With my Levo stolen my E180 is now my sole/main bike. It used to be reserved for the more hard core terrain but now I have to use it for trail riding, moderate gravity stuff on natural forests trails.....as well as the more gnarly stuff.
So I did a couple of mods and tested them out on my usual forest trails and down hill singletracks at Wareham forest today and I think the changes I made have worked to make the bike more comfortable for that type of riding.
So first I put higher rise bars on the bike and moved the saddle back a little on its rails. I fully expected climbing to be compromised somewhat but to my surprise it was actually pretty good. The changes have in fact placed me more central on the bike with a rather more upright stance whereas previously I was rather more over the bars. I could do most of the climbs without coming off the saddle....just perching on the nose and leaning over the bars with no tendecy for the front to go light. The higher bars also enabled me to get further back on the bike on the speeper descents.
The other change I made was to the suspension settings.
I left SAG as was and initially set HSC/LSC and HSR/LSR on both the fork and shock virtually as per Fox recommendations.
( All settings are referred to as on from Fast/Open)
Today : Fox 38 HSR +2 clicks HSC +1 click
X2 Float: LSR back 3 clicks LSC back 2 clicks
Overall I aimed to make the suspension a little more reactive rather than like a feather pillow!!
I am not a suspension Guru but I can atleast confirm the suspension platform worked well and I think I at least partially made it a little more reactive............but to be honest the entire suspension platform is so good at dealing with both small and big hits it is difficult to tell after one ride. I will stick with those setting for the time being though.
So I did a couple of mods and tested them out on my usual forest trails and down hill singletracks at Wareham forest today and I think the changes I made have worked to make the bike more comfortable for that type of riding.
So first I put higher rise bars on the bike and moved the saddle back a little on its rails. I fully expected climbing to be compromised somewhat but to my surprise it was actually pretty good. The changes have in fact placed me more central on the bike with a rather more upright stance whereas previously I was rather more over the bars. I could do most of the climbs without coming off the saddle....just perching on the nose and leaning over the bars with no tendecy for the front to go light. The higher bars also enabled me to get further back on the bike on the speeper descents.
The other change I made was to the suspension settings.
I left SAG as was and initially set HSC/LSC and HSR/LSR on both the fork and shock virtually as per Fox recommendations.
( All settings are referred to as on from Fast/Open)
Today : Fox 38 HSR +2 clicks HSC +1 click
X2 Float: LSR back 3 clicks LSC back 2 clicks
Overall I aimed to make the suspension a little more reactive rather than like a feather pillow!!
I am not a suspension Guru but I can atleast confirm the suspension platform worked well and I think I at least partially made it a little more reactive............but to be honest the entire suspension platform is so good at dealing with both small and big hits it is difficult to tell after one ride. I will stick with those setting for the time being though.
