I use it (and pro-pedal @ middle setting) pretty much whenever I'm going up which I realise is a bit of an error. Gonna stop using it on technical climbs now.

When's most appropriate to use it and when do you? Pick one of:
Going up anything.
Going up anything not too technical.
Going up on road only.
Never

Do many people wind travel down for climbs? I find doing this a pain with RS U-Turns!

When on the road.
When climbing anything I consider a challenge.

When you feel like it
When you remember
Also when you forget to switch it back off

You can wind down uturn on the move by the way, stops it being a faff.

on long flat bits, like road or long boring climbs

I never touch 'em

Never, wouldnt buy forks/shocks with it.

Lockout, when I bought my first full sus, after reading all the guff it just had to have lockout forks and rear sus too…

After only a short time I decided it had no place on my MTB, I just dont get it, locking out the rear made the bike so stiff even road riding was a chore, the whole frame was rock solid rigid and even on road it felt uncomfy, locking the front made no difference to me uless I was out of the saddle for extended periods, maybe if you was SS it would be good?

I guess in a way its a testament to how good that bike was as it climbed bob free and could serch out for traction on slippery climbs so much better with the sus in pro pedal setting.

Now lockdown forks, well I get that completely, very very usefull to be able to pop them down 30-40mm with a quick push for a tricky climb. Travel adjust would be OK too, but only the on the fly type. Gives you the option of running 20-30mm longer forks than reccomended and still not having it wander on the ups..

never.
it's just extra components to wear out/ break down/ cost more

if you sit and spin on climbs it is pretty irrelevant, If you stand up and mash the pedals at a low cadence it might be of some use

Personally – I never use it tho all my bikes have it. Even the MTB used as a commuter. I never find bob an issue

The answer is to ride rigid bikes and not have the worry

Using it more and more now. Esp out of saddle climbs I like having something solid to push against…..

When on road, and when climbing hard.

I never use it, taken the lever off my fork, and when I get around to it I'll take the cartridge out too!

Does depend on your bike and riding style. I tend to leave my shock in ProPedal for racing, it's still perfectly supple, but does mean you can honk up hills out of the saddle, when I'm just pootling I tend to leave it open the whole time, it still doesn't really bob then.

locking out the rear made the bike so stiff even road riding was a chore, the whole frame was rock solid rigid and even on road it felt uncomfy

It's amazing how we manage riding on the road with rigid bikes and 23mm tyres 🙄

Personally I'll use lockout on the road and smooth fireroad climbs. Decrease the travel for a stiffer back end on slightly rougher climbs. All from handlebar remotes, so it's not a chore to switch.

I generally leave the shock in Propedal for everything except fast downhills.

I also turn it off to get everything nice and supple when faced with a short very technical/rocky/loose climb, it helps the tyres stick to the trail and find more grip.

Lock out on the forks, very rarely use it, usually only when I want to get out of the saddle and stand up for a bit. U Turn, it has to be a long hill for me to faff about winding it down.

I ride my Pikes with the Lock Out on all the time. Adjust the Flo0dgate valve to give compression tuning. This does mean though I don't then have a proper Lock Out function which is not an issue to me.

On the rear when I climb for more than 45 minutes on the road. Front when I chase roadies 😀

there's 3 things being mentioned here;

lockout
winding down (u-turn)
pro-pedal

i never really use lockout or u-turn, but a pro-pedal rear shock is very handy for climbing.

why is it an error to use Pro-pedal on a techy climb? – that's when i find it's most helpfull

(other than that, Northwind is correct)

I paid a lot of money for my suspension, I want t to work all the time! Never use lock out. Even on my DHX 5.0, the pro pedal is wound all the way out.

On forks, never. I've taken it off one set, just need to get around to taking it off the SIDs as well.
On the back end – I've got an Epic so that sorts itself out and I love that! Weird isn't it, I never use it on the forks but find it indispensable at the back. I'm sure if I got another full sus though it wouldn't be a factor, I'd just get used to it.

"Never, wouldnt buy forks/shocks with it."

That must narrow your choice down 😕

never used lockout or played with propedal. Have ridden full sussers for years and probably got used to bobbing etc on less effective older designs. I am quite happy to climb out-of-the-saddle and have the bike bouncing underneath me, its never bothered me.

Dont use lockout or travel adjust on forks either. I am either adaptable or not fussy but am quite content climbing steep stuff on a 160mm fork at full extension…My new Rev Races came with remote lockout, but I havent even fitted it.

