Hi my Fox Float CTD evolution is bottoming out even on small drops. I opened it to try putting a bigger volume spacer in it. However, its already got the biggest spacer in.the bike is an orange Segment, I’m 14 stone and it has 290 psi in the shock.

It’s bottoming on 12inch jumps.

any suggestions? Can I add grease or oil to take up more volume?

How much sag?

What about the EVOL air sleeve upgrade?

EVOL air sleeve review

When was it last serviced? With that kinda pressure your dampin sounds bust

Hi,

18% sag at 300psi now. 7mm on a 35mm stroke shock.

The shock is 2 rides old. The bike was an ex demo fleet and the air shaft was chipped. This is a replacement. They both behaved the same. The bloke at orange suggested pumping it up more, it’s not stopped bottoming.

I thought the evolution Sleve increased air volume? I thought the aim with bottoming out was to decrease volume?

A) Are you remembering to set it to Descend mode before setting sag?
B) Try 15% as long as it doesn’t take you over max pressure

I used one of these a couple of years ago on holiday and it appeared to have very little compression damping – I was bottoming it out constantly on a 140mm travel bike and I’m lighter than you.

Fife andy, yes sag is set in descend mode.

My shock pumps only go to 300! I’m a bit reluctant to pump away madly and guess the pressure. 🙂

Just checked fox’s guide. Indeed, dont go over 300psi.

I have a similar experience to chiefgrooveguru, and have to get down to 15% to stop blowing through all the travel, and went as low as 12% in an attempt to firm up Climb and Trail modes

really shouldn’t be bottoming out with 18% sag.

The evol can won’t be of much use as you’ll have to pump more pressure to get the same sag. You can’t really tune the shock either without replacing most of the internals and that costs £180 from TFtuned.

The CTD evolution is the shitist of shit shocks TBH

Give TFtuned a phone tomorrow and be prepaired to spend some cash or there is the manitou macleod shock too thats a decent item and not expensive.

The segment is a 110mm bike.i expected to bottom it, but not on such small jumps 🙁

Bump for suggestions

Don’t bother with descend mode. Keep it in trail mode.

My orange needed some compression damping at all times. It transformed the bike when I upgraded the shock.

Does it move around too much in normal riding?
Is blowing through the travel on these drops causing other problems like it not being able to handle any bumps afterwards?

Single pivots like the Segment will blow through to bottom out easily, but its not usually a problem in that it does not effect its performance elsewhere, infact they work very well elsewhere.

I remember old Marins where just like this, super xc bikes but did blow through travel on drops. Not really an issue though as it did not impact the ride so you just accepted that and got the great performance everywhere else.

Keep putting more pressure in it until it explodes?

I’d second the send away for service and tuning. Based on your weight, you (Like me) are on the outside edge of the envelope when it comes to a standard tune anyway.

Your too heavy for it, they seem to design them for light weight XC whippets, not normal people.

Either, speak to TF Tuned or buy something more suitable to you, your bike and your riding.

Stuffing more air/volume spacers in it is not the answer.

Don’t bother with descend mode. Keep it in trail mode.

That’s about the only option left that doesn’t involve a large outlay of cash.
If you are blowing travel that easily, Trail mode will still be plenty plush enough anyway.

Your too heavy for it, they seem to design them for light weight XC whippets, not normal people.

Nice theory, but a quick browse round the web says its a pretty common problem with the Float CTD. At <60kg, i’m certainly not too heavy and had exactly the same experience. Standard tune of the shock just doesn’t offer enough damping in any of the 3 modes.

Van Halen what shock did you upgrade to? It’s a 165 mm shock so that limits my options.

Stato- it feels brilliant everywhere, it just bottoms on small jumps and drops.

No idea- I’d rather avoid that 🙂

So options include

Monarch rt3 medium/medium tune£220
Manitou mecloud £200 odd if I can find one in stock
Custom tune £190+

Fox dps shock for £120 off ebay. Would this be any better? It’s just the basic one

Fox dpsfactory £450

Any other wonder solutions

Is the shock actually long enough?

I’d say there’s a problem with the shock. I’m heavier than you and ran a 2014 CTD Evo shock on my 5 29 without problem. I now have the current Fox Performance shock on my Segment and that’s fine also and doesn’t bottom out.

