The new fork arrived – thanks for the PSA.  I am going to try it at 150mm and see how it goes.  With the fork came 2 small plastic cylinders – I assume to reduce travel as spacers?  Or are they “tokens”

MY first bike with internal cabling.  what a ballache that is.  The cables even run thru the steering head and out of the steerer thru plastic headset spacers.  Very fiddly

I think the fork needs to be stripped and rebuilt – rebound is too fast even on its slowest setting but at least it has a pretense of damping

They are spare tokens. You may well have some in the fork already. You will need a different air shaft to change the travel

It’s worth while doing a lower leg service on them just to check it’s got some or the correct amount of oil in them

It’s a good idea to run them at 150mm first

The rebound doesn’t sound right. The adjustment should at its extreme make it barely return back to full extension, or at least it should be glacial.

I assume to reduce travel as spacers?

They’re volume spacers to increase ramp up.

rebound is too fast even on its slowest setting

I’d get it in the bike and setup up for your weight before you make any judgements…

Have you inflated them without balancing the chambers?
That can make them feel very odd.

Ta folks.

Aye I will ride it a bit before stripping it.  I often strip new forks to check they are right internally.

Have you inflated them without balancing the chambers? ?

It only has one air inlet.  How do you do this?

It only has one air inlet.  How do you do this?

15-20 psi from empty. Compress the forks a couple of times Repeat until at the desired pressure

Let all the air out.
Inflate to around 30psi.
Cycle the fork through it’s travel several times.
Add more psi.
Cycle again.
Keep doing this until you reach your desired pressure.

There is an air transfer port on the inside of the stanchion that as the name suggests transfers the air from the + chamber to the – one.

Thanks

Welcome to the ranks of ‘Not a real cyclist’ 😉

Ta for that chaps 0- I have done the equalising chambers thing and the behaviour of the fork did change a bit.  Still not enough damping for me tho I think ( although the damper is working).  I’ll ride it first before putting heavier oil in.

Don’t know what fork you’ve bought but it’s probably not got an oldschool open damper in there where you can just put some heavier oil in.
It’ll probably be a sealed or semi sealed cartridge in there.

Is it topping out?

Which fork did you get? If the Fox 36 then it may be that there is too much grease covering the equalisation port. Common fault during assembly apparently and just needs cleaning and re-assembling with minimum grease (and then equalising as above).

I read the fork as a Revelation based on the previous page? Regardless of that, you need to set it up properly and ride the thing before making sweeping judgements, changing oil viscosities etc. I’m thinking the Rev still uses a relatively basic MoCo type damper fwiw, but with potential Charger upgrades in the future.

Its this fork

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/rockshox-revelation-rc-debonair-boost-fork-2022

I have altered damping oil in cartridge forks before.  Its no problem to do IME.  Its not topping out – its just underdamped.  The adjuster works, you can hear the oil moving thru the damper.  Its just rebounds too quickly for my liking

I will ride it first tho

I have a bleed tool for Rockshox cartridges if you decide to change the oil. You’re welcome to borrow.
Though re shimming the stack will make more of a change.

Thought TBF there should be enough adjustment for any kind of bimbling.
You can get the damper running that slow it’s un usable just with the standard setup.

Edit.
If it has the basic MoCo damper i have no idea not used one for years.

Hmmmmm.  I doubt I am good enough a rider to really notice a difference.  Being a cheapo Chain reaction I wonder if its an odd model?

While the damper works on full rebound its only giving as much damping as I would expect in the mid range of the damping adjustment.  I tend to find this with rockshox tho – most of mine are run at or near max rebound

I have altered damping oil in cartridge forks before.

I’ve not tried on the RC but the RC2/RCT3 it doesn’t do much if anything positive altering the oil. They just don’t tune well like that.

You can get a lot further on the RC2/RCT3 altering the shim stack…
On the old MOCO based Revs you could get a lot of useful tuning on the oil… and the RC looks a lot like the old Moco TBH

I did have a more basic damper than the RC (R) in a set of domains and I just chucked it and put a used RC2 (2.1) in and it completely changed the forks – I mean completely. They went from really really horrible to amazing..

I serviced the used damper 1st so it cost me about £125 for the used damper and new oil on top (I already had the oil)

Worth considering perhaps rather than spending money keep trying different oils… ??

Without wishing to put a fly in your glittery ointment, is this fork suitable for an ebike ?.

I was under the impression that the fork build on Ebike compatible meant it was more robust in the crown and stanchions.

I’ve a fox 36 factory i got recently, and was thinking of putting it on my ebike but the fact it doesnt have ‘ebike compatible’ on it puts me off.  I believe the crown and stanchions on ebike forks are sturdier. The Fox center bumpf lists the fork as coming in Ebike or standard, so there must be a difference.

The Merlin ones have Ebike stickers on… well they do in the pics, i assume they will when they arrive on Thurs too.

That said, and while Ebikes arent that new, the whole ‘ebike compatible’ thing appears to be. And prior to that they were shoving any old fork on, even up to the level of factory builds.

Now I can understand them thinking it should be beefier(perhaps in the hands of a pro or you ride like you stole it), but I’ve yet to read any reports of previous standard forks breaking.

I’ve a fox 36 factory i got recently, and was thinking of putting it on my ebike but the fact it doesnt have ‘ebike compatible’ on it puts me off. I believe the crown and stanchions on ebike forks are sturdier. The Fox center bumpf lists the fork as coming in Ebike or standard, so there must be a difference.

earlier fox ebike forks did have thicker stanchions,beefier crown and different damping characteristics to their non ebike forks,and as a result were heavier than the none ebike versions, but current (I think this started in 2021) fox ebike forks have an identical chassis to their non ebike equivalents and the only difference is in the damping tune.

