Coil Conversion for the Pike

Northwind – Member

Yeah, I jumped on the Pike bandwagon for my Hemlock, rode them for a while, put my coil Lyriks back in. They were about 50% heavier mind but pretty much crapped on the Pikes performance wise imo. Not just the coil to be fair, I preferred the damper too.

Considering stealing the Mrs’ 2010 36 Vanillas this weekend for similar reasons (or even her converted Revs)

Well, this thread confirms my suspicions about bike journos and the industry.

Shimano brakes all over again (totes amazeballz guys – you should all go out and buy them – we won’t mention the weak seals and melting rotors).

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Pike’s a good fork- I went 29er and for now happy enough with teh standard Pike and some spacers. And probably a good allround option with adjustability, etc, and for most people’s use- basically the long travel trail bike/#enduro bike is becoming almost the default and lots of them will never see anything harder than a black route… So wanging a coil fork in that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense. And if we’re the minority that want something different, we’re also the minority that have the wherewithal to do something about it…

In fairness my reasons for coil were only partly around performance, they were also ease of maintenance/reliability. You can’t muck up servicing a coil and have it start leaking springiness out when you aren’t looking…

I think if you’re lighter than average you’re more likely to prefer coils and if you’re lighter or heavier than average you’re going to struggle to get great damper performance without a custom tune.

So that negative coil spring is there to slow down the rebound just before the fork fully extends? Wonder why they don’t just have a position sensitive rebound damper.

For me there are 2 issues (maybe 3).

Firstly, mid-stroke support. It’s getting better (nigth and day compared to my old 32mm Boxxer World Cup) but it still just doesn’t do it for me (3 spacers in a 150 Pike).

Secondly, feel. I just prefer the way a coil setup feels over air. Rear shock doesn’t feel so important as I’m happy dragging it down the hill but I always feel that things are a bit vague up from the front. This kind of ties in with the 3rd point, they are much more difficult (less likely?) to find a sweet spot for skinny folk – the same inital stiction forces have to be overcome with less weight acting on it

Latest from TF Tuned is that they’re hoping to have kits ready in early January

Crconception have an updated full length coil kit now, not sure id bother with a tftuned one seeing as you can get a custom spring rate one.

Unless the tf tuned ones are either cheaper, come in fine increments in terms of spring rate or are made out of ti or like the newer lightweight steel coil springs.

So which joker on here is going to be the firat one to go old school then?

I think you need to go first.

If it wasn’t Jan, i’d have been tempted on my Frankenfork i’m working on for my new Fuel EX.

Just trying to decide between the Pike or 34 chassis at the moment.

Tom_W1987 – Member
Crconception have an updated full length coil kit now, not sure id bother with a tftuned one seeing as you can get a custom spring rate one.

So he does! Just looking at his site from my phone, is there any pricing info?

I’m sure TF will do a very good job of theirs tbh. Not convinced I’d be able to come up with exactly what spring weight I actually need

Not convinced I’d be able to come up with exactly what spring weight I actually need

thats something ive been thinking about re the crconception ones

says €135 on the website

http://www.crconception.com/index.php?p=1_10_Preparation-Rock-shox

for pike,yari & lyric

ffs was staring right at the price!

He’ll do it based on the PSI, sag and tokens that you run. I’ll buy one this month after payday on the 28th, so given the manufacturing time – I guess I can get a review back to you guys near to the end of the first week of December?

That ok?

My Pikes going to end up a proper Frankenfork at this rate Hob Nob, 46mm offset, stealth maxle, fast damper and soon a coil!

Next up, drilling the lowers for bleeder valves.

That ok?

Completely unacceptable, go faster!

I’m slightly put off by the psi/tokens/sag thinking as I feel my current setup is a massive compromise. Hopefully he knows his stuff and adjusts to suit

I’m slightly put off by the psi/tokens/sag thinking as I feel my current setup is a massive compromise. Hopefully he knows his stuff and adjusts to suit

He’ll ask for your riding weight as well – but if you look at the charts, for a given PSI the coil has more midstroke and less bottom out resistance.

I’m having an issue whereby given enough support I never, ever use full travel. So I’m going to state a fractionally lower PSI than I run and give him a sag range that is acceptable to me – this should still give me more support and it will decrease my bottom out resistance.

Can you guys see a bottom out spring/bumper on the CRConception coil assay?

Hi, sorry for the thread hijack, but anyone diy’d bleeder valves (as Tom mentions above)? I’m thinking of having a go at this on my forks as I’m convinced that using the old zip tie down the seal trick can’t be good for the seals. Was thinking of drilling just under the top bush, but i’ve struggled to find aftermarket bleeder valves other than massive moto ones that would look huge. Anyone got any experience? Thanks.

^^^ Hahah you nutter.

Why don’t we just crowdsource and crowdfund a franken fork using a mix of Pike parts and ground up new designs using;

* Pike Uppers

* Redesigned lowers with bleed valves – get a factory in Taiwan to knock us up a small batch.

