I took rather a long time getting my (07ish*) talas 36s serviced, so in the meantime I ran my old coil z1 bombers – for about 18months. I was quite happy with the 36s previously but after using the z1s I’m now not so sure. Got my 36s back and a couple of rides in and I’ve had 1 OTB and a few very nearlys. Tends to be the same thing, steep downhill with a big lip, either dropping into a water bar (like the wheelcatchers on dollywagon) or an inconveniently placed rock after rolling a drop, front wheel just doesn’t make it over, if I’m lucky I stall and am thrown against the handlebars, unlucky I go OTB.

I can’t tell whether the front end is too soft and the fork is diving and pitching me over, or the damping is too hard and the fork isn’t compressing enough to allow the front wheel to ride over the obstacle. Z1 seemed to deal with these better. The 36s are lighter, pimpier but more importantly stiffer than the Z1s so I’d prefer to get the 36s sorted rather than go back to the Z1s (which have also now developed a leak so in need of a service anyway).

Carpark test the forks have a similar feel, I run forks pretty soft ~33% sag – less pressure than TF suggested – they feel pretty similar the rest of the time aswell it’s just these wheel catcher events where the Z1s worked better. I’ve tried less high speed compression damping (to soak up the big hit) and less rebound (to get more ricochet off the ground to bounce the wheel up and over the obstacle. Tricky one to test for as I have to get myself into an almost crash to check out the new settings – something I’m disinclined to do.

What do STW boffins suggest I try?
or is this a coil v air thing and they’ll never be as good?

*I think. It’s 160m travel with proper bolt dropouts, 3 stage 100/130/160 travel adjust

i would say you want more dampening than less as from what you are saying it sounds like your forks are compressing to much, throwing your weight forward and pitching you over the bars. there are lots of others things at play such as body position etc, but if you want to run that level of sag and it’s happening on bigger hits, i would turn the high speed up

+1 What he said ^

I had a similar thing with me being thrown over the bars on technical rocky bits. The forks were too soft, once I pumped them up they were fine, ultimately they were ****, but that’s 2 Step Lyriks for you. 😉

+2
I’d suggest you are running your forks too soft air pressure wise and they are diving hugely. I’d be looking at more like 18-20% sag set standing with all your weight on the pedals.
+2 on body position being a significant part of the fix too.

i would turn the high speed up

Erm I thought more low speed comp resisted fork dive, high speed was for bumps….?

I am going to add a few PSI, thing is TF said 90, tried that and riding of a kerb was jarring so put it back to 70ish I was running previously.

on body position being a significant part of the fix too.

undoubtedly technique is the biggest factor but like I said with the other forks I was doing better so (currently) looking to fix that part of the problem.

Do you use the travel adjust? If not then consider converting from a TALAS air spring to a FLOAT air spring. Mine felt much better after that.

Was there any issue with the RC2 damper noted in the service? I thought that the bladders in the “old style” RC2’s (rebound adjust at top, low/high speed compression at bottom, fitted pre-2011) did not last long at all and are now unobtainable. I can’t really imagine a 2007 was still good to go. Mojo were good at offering cut-priced upgrades to the new style RC2 (compression at top, rebound at bottom).

I’d start by setting the sag by measurement and go with whatever pressure gives you 20% stood up then wind all the compression damping right off, both low and high speed and go back a little at a time until you get the ride you want. The air pressure will have a much bigger effect than the damping on dive in these circumstances but won’t hurt the performance on sharp edged bumps.

Erm I thought more low speed comp resisted fork dive, high speed was for bumps….?

the speed refers to how fast the fork is having to move, so if you have a big impact such as hitting a drop front wheel heavy or a big square edge hit such as a water bar (the incidents you seem to be describing) – meaning the fork compresses very quickly – more high speed will stop the fork blowing through the travel. low speed does stop fork dive under braking or on steeper gradients, but these are slower compressions of the fork. at least that has always been my understanding of it

if you get the compression dampening right, you can carry on running your forks nice and soft

Timmys, yeah I use the talas, mainly for lowering the front end while climbing. On service TF said they were in great condition – not got the money for new forks at the moment 🙁

Sofaboy not sure if I’ve explained the incidents properly, heading down a steep hill or roll in and a >6″ obstacle stops me dead. Lots of weight on the front prior to hitting the obstacle, hence my worry about dive (which I thought low speed would help with) but also a big(ish) hit so thinking less high speed – to soak up that hit.

Either way upping the air pressure is probably first port of call – assuming it doesn’t mess up performance elsewhere.
TBH if I cant them feeling better I’ll probably switch back to the Z1s, would prefer not to for reasons in OP

ok, so that does sound more in the low speed territory but as you rightly say, upping the air pressure will have the biggest impact – 5 psi either way can make a noticeable differnece