Funnily i’ve just had this reply from Ruth @tftuned regarding a new smaller air-shaft for the Merlin Fox 36s.

Some of the E/ ETuned 36 forks will run 34 internals. https://www.tftuned.com/fox-34-float-na2-air-shaft-assembly-2022/p4054

Others have to run the EBike + shaft https://www.tftuned.com/fox-36-float-na2-air-shaft-assembly-2021/p3895

Or it can be that they just run the standard 36 NA2 shaft. https://www.tftuned.com/fox-36-float-na2-air-shaft-assembly-2021/p3895

So i’m not going to know the answer to those ones https://www.merlincycles.com/fox-36-float-grip-performance-forks-275-244684.html
until they arrive and i can put the code into Fox’s website.

Without wishing to put a fly in your glittery ointment, is this fork suitable for an ebike ?.

I was under the impression that the fork build on Ebike compatible meant it was more robust in the crown and stanchions.

don’t care.  ebike suitable is a con.  Its adds 10kg to an all up weight of 100+ kilos.  Not an issue and my weight plus bike is less than many

You will be telling me my frame will be destroyed because the fork is 30mm longer next

As far as I’m aware, the 2019 RockShox Lyrik RCT3 (specced by Specialized) that I ran on my 25kg ebike for over 4 years is no different to the standard one – just had a sticker saying for e-bikes add 10psi

We’ve has six eebers over the last five or six years.
None of them have had an Ebike specific sticker on them…

is this fork suitable for an ebike ?.

You don’t need a special fork for an e-bike, but I’ve found you do need the Very Useful Book of Handy E-bike Phrases. Some you’ll find immediately useful might be:

“Get out of my way, peasant”

“No, I’m not tired yet, why, are you?”

“I said get out of my way”

“Shall we go up this very steep hill?”

“No I don’t need a break”

“Keep up”

ebike suitable is a con.  Its adds 10kg to an all up weight of 100+ kilos.

I’m not sure it would be quite as much as 10kg unless you’re including one of those pesky ‘e-bike suitable’ motor and battery ensembles, which are a complete con. My bike came without either and works fine.

The easiest answer for your fork, btw, if you really can’t get the MoCo damper to work, is simply to grit your teeth and upgrade to a RockShox Charger 2.1 or whatever the most recent compatible upgrade is. You effectively end up with a top spec Pike. Utterly transformed a Yari from a constipated, wooden thing to a really nice fork.

You will be telling me my frame will be destroyed because the fork is 30mm longer next

It might void your warranty. If you’re being really careful – and give a stuff – you might want to check.

I hit the button yesterday on a “Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 HPC SLX 750 2023” reduced down to £3199…would have been rude not to…. my old arthritic knees will thank me for it in the long run…(no pun intended there 😉 )

Got the Molotov/grey colour

BWD – I meant the all up weight of the ebike and me is 10kg more than my non ebike – ie 10% ie well within safety margins given I am a bimbler these days

As for the longer fork and warentee – only if I break the frame would it be relevant

You will be telling me my frame will be destroyed because the fork is 30mm longer next

As for the longer fork and warranty

Clearly this is something foremost in your mind.

Yes, you’re going to die. Faceplant into the ground at the regulation 15.5mph.

@Davy-G.

Well done, thats a fantastic deal and a good level of kit for the money.

Very Useful Book of Handy E-bike Phrases

missed out

What wind ?

Have you bought the dark goggles and black balaclava that seems to be de rigueur for the e-bike riders I see around town, yet?

Have them already 🙂  also a set of kappa trakkies

ridden it today with the new fork. I can’t tell any change in handling from the longer fork.  It now does not bounce down the road however so despite not doing well on the “bounce it in the carpark” test its seemed OK.  Kyote bars have vastly improved comfort

It has reminded me why I hate derailleurs tho – horrible crunchy clanky gearshifts ( ebikes make it harder to just ease off to shift)

Someone cleared it up on another thread for Fox ebike forks. E-tuned have a different tune, E-optimised has thicker stanchions and different tune. So the E-t 36 will have 36 internals but the E-o 36 will have 34 internals

Hi Davy Can you please share or send me a link to the cube. Looks ideal. Ta.

@Wharfedale:  Bike has increased in price since I bought it on Monday, I paid £3199 for it , now £3399….C J Cooks possibly awaiting stock…

https://www.jccookcycles.co.uk/m17b0s343p12925/Cube-Bikes-Stereo-Hybrid-160-HPC-SLX-750-27-5-2023

also try Winstanleys they are selling it for £3379 they are out of stock ..as I have to wait 2 weeks for my bike from them…. 🙁

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/bikes/electric-bikes/electric-mtb-bikes/cube-stereo-hybrid-160-hpc-slx-750-2023-electric-bike

I hit the button yesterday on a “Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 HPC SLX 750 2023

That’s a good price. I have the 2022 version. Great bike 👍

Paid £4750 for mine last year.

Thanks Davy. I’ll take a look. Enjoy the bike when it arrives.

E-tuned have a different tune, E-optimised has thicker stanchions and different tune. So the E-t 36 will have 36 internals but the E-o 36 will have 34 internals

Thanks for clearing that up. Was a bit worried, bike being 52lbs and me a smidgen overweight, there would be naturally a lot of weight shifting forward in heavy braking, which I would have thought threw that weight into the crown area.

My worry comes from seeing a number of forks bitd snapped at the crown/steerer junction.