Has anyone had one of these fitted and if so what do you reckon?

My forks need a service before i start heading out on the hills more regularly anyway and saw this on the recent TF Tuned newsletter. Not sure i want to pay that amount extra just for HSC though. But if there is more to it then spill the beans.

Before i give them a call i thought i would ask away.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fast-damper-upgrade-on-pike-rct3

Good shout boxxer7 🙂

No problem! Mine should be back from TF Monday.

Any updates Boxxer7

What do you want to know?

I had a set of Pikes with a knackered Charger damper, it was cheaper to put the Fast cartridge in than replace all the RS parts, so went that way.

I bought them broken anyway for peanuts, to try something like this, or the Avalanche conversion. I went this way just because it was a bit easier dealing with TF than someone in the US.

What i wanted to know was if the damper is a decent upgrade for the price or if its just a case of adding high speed damping with a new shiny knob.

Im calling TF Tuned on another matter tomorrow so i was going to have a chat about having this fitted. But as with everything else i just wanted some real world experience.

Possibly a bit early to say, I’ve only ridden it twice in sh*tty conditions.

If it addresses some of the quibbles I had when I last used a set of Pikes, then that’s great.

I guess if you have a fully functioning fork, it might be harder to justify than my scenario. Though TF did a few other bits to mine as well, it may not be so easy to isolate each change.

Riding all day Sat & racing on Sunday (nice weather!) so I will have a much better opinion after that.

Cheers hob nob, i had some problems with my pikes so i have sent these in to Tf tuned for the FAST damper to be fitted as well as the repairs.

Had chance to get a few rides with it now.

My biggest gripe with the pike has been the spiking which the fast damper has sorted. The damping doesn’t feel over whelmed by hitting bigger Rocks and root sections at speed it feels much closer to my old 55 Evo Ti damping wise.

I’ve stuck with TFs settings so far but I’m going to add another click on the HSC but will do that when I’m out next.

Is it worth the money? That’s up to you to decide, I had been toying with the idea of the 36 but knew this was coming so held out, I’m glad I had it done.

What i wanted to know was if the damper is a decent upgrade for the price or if its just a case of adding high speed damping with a new shiny knob.

Im calling TF Tuned on another matter tomorrow so i was going to have a chat about having this fitted. But as with everything else i just wanted some real world experience.

The external high speed adjuster is needless icing on the cake really, as all they do is preload the high speed shim stack or something – supposedly a poor substitute for tailored shims anyway.

Which by the way, is exactly what the Fast modification does. The rebound and compression shims are all tuned to your weight which will make a huge difference. They have also tried to remove the spikey feeling some people got from the already great Pike.

If you can afford it, go for it….mass produced stuff is never going to feel as good as something set up for you. 😉

Had a few rides now with the FAST damper, on the first ride i was a bit underwhelmed. I stuck to the TF Tuned settings and i changed nothing.

On the second ride i dropped the HSC one click and it changed the fork completely, such a good initial feeling with loads of support when you hit the big stuff.

I then had a wee play with the settings now that i had my base tune and there is a fair bit of change in each click of the compression dials, sometimes you don’t think much is happening with other forks when you change the settings but these now have a very distinct feeling with each click.

So far i am pretty happy 🙂