Had a go on an orange 5 last week, and it was very good but felt a little bit sluggish on the climbs. It only had a basic fox RL shock (as standard on the 5’s now).

I know you can upgrade to the RP23, but what is the propedal thing. Does it still give you full travel on proper bumpy stuff but just firm it up on the climbs (like some sort of slow speed compression damping)? And can you leave it in a propedal setting all the time, or is this sort of defeating the object of the suspension of the 5 for downhill stuff.

Is propedal 3 the same as full lockout?

propedal sort of ‘semi’ locks the shock.
it will still move, but is a fair bit firmer.
as i understand it, if you really whack something hard it will pop into the fully open mode.

“like some sort of low speed compression damping”

Bingo

It’ll do what you’re looking for by the sound of things, works for me on my 575.

No, level 3 isn’t a lockout. Just a bit firmer then level 1 and 2, although I can’t really tell the difference.

But don’t get me started on RP23’s. Just had one spring a leak from around the rebound and propedal dial / lever the other day. You wouldn’t believe how much oil it has expelled and is still dribbling while sat in the van waiting to be dropped of for warranty repair!

What Glenh said.

My real life experience is that it slows the compression through the whole stroke at all speeds (high or low impact). I like a really active rear end so leave it open most of the time unless im on a particularly steep climb where I turn it on to level 3.

Anything other than open and it feels dull out back. But then my bro leave its on level 2 permanently on his Slayer and it feels great.

In conclusion: it depends on the bike, rider, terrain and tune of the shock. Also, I havn’t been much help and have most probably confused you more.

Woops 🙂

I think all Fox shocks have some propedal even the R model. Its just set at a certain level. Might be worth finding out how much from Orange before spending money

Oh and just try living with it you can get use to lots of things

Fox Evo RL, will have Propedal and lockout but not the 3 Propedal settings that nobody uses, It will probably be more like the RP2, to be honest The RP23 just has more guff to go wrong.

It’s the same as a vanilla and an rp2, except the vanilla has platform damping on all the time, the rp2 has an on/off switch (good for which ever way your pointing and getting the best out og the single pivot goodness) and the rp23 has 3levels to choose from, which basically means you’ll fiddle with it once and then just turn it on and off.

Oh, and after a year they all need a service, and the best money you can spend will be to send it to TFT and get it Pushed. You’ll then have an AWESOME BIKE 😆

I have and RP23 on my Orange that I run on 3 most of the time unless a long down hill and it hugely changes the feel of the bike. Would not be without it.

I have the same shock on my Trek Fuel and it seems to make no difference whether the pro pedal is on or off. I have even sent it back for checking and was told it is working fine.

So as they say its all about the bike

I was wondering about this as well, as Im about to purchase a 2012 5 frame. Is the extra £100 for the RP23 worth it over the Evo RL? I wasnt sure if the Evo has a level of Pro-pedal or not. My Old Fox float r on my Heckler has factory pro-pedal set as standard at level 2.
I demo’d a Five a few weeks back with a RP23 fitted and it was very wallowy climbing without PP on. So i’d like to confirm whether the new Evo float RL has PP built in as standard.

There is no propedal on the RL is there?

The RL stands for ‘Rebound’ and ‘Lockout’ – so it will have adjustment for rebound and 2 compression settings – Open and Lockout.

You need an RP2 or RP23 if you require propedal.

Propedal isn’t always an adjustment, it’s also a setting within the shock. So models like R and RL will have a degree of propedal dialled in at the factory.

If you look at the side of an R, you’ll see it has 1 or 3 base setups.

I have an RP2 and hardly ever use propedal

but what is the propedal thing.

a shock function to mask poor overall suspension design 😉

On a single pivot I’ve found that the ability to turn off propedal is a good thing. There is a noticeable stiffening of the suspension on any of the shocks that have propedal on all the time like the R or RL. If you get a RP2 or RP23 instead you can really feel the difference when you have it turned off and it makes grip much better and the bike feel plusher. A simple example would be tackling a rooty trail with the propedal on, my bikes back wheel tends to ping off roots at speed and scrabble around when climbing it makes the bike feel more hardtailley whereas it doesn’t with it switched off.

I reckon it’s only really useful on long smooth climbs where it does take out 90% of any bob. I prefer just to run a little more pressure/less sag.

Talk to Loco Tuning

It is hugely dependant upon the suspension system though. On a single pivot bike like the 5, propedal is pretty much essential to prevent it from being a bobbing mess of a bike, but on a DW bike, the suspension system nearly eliminated the need for it.

The above post is spot on. On my Anthem I can barely tell whether Pro-Pedal is on or off it makes that little difference. On my 575, however, it’s essential if you actually want to go uphill in any sort of efficient manner!

I bought a 5 frame about 3 months ago and went for a 2011 over the 2012 as the 2011 has the RP23 fitted as standard. I use PP pos 2 for climbing and off the rest of the time.
You may still find a 2011 at dealers and it is the same as the 2012 other than the shock.

My old Rock Springs had a medium tune Float R, which felt quite lovely in general and never gave me any cause for complaint. I replaced it with a Wolf Ridge – the same frame – with an RP3 and was quite surprised to note that even in positions 1 and 2, the RP3 felt much more prone to pedal bob than the Float R. If I use position 3, then the bike feels firm under pedalling, but totally constipated on anything other than billiard smooth surfaces.

For the most part, I was better off with the Float R.

+1 for “dependant on the bike”.

I have a Van R (factory set propedal) on a Tracer. After a long setup period the result is a removal of “virtually all the propedal” by Tft on the basis that the suspension design just doesnt need it.

I have an efficient XC style first 1/3rd to my travel which opens nicely, akin to a 140 bike, in a plush manner when needed.

Bizarrely although I have ridden Fives with RP23s and the on off is very noticeable, I don’t notice it much on my Alpine 160. Don’t know any that is.