’t get the exposure they deserve.

Loads of reading there thanks doof doof.

They’re certainly more reliable than the older ones, with a tune they’ll perform better too.
Looking at the forks as a whole, it’s stuff like bushing fit, oil and also the SKF seals that make quite a difference too.
I haven’t ridden an AVY cart. yet but would be interested to see how they perform in comparison, open bath system have some +ve and -ve factors over a closed system.