Vorsprung spring chart and Tftuned

Anyone else find the spring chart miles out and not worth a ****!
90kg puts me on a 50lb spring for a Medium set up as recommended.
This gives me 20% sag and 35mm out of my 170mm travel left after riding off piste at cwmcarn with zero clicks of bottom out.

Spoke with Tftuned who asked if I had ride it.
Err yeah otherwise how would I know the spring was too firm!
Tuff you will have to buy a new spring…
Ow thanks for your help!

Anyone got a 45lb kicking around?

20% sag sounds good, what are you looking for?

Bit more than that 25-30.
So on that ride I was only using 100mm out of my 170mm of travel.

Apparently vorsprung changed the chart due to customer feedback.

In reality  I suspect the kit is designed for hard chargers living in canada and shredding the gnar. Not bimblers in Basingstoke looking for a comfier ride.  Not saying you are one or the other, just perhaps what vorsprung thought from the start.

also, between each spring rate there is a 9% difference. Theoretically, if you are using 100mm of your 170mm travel decreasing the spring rate to 45lbs would allow you to use 9% more travel –  115mm travel ish. Again theoretically, if you drop your spring rate to 40lbs you would increase your travel usage by 18% – 130mm travel.

how does it feel otherwsie? good small bump and support?
<
I really really rate mine. 150mm 55lbs spring @80kgs

Ok, when I say 100mm that’s minus sag and the 35mm thats left at the end of the stanchion. So 135mm is being used.
Feels really good but I don’t want to jump of cliffs to use full travel.

What sag do you get and are you running any HBO?

23mm sag and yes a couple of clicks of the bottom out resistance.  could be interested in your spring if you do go lower.

Feels really good but I don’t want to jump of cliffs to use full travel.

Wouldn’t be so sure about that. A front end that feels good and stays high is much nicer than a one that goes through loads of travel all the time ime

Still probably worth getting the spring to check anyway

Mine said get a 40 or 45, 45 was out of stock, got a 40, it’s miles too weak. No chance I’d have been happy with a 45 either, I’ve got a 50 to go in when I can be arsed.

I’m not massively ornery about it, though the parts are a bit too expensive and not easily resellable to just shrug it off. But I’ve been there before, I think literally every spring guide I’ve ever used has been horseshit. ROckshox told me to get an extra soft for a lyrik ffs, so I thought “Ah, you won’t fool me again” and got a soft, turns out they fooled me again, I had to get a medium in the end and even it was on the squishy side.

Hi Soap,

I don’t know who you spoke to but if you give me a call in the morning I can sort you out.
01373 826800

Cheers, Ruth @TFT

Yeah, to be fair to TF tuned, I had the same issue and they swapped it out no worries. (Thanks Ruth)

But, I suspect that the smashpot spring kit prevents you using full travel, as it certainly does on mine. Even with a softer spring than suggested, and a softer one than I would otherwise use, I’m still not getting the last 20mm of my 180mm fork. Ever. Huck to flat, long alpine descents, nothing will encourage it to full travel.

I suspect, as TF hinted at, that the bottom out circuit is overdamped and I need to adjust the washers in the HBO circuit.

Not tried yet, but it’s def an issue.

Wouldn’t be so sure about that. A front end that feels good and stays high is much nicer than a one that goes through loads of travel all the time

this

If your bike feels good for the whole descent and it’s keeping balanced and doesn’t feel harsh at any point then stop worrying about not using all the travel

Sort of the same here and on the same trails as well. I started with a 45lb spring, which felt great initially but then I realise I had 10mm left no matter what. I did some fettling, couldn’t get anywhere so ordered the 40lb spring and fitted that. A couple of days on it and realised it was not for me. I was getting nearly full travel, but it just didn’t feel as supportive until I whacked on a ton of LSC and that made it feel horrible on the chattery stuff. The 45/lb went back in, I spent some more time faffing with it and eventually got it to a good place. Ended up some distance from the settings that it was when they sent it to me, but feels pretty good.

For ref I’m on a pike with a FAST damper in it, which probably played a part. It was setup great from them when it was air and I only ever changed a click or two. I think there’s a lot of personal preference involved with these things, as well as how you ride and weight the bike.

I had mine last april, so I think that was just about the time Vorsprung released the updated chart.

Maybe hold off ordering a new spring and just back the bottom out off completely and see how that feels and go from there. I know there’s only meant to be 10% or so between springs, but not sure what the tolerances are on those springs rates and the interaction between that and whatever damping cart is in your fork.

Some good advice here and I totally agree its the last thing you want when riding steeps or hitting jumps is the front end blowing through or tucking under.
Be nice to get somewhere near the HBO feature of the system tho.

@Ruth I ordered a 45lb after the call so I’ll see how that feels.

I think that the HBO system is, in effect, being too effective, creating the inability to achieve full travel. I can feel it’s effect on big landings, so it’s very noticeable.

I¡m going to try much lighter oil as a ‘cheat’ to see if I can reduce the effect a little. Well, when the Somme of my local trails has receded.

I seem to remember reading a review somewhere saying that they felt a it was similar to what your describing, they rearranged the shim stack a couple of times and really improved things.

The 45lb is now installed with 27% sag.
Going to ride either Blade at afan or the newly re opened Cafall at Cwmcarn on Sunday.
Defo feels plusher on the curbs out in the street.
Will report back after.

Can you adjust preload on the Vorsprung kit?

