Okay, excuse the basic questions but looking from some info on fork setup, specifically Rebas with external floodgate. I am thinking of buying a bike with these on but don’t really know much about setting up forks. Appreciate every rider is different but if there are some useful starting points any help would be much appreciated –

1) How exactly does external floodgate work, not in theory but in practice. For example if i mainly do trails but also use the bike on road (commuting) is there one setting i can use all the time or would i need to adjust it for the different types of riding ?

If there is one setting can anyone suggest from their experience what a useful setting would be

2) compression damping – again a useful ball park setting would be helpful.

3) pump – do you need a specific pump to change the air pressure

Std shock pump will do. Set the sag first. About 25-30% when sitting on the bike. Put same air in the top & bottom chambers as a start. Floodgate is the point at which the fork will work again when locked out & it hits a bump. For road you’d lock the fork & put the floodgate on min. For off road put it on max then wind back about halfway. Your Reba will have a lockout lever on top of the right leg as you look down on it. In the middle of this is the floodgate adjuster. The rebound will have the most effect, its the red knob at the bottom of the right leg. Screw this in all the way & the fork will extend slowly after compressing. Again wind it back out about half way ad a start. Compression damping will slow down the fork ad it compresses. This is usually done with the same lever as the lockout, albeit a smaller movement.
Honest advice, find a bit of varied trail & spend a few hours trying different settings, but write down each one. You’ll soon find what works for you. Take your shock pump along.

thanks very much, very helpful

Actually one last question –

so these Rebas have lockout as well ?

Does this mean that if i use the lockout it’s the external floodgate that determines when it overrides the lockout. This is where i am still a bit confused in that on road i would use lockout but presumably offroad i would have lockout disabled so how does external floodgate come into the equation then ?

Hope i’ve explained that well enough.

Okay correct me if i am wrong –

offroad = no lockout but the external floodgate turned on then “stiffens” the fork (kind of lockout) until you hit something then it activates the fork ?

floodgate does not come into play unless the compression dial is on fully

cruzheckler – Member
floodgate does not come into play unless the compression dial is on fully

Untrue.

no its not, the floodgate is teh blow off for when the compression is set to firmest

cruzheckler – Member
no its not, the floodgate is teh blow off for when the compression is set to firmest

With all due respect, you’re wrong. Take it apart and have a look how it works.

http://www.bikemagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/dt/4/UTN/91362/last/1/V/2/SP/

I can’t be bothered to read all that and again with respect, they’re probably wrong too.

Read this: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=136225 also this: http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=6576325&postcount=12

You can also easily check it for yourself. Set the blue dial to approx 75% closed for nice firm LSC damping. Then hit ride at a reasonable speed over a tree root first with the floodgate set fully open, then fully closed. You will see that it is a lot harsher with the floodgate closed.

My personal setup is about 60% closed LSC, and about 4 clicks from fully open on the floodgate. This gives support when leaning into corners and prevents the fork slopping about. The light floodgate setting allows big hits to get absorbed without spiking.

i know what the rockshox tech docs say

cruzheckler – Member
i know what the rockshox tech docs say

And i’ve provided links to clear explanations of how it actually works, and an easy way to check for yourself.

so a forum beats rock shox tech docs yeah?

cruzheckler – Member
so a forum beats rock shox tech docs yeah?

The manual I got with my latest pair of Revelations makes no mention of the tuning possible with the Dual Air system, does that mean that you can’t tune it?

I refer you to my previous posts which include explanations of how MoCo actually works together with a way to test it for yourself.
If you don’t believe me, take the thing apart, it’s pretty clear how it works regardless of what the manual says.

Okay, soooo compression issue aside still not entirely understanding the relation of floodgate and lockout.

If you locked the fork out for road use does the floodgate setting still come into it ie. does the floodgate setting determine what level of bump is needed before the fork unlocks. Or does the lockout override the floodgate setting and so it is irrelevant.

If so, when offroad you don’t have the fork locked out so what exactly does floodgate do in this situation.

Without the fork locked out can floodgate still determine the stiffness of the fork and be use to set the forks fairly stiff until the first hit ?

mancjon – Member
If you locked the fork out for road use does the floodgate setting still come into it ie. does the floodgate setting determine what level of bump is needed before the fork unlocks. Or does the lockout override the floodgate setting and so it is irrelevant.

