Fox 38 forks harsh, budget damper issues

[pampmyride]

Allmtn 7 + Fox 38 forks. Anyone else finding these forks harsh? I'm up to 250 miles on it now & a recent ride on my P bike -with rockshox lyric forks has shown me how rough the Fox fork is. I've no experience of Fox forks before & it seems the Haibike has come with a budget version. It has the Fit4 damper & it just feels every bump small & large. I've tried removing the token/spacers one by one and in the car park test they feel great, but hit the rooty singletrack & it's numb hands & arm fatigue. The damper settings are full open of course. Is the unadjustable high speed damping too much? 12 stone rider trying 75-85 psi.....Any ideas ?

 

[steve_sordy]

What sag% are you using?
What tyre pressures?

 

[Mteam]

The damper settings are full open of course. Is the unadjustable high speed damping too much? 12 stone rider trying 75-85 psi.....Any ideas ?

Having the rebound set to full open won't be good, it will feel like a pogo stick.

 

[pampmyride]

Compression open, rebound 5 clicks from open. Reading up on Fox forks... it seems some come with too much grease in the wrong place. I'll strip & have a look. Have ordered a shaft vice clamp to do this as 38's air side is more complex than other forks I've had apart.

 

[head]

I have a new (less than a week old) Fox 38 factory and it's not working as expected. I too suspect too much grease in the air leg. Also compression setting doesn't work as there is no difference between open/closed positions. In this case, there isn't probably enough oil in the damper leg (I'm just guessing). I hope to get it fixed this week.

 

[Cb750stu]

I've got the 38 performance ones on my new Orbea , first thing I did was clean out the globs of grease in the neg chamber and fitted a Luftkappe , made a big difference as it always does , I like the grip damper it's not the latest grip2 but it's good ,

I run compression in open , rebound set 5 clicks from open works for me ?

 

[RickBullotta]

I would also suggesting trying re-equalizing the negative chamber by removing all of the air, cycling the fork fully through its stroke, then add air back 10-15 psi at a time, cycling the fork a few times between each bit of air addition.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I've tried removing the token/spacers one by one and in the car park test they feel great, but hit the rooty singletrack & it's numb hands & arm fatigue.

Have you tried adding more spacers and dropping the pressure ? It make them more compliant in the early part of the stroke so you should feel less with smaller bumps, but they'll be more progressive with the extra tokens so they won't bottom out despite the lower pressure.

 

[head]

I would also suggesting trying re-equalizing the negative chamber by removing all of the air, cycling the fork fully through its stroke, then add air back 10-15 psi at a time, cycling the fork a few times between each bit of air addition.

I've already tried this a few times and it did not help. It looks that equalization is not working (that is the reason why I suspect too much grease based on what I've read online). Original fork travel is 160mm but mine is ~ 130mm because the legs won't go fully out.

 

[Gyre]

The Fox Factory 38 on my Orbea is much, much harsher than my Lyrik and Zeb on other bikes - I had to really slow down my pace yesterday, which was super frustrating. My air pressure is very high (~90psi), but the problem is when I reduce air pressure it quickly reverts to too much sag.

 

[RickBullotta]

Does sag really really matter? what matters is hitting your normal jumps and making sure you don’t bottom out. Tho if you street queen it then yeah stick to sag for best geo.

Of course it matters. A fork goes up *and* down. With no sag, the fork couldn't extend to maintain traction when the terrain has holes or dips.

 

[RickBullotta]

Well yeah. But that dude is saying his pressure is really high and ride is too harsh so sounds to me like he’s riding high and can fix that with more sag.

Sounds like the infamous Fox Fork Grease Block Syndrome (FFGBS) to me.

 

[RickBullotta]

That too. But he also simply stated he’s running high pressure and has a hard ride. I run about 20 psi less on my ohlins main chamber and I’d really really have to land like shit to bottom it out. Tho, the ohlins dual chambers are superior

"Land like shit" and "landing" are sadly synonymous for me. My kinesthetic sense in the air is pretty much non existent...

 

[Gyre]

Does sag really really matter? what matters is hitting your normal jumps and making sure you don’t bottom out. Tho if you street queen it then yeah stick to sag for best geo.

Yes, it matters, and it's not just about geo. If you're deep in the sag at rest, then your effective travel will be much shorter than intended and you'll hit the air spring ramp up way too soon. That's not any better than running too much pressure. Whether or not you bottom out on a jump is hardly a complete measure of the fork's performance.

It's a $1200+ USD premium fork from a reputable brand. There is a way it's intended to work. For some reason, it doesn't seem to be working that way from the factory.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I don't think you can have too much SAG ..

 

[Gyre]

I don't think you can have too much SAG ..

That might explain the suspension seatpost.

 

[Mteam]

It does sound like the negative air chamber is not equalising pressure.

Try compressing them very slightly and listening for the hiss or air moving into the neg chamber, or dismantle the air spring and make sure the air transfer port isn't blocked

 

[pampmyride]

It does sound like the negative air chamber is not equalising pressure.

Try compressing them very slightly and listening for the hiss or air moving into the neg chamber, or dismantle the air spring and make sure the air transfer port isn't blocked

That's the plan..

 

[Sidepod]

Original fork travel is 160mm but mine is ~ 130mm because the legs won't go fully out.

Take the front wheel out. Pop the axle back in the forks. Stand on the axle, grab the forks at the top and pull upwards. You should hear a hiss and you will have 160mm. The neg air port is right at the top of the stroke.