Mine has come as 2 deliveries. 1 for bike. 1 for the revised gear hanger. I won’t ride the bike without swapping out.

I did just buy a 3 grand bike without riding and knowing it was a brand new frame design. I knew the risks but thought it might be worth it. We’ll see…

I am picking my medium comp 1 in an hour. Was contemplating starting a thread about it as there’s not that much info on here yet.

Had very bad judder when I fitted mine. Found out on my shake down ride.

A dab of copper slip on each backing plate completely removed it for me. No problems since 😀

I think you are talking about 1-2mm of linear travel at the top of the fork stroke. It feels like a loose headset on my bike but comes from linear movement in the fork.

But you’re never going to cycle the fork unweighted. If there is play in the fork when it is 20% sagged then there is an issue. Or fore/ aft & side to side, but you state there is none.

If it is an issue when you are riding the bike then you should pursue further.

That is a common feeling on Rockshox forks. My 2011 Revelations do the same. No adverse performance or wear.

You will find other discussions about this on the web with a bit of googling.

robinlaidlaw – Member

This is absolutely true and I doubt that anyone who claims the top cap is not needed has tried riding hard with it removed over a period of time. The stem does get worked a little on the stem by impacts and vibration and without something to stop it being able to move up the steerer freely, it will.

Definitely with this line of thinking. Although it took me many months, a new headset & new stem to come to the same conclusion.

I think the problem was particularly bad on a bike I have with a 130mm travel fork and only a 100mm headtube. The stem has to clamp at a very high force, so close to the crown, to counter the leverage of the fork.

For forks sake. I think somebody is having a Lauf with those.

I’m still waiting for mine until August.

They are short in the top tube – the medium has the same length top tube as my size small Cotic Soul. Crucially though it has more reach due to the super steep seat tube. That’s kind of what I want as my Soul is great seated but a bit short when stood up.

I’m 5’8″ and YT sizing recommended the small Capra which is very very short, so I ignored and bought the medium. My problem will be that the Reverb probably won’t go low enough in the seat tube for me to use the full extension so I am already preparing to buy a 5inch drop one and sell the 6inch one on the bike.

That’s the way it is as I have a long back and short legs.

Yeah, Sub 3 tonnes.

Sorry, couldn’t resist. It was kilos?

Still can’t be sure it wasn’t tonnes though.

The 2013 Fox CTDs had far too little low speed compression, leading to a very divey fork that gave way on steep terrain or heavy braking.

It was improved for 2014 but I still don’t think people were all that keen on it.

It is meant to be improved on the 2015 fork again. I have only tried the 2013 fork and I wouldn’t have bought one for the price.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

The thing you need to be aware of is high speed compression will be affected as much as low. The fork might need a tune for the high speed if it starts spiking on square edge hits.

Seems to be a bit of a issue with the 270X. See this thread here for discussion and fixes:

AnandTech Forums

thejesmonddingo – Member
So was I butcher,perks of staying in

😆 Too subtle for some, I think. Thank goodness for my purile mind…

The 2011 RLT Ti model has the Blackbox damping (dual flow rebound). It is very good

The 2012 version got a new damper – RCT3 which is meant to be even better.

The RL and the RLT are available on both the 2011 & 2012 forks but do not have the dual flow rebound cart.

Pretty positive both 2011 & 2012 are both dual air, with the move to solo air being for the 2013 forks onwards.

Chiefgrooveguru couldn’t have said it better. 10mm in reach can have quite a bit effect in the feel of the bike.

Northwind – here’s what I meant about the top tube length:

http://www.cotic.co.uk/geek/

Increase the length of the fork on the Cotic geometry calculator and watch the ETT decrease.

Is that how you usually have the suspension set? Fork is waaaaay too soft, which will lengthen the bike and make the front end just feel wrong.

Ooo, ooo!

Can I join in. I have the same issue as lovewookie described. It started with a Cane Creek S1 though. Steps I have taken to cure it are: clean, and re-clamp with carbon assembly paste between stem and steerer; new Hope headset; new stem. I am now thinking about getting the headtube re-faced.

I am a competent bike mechanic and am slightly embarrassed that I haven’t been able to trouble shoot such a seemingly simple problem. I’m beginning to think that the steerer tube of my fork might be undersize or something.

Mountain Kings and Rubber Queens are designed for different conditions. As far as I know, Continental also vary their Black Chili compound between each model of tyre.

Mountain Kings are meant to be for dryish conditions aren’t they? I use Rubber Queens almost all the time and they are definitely a more intermediate condition tyre. Their forte is wet roots and rocks due to the soft compound of the tyre.

If you want better traction on slippery surfaces then Rubber Queens will give that.

Modern bikes have changed a lot but people’s opinion of TT hasn’t IMO.

A few years ago a 69 degree head angle on a hardtail bike was considered slack. Now it’s average to steep. Also suspension forks have far more capable damping and are lighter than even 5 years ago. The result of this is you can get away with putting far more weight over the front of your bike and improve the front end grip without so much fear of going over the bars.