Does it bottom out hard or do you just notice afterwards that the O-ring has gone all the way?

This is the second shock I’ve had. The are both the same. The first one was replaced due to a chip.

It’s bottomed out hard once. That was jumping off a 2inch high root. I don’t notice the rest of the time, but the o ring is pushed right off the shock several times each ride.

Is the shock long enough- I’d hope so as the bike and both shocks come from the factory

Try taking all the volume spacers out. I temporarily ruined my nomad by adding volume spacers. It did completely the opposite of what logic says should happen. I couldn’t get a setting I was happy with and stopped enjoying riding the bike. All the spacers did was making it feel springy and undamped even with the rebound slowed right down. In the end I took all the spacers out. Filled it up according to santacruz’s reccomended figure and the bike instantly felt amazing again.
Got to be worth a try before spending any money.

Worth speaking to TF/Mojo and checking the tune of the shock is correct for the frame and also discussing with them if there is anything they can do with the compression side of the shock.

See what tune it has (on the air can) – blue is compression, alternatively if there is a 4 digit code eg “CWGX” you can enter it here and the Fox site will tell you the spec:

http://www.ridefox.com/help.php?m=bike&ref=topnav

As Sir HC the tune may not be suitable for the frame, also how effective is the damping? Any squelching noises when the shock is compressed? Blank spot before damping “engages”. Both indicate air/nitrogen in the damper fluid which a service will cure.

I service a lot of Fox shocks where guys/gals have gone down the volume spacer route when the actual problem was a damper issue. Usually an easy fix.

BTW you can change the tune of a Fox shock no problem

It’s a short travel bike with a short shock, linear kinematics and you’re heavier than a standard tune is designed for – it’s going to need quite a bit of compression damping, especially high speed.

I thought the Float Evo on the Spectral I hired was awful in comparison to my Spitfire’s DBair. But they’re expensive and I’m not sure the Inline (which is the one that would fit) is reliable yet.

I’ve heard very good things about the X-Fusion shocks if you’re on a tighter budget.

Aaaargh! Kinematics! That is all. I have no useful contribution other than another tick in my mtb bullshit bingo card.

Took the segment round glentress red today. It bottomed out in pro pedal mode going up to the buzzards nest- I wasn’t impressed.

But I’ve set personal best times for almost half of the segments and it felt amazing pretty much every where.

So despite bottoming out repeatedly according to the o ring, it rides brilliantly.

It’s got 300psi and a wee bit of oil in the main chamber along with the biggest volume spacer.

I’ll do something about it if it stops feeling awesome

I had the same issue with my fox shock. Maxed out on spacers, sag set correctly and could bottom it out bunny hopping off a kerb. Got it Push Tuned at TF Tuned which improved it alot, but still bottomed out too easily on small jumps and drops. I’ve finally given up and got a new shock (CC DB Inline) and after only one ride with an initial attempt at tuning it already feels better than the Push’d Fox shock. Maybe one for the lighter riders or a bike with better suited Kinematics.

I went to a coil. It was back in the day but given oranges haven’t really changed its relevant. I’m amazed orange sell bikes without a decent shock.(well I do -money) It ruins the bike and puts people off of single pivots as it’s impossible to get them to feel nice. A decent shock with adjustable compression is necessary on most non linkage single pivots as the leverage ratios are generally a bit regressive or linear so you need to slow it down at the end of the travel. For a 4inch bike you shouldn’t be looking for dh performance anyway it should be set up yo take the edge off the hits. As most hits will be bigger then the travel anyway. You have fat tyres and knees for small chattery stuff. IMHO obviously 😉 my commencal was short linkage single pivot and ramped up massively during the stroke so you could get away with a crap shock and it still felt amazing. It was such a great bike. Until it cracked.

Bounce cycles-

How do you change the shock tune? After poking about on.the net the difference is the shim stack, but I can’t find a how to guide to change it.

While it was amazing, it probably could do with a bit more compression damping.

I had a look for a coil, but the shortest ones I could find were 190mm and the bike takes a 165mm shock.

I guess I could get one shortened, but that will be super pricey