Hi! I’m hoping someone here might know what’s happening with my shock. I own a GT Sensor Elite that has a Fox float DPS shock. It’s my first FS bike, so I’m new to setting up the shock. In the beginning it felt alright and I could only compare it to a hardtail. Now that I’ve tried different bikes I understand that my shock is way to stiff, there’s no plushness whatsoever. If I want to set the sag to 30% and for it to be somewhat plush I need to set the pressure to no more than 100psi any higher than that it becomes almost rock solid. And according to Fox I have to set it to around 198psi (since I weight 90kg). With that much pressure I can hardly get the shock to move without bouncing on the bike with all my weight.

When I’m pumping the shock the switch is in the open position and I compress it slowly every 25-50 psi to equalise the pressure in the negative/positive chambers, so I feel like I’m doing everything correctly.

Is there something else I should do or is it a sign that the shock is faulty or needs rebuilding?

It definitely sounds like the shock isnt equalising. When you pump it from 0 go to say 50 PSI then equalise. You should see a fair drop in pressure. If it remains at 50 you know something is wrong. I have found with Fox they are more fickle than RockShox to get to equalise.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have found my DPS EVOL to be the best air shock I have ever used yet.

I have it on 1 for softness in open mode and run 30psi above my weight in lbs but that can be attributed to the suspension design for initial compression for this frame that I have.

It’s hard to know what is really going on with your’s although it would point to equalisation of pos to neg chambers that like Ben above states needs to be cycled through a bit say 10 times odd into first part of travel to equalise for every 50psi that you fill of air into the valve.

hope this helps 🙂

Thank you Ben and tdog! My shock is not EVOL, but that should not be the reason it’s working so poorly.

You said there should be a significant drop in pressure when equalizing the chambers. There’s a tiny hiss when I do it but it’s not anywhere near being significant if anything at all. Maybe there’s a change of 0.5 psi but not more.

I’ve been cycling the shock every 50psi not just 10 or 20 times but more like 50. There’s a tiny hiss in certain position every time, no mater how many times I do this procedure.

Can some air passage be blocked in the shock? What else do you think can be preventing the equalisation from happening?

I would take it apart but I don’t have any float fluid at the moment and need to order it.

Very grateful for all the input, thank you guys!

Now you’re getting past the realms of my knowledge on air shocks but I would suggest a phone call to Silverfish UK tech support.

Thanks tdog, but being in Oslo, Norway I don’t think they will help me much. I’ve just taken the shock off, took it apart, cleaned and applied new lube (used 15w suspension oil, I know it’s not ideal and I will replace it later on with proper float fluid). I was trying to understand if the transfer port (or rather a dent on the air sleeve) was blocked.

Unfortunately after pumping the shock back up, cycling it every 50psi, nothing has changed.

100 – 120 psi are closest to the feeling and sag I’m going for, but that pressure seems too low since as I mentioned I weight 90kg. Is it possible that this shock is a low end shock and should not expect more from it?

Are there any other Sensor owners out there? What pressure are you running?

Or maybe just someone with the same shock?

This is the information I’m getting by custom tune id:

2016, FLOAT DPS, P-S, A, 3pos SV, GT, Sensor Elite, 7.250, 1.750, 0.4 Spacer, CM, RM, Climb F, 10291C/396C Logo

I used to run a fox rp2 on my idrive 2.0 a fair few years ago and maybe it’s to do with the linkage dog bone but doubt it as seems you have a very specific shock issue that needs inspecting more as 120psi to achieve sag for 90kg definitely doesn’t seem right.

I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.

This shock is a high quality shock.

Don’t know what’s wrong with yours – but you should be able to run it with proper sag and the shock will feel veeery plush (when open). 90 kg weight no issue at all – but the low pressure you mention appears to be way off.

198 psi (Fox): sounds like the minimal pressure you will need.