* Titanium coils supplied in 25lb increments, with a hydraulic ramp up control on the spring side.

* Nitrogen charged sleeve for the Pikes charger bladder – along the lines of the one that used to be offered by Avalanche.

Not that I’m brace enough to drill my own fork, but I’d think about using a breather valve like this instead. Would need to see if they can handle rapid pressure changes, but they are designed so that they can even be fully immersed without letting water in

Can you guys see a bottom out spring/bumper on the CRConception coil assay?

Middle two pictures there show the bumper.

Slight hijack, but as there’s enthusiasts here……

Anyone know why a Pike would feel rough going through its travel? Mine feels horrible even when compared to others that are massively over-pressure for me. Possibly just needing a good bleed? Did one fairly quickly which seemed to make little difference. Possible other tell is that I’m running about 58PSi, but only 4-5 clicks off full-slow for rebound. Possibly a bigger damper issue?

Rough in what way? I’ve heard that you can overfill the charger damper that can cause it to feel harsh.

Is it packing down? Try faster rebound – tbh, mine was spikey until I had the FAST upgrade installed.

Oh and

Mmmmm dual rate springs, how very WRC. It also has an internable adustable hydralic bottom out. woot. Only 5 spring rates available though, CRConception offer 10 spring rates (they’ve gone to off the shelf spring rates).

Vitalmtb are saying that the single crown forks only have a single rate spring though.

legend, I meant a top out spring/bumper – CRConception are saying they it includes one but they’re using google translate to talk to me – some of their videos on their youtube show quite a top out clunk.

I think I’m still going to do it.

It’s quite strange, if you bounce upon down on them it actually feels like they already have a coil in them and it’s rubbing against the inside of the stanchion, like the damper is struggling to smoothly contract and extend.

Will take the damper back out and “hand dyno” it to see if I can replace in the stand. Doing my head in though. Not packing down, doesn’t seem to want to react in the first place!

Good point about the top-out bumper! You definitely want something in there

Try the damper seperately from the fork, but maybe bushings or shot air seals – it’s that or your forks shat itself and there are bits of metal shearings floating around in the damper.

If it doesn’t have a top out bumper, could I put one in? Bit of rubber somewhere maybe?

Also….check to see if you’ve bent the forks….

😯

Cheers. Seems ok with the damper out, but need to have a proper look at the damper on its own.

Yeah, the current top out bumper is just a conical bit of rubber, even that would work (very crudely). Otherwise you’d need to find room for a proper spring like the one at the top of the page

I believe the forks are straight, but still worth a check 🙁

Where shoult/could I put the conical bit of rubber from the solo air spring in that spring setup?

It would have to go between the bottom seat for the main spring and base plate (that will be held static in the bottom of the stanchion) – that way it’ll be compressed when the fork extends. Only trouble is, too big and it’ll pull the fork down a bit into its travel

Same position as you see the bumper here (just replace air piston with spring seat)

I can see how it works on the Solo Air Spring, it acts as a bumber between the piston head and a base plate – yeah – is the base plate located somewhere near the seal head?

I still can’t visualize it working on that coil assay, I can’t see a baseplate anywhere?

Yeah the base plate replaces the seal head. The spring seat (for want of a better name) replaces the piston so the bumper just sits in between the 2 in the same manner. Just thinking, a Sektor probably has the most current setup, will have a look

Piston top of the picture, then top-out spring, then seal head

I can see how it works on the solo air model, as the airsaft moves through the seal head doesn’t it.

The shaft on the coil assembly doesn’t appear to move through anything though, on the rebound I can’t see anything to cause any contact or knock out effect. It’s just the spring simply compressing isn’t it?

I can see like a giant e clip, or ring on the coil assay – is that the base plate?

Not much room to put a bumber in there – other than perhaps a thin rubber washer.

It does move through a guide. The photo above is from a coil RS Sektor and the baseplate that is used is the bit that looks like a seal head . CRConceptions photo shows a very similar setup for the baseplate (seal head replacement) – in the bottom photo its the largest plastic part, with the far end of the shaft being the seat for the spring

You recon there’s a rubber bumber hidden in that large plastic part somewhere?

If there is it isn’t enough! I converted a Revelation from Solo Air to coil. Proper spring worked best but shortened the fork by around 8mm, ended up with a short bumper which is just ok but pretty agricultural feeling! No bumper doesn’t work at all, feels horrid. The damper doesn’t have a bumper you could just rely on does it?

I don’t think there is one in the FAST Charger damper/stock charger damper.

The more I think about it – the more I think that there must be something hidden inside that large plastic retainer thing…..either a big piece of rubber or a top out spring retained by some low friction plastic that can glide along the side of stanchion easily when the fork is neinding loads. What’s it for otherwise….seems a bit redundant.