As a roadie at heart I look for efficiency on tarmac so often pop the lockout on if a route has some interconnecting tarmac that required some standing, not an issue sitting really. I have also used it on fire road sections locked out but with the floodgate opened right out too.

Propedal. On a DW 5 spot I'm finding the propedal is very subtle. I flip it on for easy climbs to improve efficicency a bit but off elsewhere, just no need. The Orange 5 I test rode before buying the spot needed propedal on for most uppy bits from what I could fathom so it really depends on the bike.

U-turn. When I had the same Pike fork I use now on a 456 I used it all the time as I preferred the fork much shorter than the 140mm max for flatter twisty sections but at max for the downy bits. Now I leave it at max for all but really steep climbs and even then only sometimes bother.

My Rebas came with a pushlock that I didnt ask for but I have found a way of using it that differs slightly from convention.

I have the lockout off for most if not all my riding, but I have set the blowoff valve to control my compression rate when locked out like mk1fan describes above. If I come across a perticually steep decent where my weight, regardless of how far back I get increases over the front wheel, I dont want the forks to dive under the load and pitch me forwards, so I will lockout the forks and let the blowoff control bumps instead.

The net effect of the lockout setup this way doesent actually lockout the fork but increases the compression dampening for when the compression over the front of the bike natuallay increases due to the pitch of the terain. I'm not sure it was designed for this, but it does work for me very nicely as the last thing I want when takeling very steep sections is for the fork to dive and my weight center to end up any further forwards.

Yep, I do the same sometimes when doing jumps etc, where long travel can be a bit of an irritation. Not as a lockout, just as a switchable compression damping adjuster.

so often pop the lockout on if a route has some interconnecting tarmac that required some standing

Why would ever need to get out of the saddle on the road with MTB gearing?

I just don't really notice the fork bobbing, having flirted with various remote lockouts I just always forget they're there, so I either don't unlock the fork having locked it, or I just never get around to locking it in the first place.

^
Very true, not going to happen very often. My little evening route does have a short 150m bit of 25% incline tarmac that you can just about stay seated up but it's much easier (for me) to muscle up it and get it out of the way. It's also nice to get out of the saddle every now again to use different muscle groups. Again, being a roadie at heart, you get used to (and trained for) putting down a wedge of power up the short stuff to keep the gear rolling over rather than jessying around with twiddly gears. Accelerating hard out of corners is another time when OOTS is a nice option without a wallowing fork.

Stand-up climbs. u-turn is great for climbing as well, the difference between 140-110mm is quite big. Most of the time I can't be arsed to keep faffing with the fork length though so end up leaving it at 140 and just suffering on climbs.

Why would ever need to get out of the saddle on the road with MTB gearing?

For the same reason roadies get out of the saddle when they're not in bottom gear.

I suppose so, I think I must just change my riding style on the MTB then, I'm struggling to think of a time when I ever get out of the saddle on the road!

I think it was the word 'required' that drew me to the statement though!

When honking up a steep road is perhaps the only time I use the lockout. The uturn gets wound down for longer climbs because it makes controlling the bike less tiring.

Wow, didn't realise it'd be such a grey area!
Think I'll try turning my floodgate right down and so how that works for me when I get the new Pikes set up. Pro-pedal seems to be a given to have it on all the time when climbing though, I'll try just softening the pro-pedal up a notch.

Also,
Does anyone that's taken the pop-loc lever off their bike want to sell it to me? I now have 2 pairs of forks and one lever (guy who sold me the Pikes had lost it).

Use it all the time and just let it blow out on big hits. Only time suspension seems of any use to me.

steep tarmac roads going uphill…

gcaster – Member

Also,
Does anyone that's taken the pop-loc lever off their bike want to sell it to me? I now have 2 pairs of forks and one lever (guy who sold me the Pikes had lost it).

Email me – I think I have 3 unused levers and cables lying around

Use it all the time and just let it blow out on big hits.

Does this not damage the lockout mechanism?

"Lockout" is a sales feature for the shop floor, in the real world, it's pretty blinking useless. If you can ride a bike properly and your suspension components are of sufficient quality, it really ain't necassary.

I use it all the time for short out-of-the-saddle climbs when offroad. Yes I could just leave it off but I do love the rigid feel when fully locked out 😯

Not so far _tom_ and thats after several seasons use.

I've never locked a fork

But pro-pedal is ace……

I lock it out on road/fireroad climbs. can't stand the feeling of the forks bobbing and absorbing the energy i'm putting in.