I think the loading on the Vorsprung is quick critical (as there’s specific details in the instructions about exact fitting) so I’m not sure preloading is possible.

The shin stack Ian the way to properly set-up the HBO effectiveness, but I’m too lazy to do it.

This rider went from 5, 3 to 1 shim on the front of the stack.

https://nsmb.com/articles/vorsprung-smashpot-coil-conversion-fox-36-reviewed/

@bigyan – thanks for the link.
Interesting to read. Although no mention of how tricky/tools needed to shuffle the shims…. might have to tinker.

Rode the 45lb on the same trails as last week for comparison, and the extra grip was really noticeable compared to the 50lb.
Run 5 clicks of HBO and was left with about 10mm on the stanchion.
Prefect for wet UK trails.
Will keep the 50lb for the summer and alps trips.

@bigyan – thanks for the link.
Interesting to read. Although no mention of how tricky/tools needed to shuffle the shims…. might have to tinker.

Page 14

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0767/8621/files/VORSPRUNG_SMASHPOT_-_Installation_Instructions_Rev_D.pdf?26

Remove the smashpot assembly from the fork (12mm and 28m socket) then just a 22mm cone spanner and a 12mm spanner to remove the footnut/shimstack

Anyone interested in my 2 ride old 50LB spring?

DM sent @SOAP

and further to that, i do indeed have a 55lbs spring with only 2 short set-up rides on it.
If anyone is interested in that.

Revive the thread 🙂 figure get a spring swap going on. Have. 40lb spring and after a 55 or 60 spring.

Good idea- I still have my 40 spare, not currently looking for another but it’s looking for a new home as I’m not getting any lighter

I have a 35lb spring going spare, used for one 2hr test ride.

Just to hijack, I have Lyrik capped Smashpot c/w 35 & 40 spring up for sale….. if you fancy…..

Love my Lyrik Smashpot since May installation

Not sure if its possible but the spring recently has felt more supple, with probably more sag than before. It is possible that a spring changes over time and becomes less tense?
I have actually lost half a stone since install so can rule that out!

wondering whether I should up the travel to 180mm from 170, or try a 45 up from 40.

Finally got one and just installed this afternoon…… now have a click approx halfway through the travel. Anyone else have/had this? Not rattle or top out when extended so don’t think it’s a preload issue. Anyone got any thoughts?

Sounds like the spring tapping the inside of the stanchion when under load.

Did you wrap it in shrink wrap?
Might need another layer possibly?

That’s exactly what it sounds like to me too. Wrapped the spring as per the manual, shouldn’t need a second layer as it’s a Lyrik but it’s a possibility

Tftuned know their stuff. Been amazing for me. Big up adam at tftuned.

I’m about to order a smashpot kit for my 170mm 2020 lyrik

I think I’m settled on going with the 55lbs spring, I’m 95kg and so going with what the chart recommends.

But it’s obvious that not everyone has got on well with their choice that was suggested by the chart so I’m kind of expecting the possibility of having to go up or down. But I’m also thinking having two spring rates wont hurt giving the option to run it softer or firmer depending on where I’m riding.

If anyone happens to have a 45,50,55 or even 60 spring spare that they want to sell send me a pm

Hows everyone been getting on with theirs?

I’ve got a 40 but probably no use to you. You probably won’t want to change spring rates once you’ve got a good one tbh, it’s not a big job but it’s just slightly too much faff except for proper racing. Not like say a Boxxer where you just take the top off and throw it in. But the flipside of that is that I’ve never really wanted to change it since I put the 50 in. Even though I’ve had a big reduction of gnar (Pentlands instead of inners and golfy) I’ve just found that what works, works.

Still loving mine, annoyingly my fork has some non-spring reliability issues so I’m starting to think about replacement and maybe transferring the spring conversion to some new fork.

yeah the 40 is likely too soft for me but once I’ve got it installed I’ll know if I need to go up or down.

Did you initially order it with the 40 because thats what the chart recommended and you found it too soft?

I’ll be running mine in 170 lyriks on a Nomad4. I run my forks quite firm on the Nomad around 20-25 percent sag but this more due to it just being what I find works best with the frame rather than being a radge hard charger.
So I’ve been going by the firm side of the spring chart rather than the medium or soft charts. But going by randoms on the internets it seems folk have varying experiences with sag.

Likewise I only really ride the Nomad at inners uplift.
Aye I’ve had a good look at the installation manual and spring change doesn’t seem to involved, I doubt I’d be changing it frequently if at all, but I like the idea of maybe having a slightly softer spring for riding through the wet winter months at inners.

Mind me asking what weight you are!? and what travel are your forks? Oh and which forks are they?

@shanner
I’m 105kgs and I’m running either a 50, or a 55 on a 180mm lyrik, I can’t recall without looking. I like my fork quite supple, but I’m still not getting full travel on mine.

Maybe try a 50lbs instead, as the HBO means you can run softer than normal with lots of mid/end stroke control. I certainly went down 2 spring rates before I found the sweet spot.

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jedi
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Tftuned know their stuff. Been amazing for me. Big up adam at tftuned

Wee update on this one. TF Tuned’s response wasn’t exactly to their usual standards. Basically, “unless it bothers you, just ride it’ll be fine. Probably just the spring moving or deflecting”.

Vorsprung otoh were much better and sent me back to have a good look at the heat shrink – and they were right. I’d been using a hair dryer which turns out hadn’t done as good a job as hoped. Shrunk down further with fire and then trimmed as required, it’s all sorted and completely silent.