Yes, it determines how much of a bump is needed to ‘unlock’ the fork in that situation.
Almost open floodgate setting (counter clockwise) gives you something like Fox ProPedal, where as a more closed floodgate setting (clockwise) gives you an almost locked out fork that will only move for really big hits.

If so, when offroad you don’t have the fork locked out so what exactly does floodgate do in this situation.

Without the fork locked out can floodgate still determine the stiffness of the fork and be use to set the forks fairly stiff until the first hit ?

Yes, you could use e.g 60% closed blue dial and almost fully open floodgate (3/4 clicks maybe) to give a feel a bit like old school marzocchis.

Essentially, inside the fork is a really stiff spring made of red plastic( or titanium depending on the fork).

The floodgate dial on the top determines how much this spring needs to be compressed before it opens up.
Oil can either go through the main port (controlled by the blue dial) or the floodgate (controlled by the gold dial).
So if you completely close the LSC port, the floodgate is the only way oil can move through the fork.
Otherwise it can go through the LSC port only, until enough pressure is generated inside to open the floodgate. Then oil can flow through both (i.e. very freely).

Otherwise, a setting which gave you controlled damping for low speed, would make the fork very harsh for high speed.

Don’t worry too much though, you can run the fork just with the blue dial open and the floodgate in the middle and it will still work okay. 🙂

retro83 is correct in that the floodgate affects the compression damping once any compression damping is turned on. It does have an effect on both pairs of Rebas and the Pikes in my garage anyway. Where you put each dial depends on the bike and trail being ridden. With a bit of tinkering the floodgate provides high speed hit compression damping in conjunction with the normal low speed damping.

From my own fiddling:

Floodgate and Compression damping both fully on – basically rigid unless you ride off a cliff.

Floodgate and Compression damping both fully off – Very supple but prone to dive in corners, braking, etc. and a bit mushy under pedalling.

Floodgate fully off and Compression damping fully on – Firm, sits up in its travel but will rarely give you full travel.

Floodgate fully on and Compression damping fully off – Same as both off, floodgate has no effect at this point.

For hardtails I tend to run Floodgate at a little over half shut to provide a platform with the compression dial at ~50%. For full sussers I tend to back off the compression dial to ~30%. These are just starting points and I tend to adjust slightly for terrain (e.g. back off compression, but not fully, even more for extra traction going down hill on a full susser. I don’t do this on a hard tail as I find the changes in head angle a bit more disconcerting than on a full sus where the rear suspension can compress as well).

Best thing to do is experiment. It is a very versatile system once you know your way around it but it can take a few rides to get it sorted.

shackleton – that is what i was saying. The floodgate has no effect when the compression dial is turned to open, only has an effect when its closed. The compression dial is an on/off it doesn’t have a gradual effect, if it did and was meant too surely it would be indexed.

Cruzheckler – The compression dial is a gradual thing, the more you turn it the more effect you have. You will feel more of an effect the higher floodgate setting is. It isn’t just an on/off switch, when fully open the FG has no effect but at any point from there on to fully closed the FG has more of an effect and this effect is magnified as you increase the FG setting. It would be nice if it were indexed as it can move about but usually it isn’t a problem. Next time you service your forks have a look at the mechanism and you’ll see what we mean about how they interact. You can’t really feel it in the car park test but find some smooth trail with small rocks or roots on and ride up and down fiddling with it.

My examples were to illustrate the extremes, none of which would be desirable on my bike. To get the best out of MoCo you need to have the compression in the middle 1/3 of it’s range and fllodgate at~50-60% for the majority of riding and move them when dictated by the terrain.

Yep exactly shackleton 🙂 cheers

whats the definitive “BEST” setup using this dial then – will try it at the weekend and report back. Hopefully it is better

bump (lol)

There is no definitive setup for everyone. My Rebas and Pikes (on a heckler 😀 ) are setup almost exactly as Shackleton describes; about 50% floodgate and 1/3 compression. Then I just move the compression around as needed on a ride. I rarely have it fully open though.

I prefer about 50% LSC and very light FG (3/4 clicks from open).

No dive, no bob, but opens on any bump.

I think it varies from fork to fork though. Maybe the spring tube becomes more compliant with age or something.