Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)
  • New shock – to custom tune or not?
  • 06awjudd
    Free Member

    I’ve got an Orange Five frame, 2011, and I’m looking to put a Fox RP2 or RP23 on it. From my point of view I seem to have 3 options, all of which seem more expensive then I was expecting!

    1)CRC are selling the RP23 BV Adaptibe Logic Kashima coated shock for £230(ish) and I reckon that’s not bad at all.
    The issue is – would I be wasting my money unless I got it custom tuned for my bike, or would this not matter seeing as it has a BV and is therefor more self tune-able?

    2)Or would it be worth picking up a second hand shock and paying god knows how much to have it tuned (I reckon this would cost a lot more then buying the swanky new shock mentioned above).

    3)Or finally, if by a miracle I found a shock that had come off an Orange five, would that mean it had been custom tuned to the bike?

    The other option I considered is buying a shock from TFTuned but they’re prices are quite frankly ridiculous.

    Any help would be very useful – I’m very disillusioned by the whole business!

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Or should I just not bother and go for a coil shock (I’m riding Enduro and a bit of DH and a tiny XC)

    sharkattack
    Full Member

    I went down the custom tuned route and it transformed my bike for the better. Specialized Stumpjumper EVO with an RP23, boost valve thingy. It felt really plush and had all the grip in the world but the bike felt like a sponge and had no ‘pop’ or liveliness. Plus the various different settings and pro-pedal made no useful difference.
    A quick phone call to Mojo and they explained that manufacturers spec the shocks to be undersprung so they feel plush in the showroom and that someone of my weight (13st) should really have what they call a ‘high velocity tune’. So I went for it and it completely changed the characteristics of the ride and the 3 compression settings and pro-pedal work perfectly.
    My LBS also had a couple of Orange 5 demo bikes. One shock was standard, the other had the same treatment as mine and the improvement was just as tangible.

    So yeah, that’s my brief experience of custom tuning. I’d say get the best shock you can and strongly consider having it set up to match your bike and bodyweight.

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    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Hmmmm, that would be ideal – but very expensive.

    Can anyone recommend whacking a coil shock on there?

    legend
    Free Member

    2)Or would it be worth picking up a second hand shock and paying god knows how much to have it tuned (I reckon this would cost a lot more then buying the swanky new shock mentioned above).

    service, tune and reducer supplied and fitted for around £100 when I got mine done by Loco, so that should help with your estimations

    mrplow
    Free Member

    You would still want to tune the damping on the coil shock unless you got very lucky imo.

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Looks like the best option would be to get a 2nd hand air shock and send it of to LOCO then.

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Is the Boost Valve worth it? or would a custom tuned non BV shock perform just as well?
    Thanks

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    I ended up going for this:
    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=90530

    I’ll ride it as it is at the moment, and maybe get it Tuned later on.

    thepodge
    Free Member

    How do they know how to tune it?

    I’d assume for something like a 5 they have some known parameters but what about a less popular frame

    legend
    Free Member

    you tell them what characteristics you want changed, they make the necessary internal changes

    maxtorque
    Full Member

    Do any of the tuners issue a shock graph showing before and after curve for their “tuning”??

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Maybe they just clean it and send it back and its all just the placebo effect :mrgreen:

    thepodge
    Free Member

    What if I can’t tell them as the frame comes without a shock so I’ve no idea at all what tuning it needs?

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    I thought they asked for frame, weight, type of riding etc. rather then how people want their shock to feel….

    legend
    Free Member

    thepodge – Member
    What if I can’t tell them as the frame comes without a shock so I’ve no idea at all what tuning it needs?

    Then you rely on their expertise, along with

    frame, weight, type of riding etc.

    06awjudd, if the rider knows how they like the shock to work then any decent tuner will take that on board too….. and correct that riders perception where necessary 😉

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    06awjudd, if the rider knows how they like the shock to work then any decent tuner will take that on board too….. and correct that riders perception where necessary

    Oh right – may be a good thing to ride my new shock for a few months before getting it tuned then 🙂

    Rickos
    Free Member

    Rock Shox Monarch RT3 direct from TF Tuned is £200. For that they will spec it to you and your bike. Bit of a bargain, me-thinks.

    stevede
    Free Member

    Tf tuned did the tune on the rp23 off my enduro, I knew pretty much what I wanted, I put this on the order form, the chap tuning my shock called me to clarify exactly what I wanted before he started then once I got the shock back and fitted it the difference was night and day and they had achieved exactly what I wanted, thoroughly recommend getting your shock tuned if it doesn’t perform as you hoped. You need to ride it first though to find out what you want changing (if anything).

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    @Rickos That is a bargain – I kind of wanted a Kashima RP23 anyway though, as it’ll boost the resale value loads (people love a Kashima combo). And I’m happy to save up a bit more for the custom tune.

    @steved yeah – I’m gonna ride my shock around while a save up for the tune – hopefully I won’t need one – but I probably will. How much did you end up paying? Loco is around £100 which seemed pretty reasonable compared to other quotes I’ve heard.

    stevede
    Free Member

    Yeah mine was a push tune so a bit more expensive at £140 but worth every penny IMO. The service was fantastic, from booking the specific day slot, an email to say they’d received my shock, a phone call to check what I wanted done, an email and text to say they’d finished the work then an email to give me a delivery time (1 hr window). I am easily impressed but I was happy with this service! Loco would’ve been first choice but he was too busy to do in the short timeframe I wanted it done in but I don’t regret using tf at all.

    stevede
    Free Member

    Oh and I’ve had a couple of fives in the past, my 2006 model I couldn’t get on with the rp23 so fitted a van rc coil shock which was great and on my newer (2012) five I had an rp23 and a ccdb but once I fitted a volume reducer to the rp23 to stop it blowing through and bottoming out on bigger hits and high speed compressions I found it more than adequate (so much so that I sold the ccdb even though it was great). Hope that helps!

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Thanks that’s really helpful!! Yeah I nearly went down the coil root, but then thought the crc deal was too much of a bargain.
    Sounds like its worth the money then – thanks!

    stevede
    Free Member

    And if your new shock is totally wrong tune wise i’d personally give mojo a call, they can change (or at least I know they have in the past) the tune of your shock without charging for a service too if it’s new which will be much cheaper as nothing needs replacing. Definately worth a shot.

    06awjudd
    Free Member

    Well I’ll see how it goes 🙂

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