Longer top tube bikes allow you to get more weight forwards, something that wasn’t desirable on bikes designed for technical handling until the advances made above.

I am 5ft 8 and I ride a small sized Soul with a 70mm stem and 740mm bars. I can make it work very well for me but it is short. If I bought again then I would buy and medium Soul and probably have a 60 or 70mm stem because my original worries about going over the bars are nowhere near as much of an issue as I thought they were.

All the modern aggressive riding bikes are going for short stays, long top tubes and slack head angles. It gives you a more roomy stable ride, it’s just a lot of people (myself included) still haven’t had the chance/ budget to experiment and enjoy the benefits.

Very pleased with my Hilo. It’s on a Soul with a 27.2mm seat tube.

Was a little concerned about the quality before buying but I stopped worrying when I received it. It has solid construction and good finishing. There is little side to side play.

I use the cable remote and it works adequately. I would say that the remote and the cable are probably the weakest part of the kit. The cable has a bit of friction to it, so the lever action isn’t that positive. It doesn’t affect the operation at all.

I have been using mine since the beginning of the year with no problems at all. It has stood up to some medium sized crashes in that time. I plan to service it after the winter (something you can do yourself). I have just realised that I have never topped up the air pressure because it has never needed it.

Overall a very good and reliable bit of kit. Considering I was able to pick one up for less than £130 at Wiggle I would have no hesitation in recommending it.

mokl – Member
I’m disgusted to see that neither she nor the child are wearing a helmet.

brakes – Member
she probably ate them

ROFL

Funniest thing I’ve read this week 😀

Too good to be true.

I am calling shens on this. Do I win £5

Very funny all the same 😀

mrblobby – Member
I did, but it was on a bike that wasn’t really suited to lyriks and was much better off with revs spaced down to 130. Just because a hardtail can handle 160 forks doesn’t mean it’ll handle with 160 forks

QFT

10-EXTRA seems to still work.

mrblobby – Member

An Easton Haven stem from Merlin. Damn their special offer mailshots!

Ha ha ha. Fell victim to purchasing the exact same item as a consequence of the same mailshot. Black Haven stem in 70mm? Mine went in the post this morning 😆

At 5’10 I’d say definitely Medium, possibly 50mm stem. Will be chuckable unless you have a penchant for extremely short bikes. Fork length will determine more about the handling than the extra top tube length. I’d say 120mm is a good starting point.

661 Rage kneepads are great IMO. I think they were designed to be the direct replacement for the Straits. Comfy enough for me to wear for long periods of time. Good protection too!

When I tried several sizes on, the strap lengths on all sizes were identical, it was the difference in size/ width of the knee cup that varied. I ended up with a medium even though I have very broad legs. The straps stretched a bit with wear.

You are putting a lot more stress on the damping cartridge seals by doing this. Whether that will affect the reliability of your fork in the long term is difficult to say. It certainly won’t improve longevity.

Would a better approach not be to stiffen the fork by increasing the spring rate?

I can manual acceptably for 1-3 seconds. I still struggle with getting the balance point perfect for longer. 1-3 seconds is plenty of ability for improving riding on trails IMO.

The best tip I can give you is watching this video for the first 2 minutes:

http://youtu.be/oVZL1u7OqD0

The motion demonstrated with the hips here using a kettle bell is perfect for getting up into a solid manual. As soon as I watched this video and then thought about the same motion on my bike my manualing became more consistent.

Once you can ‘get it up’ reliably you just need to keep improving your balance. There’s no short cuts for that part.

Would anyone like a mouthful of my Scandinavian chewing gum?

This is mine when I built it in May 2011. Still going strong today in much the same guise.

teamhurtmore, really enjoy your posts on financial matters. They seem spot on to me. Are you a professional in the industry?

Even more of a reason for me to go ahead and just order a Lev from Germany, then. Shmickles.

Any word back from KS yet, Chives?

Except you cannot buy a KS Lev with 27.2mm diameter in the UK anywhere at the moment. Hence the wondering about the German option. They have been available in the US since the beginning of the year, Germany for 2 weeks. Still no availability in the UK it seems.

Do you really think it is worth risking getting a Lev from Germany? Is the warranty Europe-wide?

I have been waiting for the 27.2mm version and would dearly like to buy, but as it is one of the items that is more likely to need fixed at some point I thought I would wait until they were available to buy in the UK. That’s taking a long time and I’m not sure my patience can hold out much longer!!! End of February max…

Is it too late to offer a second opinion?

😆

I’m very keen on investigating the Lev when it’s released.

It was always going to be later than the larger diameter posts. The last time I searched for release dates it was January 2013ish.

Fingers crossed. If they can get availability for spring time, I’ll most likely purchase one.

Don’t measure the pressure, measure the sag that you get on the fork when you are standing up on the bike in an ‘attack’ position.

Typical sag settings range between 20 – 33% of total fork travel, depending on personal preference and riding type