Tuning the Pike?

[Garrett]

So I made the switch from air fork to coil and I don't really know how to tune the thing. The fork I have is the OEM Pike built for the Pitch Comp and it lacks a preload knob so all I have is the rebound and u-turn.

Right now it has the medium spring installed. I like the plushness and the sag is exactly 20mm. I put a travel indicator zip-tie on it and I seem to be using all of the fork travel. Sometimes though it feels a bit too soft, like under braking force it compresses more than half way. Should I go for the firmer spring?

[afgenkuong]

Try tightening up the rebound?
Just taking a guess.

[Rivet]

So I made the switch from air fork to coil and I don't really know how to tune the thing. The fork I have is the OEM Pike built for the Pitch Comp and it lacks a preload knob so all I have is the rebound and u-turn.

Right now it has the medium spring installed. I like the plushness and the sag is exactly 20mm. I put a travel indicator zip-tie on it and I seem to be using all of the fork travel. Sometimes though it feels a bit too soft, like under braking force it compresses more than half way. Should I go for the firmer spring?

Your only real option is to run a bit heavier oil in the damper, or purchase a motion control damper which is an easy switch out.

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...s.php?id=30476

[Bryguy17]

well, fwiw it seems that you're looking at about 15% sag on the fork (not that much), so I'm going to go with it being oversprung if anything.

your problem is with the lack of a compression damper. if it doesnt have the Motion Control cart on the right leg (blue knob), then you're going to have a kinda divey fork.

I have a domain, and it doesn't have a compression circuit, and it's essentially the same deal. great plushness at proper sag, but pretty much no control of the suspension movement (especially in heavy braking).

If you want to make it tuneable, have your LBS order you a 32mm MoCo cart with gate valve, and all should be well. should just need to check oil height and drop it in.


EDIT: in response to rivet, to my knowledge, heavier oil won't do anything on the compression side of things if he doesn't already have a MoCo damper. all it will do is unnecessarily slow down his rebound.

[Drakethomas]

This is true, swap out to a Motion Control with a GATE. Parts are about 60-70$

[PUSH Industries]

Tuning the Pike?
So I made the switch from air fork to coil and I don't really know how to tune the thing. The fork I have is the OEM Pike built for the Pitch Comp and it lacks a preload knob so all I have is the rebound and u-turn.

Right now it has the medium spring installed. I like the plushness and the sag is exactly 20mm. I put a travel indicator zip-tie on it and I seem to be using all of the fork travel. Sometimes though it feels a bit too soft, like under braking force it compresses more than half way. Should I go for the firmer spring?

The first thing that needs to be asked is how much do you weigh and what bike is it on?

Darren

[Rivet]

EDIT: in response to rivet, to my knowledge, heavier oil won't do anything on the compression side of things if he doesn't already have a MoCo damper. all it will do is unnecessarily slow down his rebound.

Sure it will.....why wouldn't it? The only difference between a Motion control fork and the OEM is the non-adjustability. You've still got a compression damper assembly, It may be a simple orifice damper (I'm not sure what it is) as opposed to a wave washer assembly but heavier oil will certainly slow things down.

[DISCO]

MC just adds a compression circuit and Lockout. Once that is honed wind down to go up and out to drop.

[PUSH Industries]

Sure it will.....why wouldn't it? The only difference between a Motion control fork and the OEM is the non-adjustability. You've still got a compression damper assembly, It may be a simple orifice damper (I'm not sure what it is) as opposed to a wave washer assembly but heavier oil will certainly slow things down.

The Specialized OEM PIKE fork doesn't have compression damping. Bryguy17 is correct in saying that heavier oil will not help.

Darren

[Bryguy17]

Sure it will.....why wouldn't it? The only difference between a Motion control fork and the OEM is the non-adjustability. You've still got a compression damper assembly, It may be a simple orifice damper (I'm not sure what it is) as opposed to a wave washer assembly but heavier oil will certainly slow things down.

yeah. he said that it only had uturn and rebound = no compression cart.

the way rock shox works, either you have compression and it's adjustable, or you have none. He likely just has a cap on top to keep oil from falling out.

I see what you're saying though, and I'm betting you were thinking of the regular MoCo with no adjustable gate (its hidden inside).

[Rivet]

The Specialized OEM PIKE fork doesn't have compression damping. Bryguy17 is correct in saying that heavier oil will not help.

Darren

That almost sounds hard to believe. That fork must work terribly.

[PUSH Industries]

That almost sounds hard to believe. That fork must work terribly.

I'm not sure what's hard to believe, I surely wouldn't lie about it. RS made an OEM fork for Specialized that came with an aluminum top cap in place of where the Motion Control unit is found on the aftermarket forks. We service them all the time. It simply has a rebound rod in the leg. Some riders op to have the MoCo unit installed during service and some don't.

In fact, this setup is no different than running a MoCo Pike with the compression adjuster set to full open.

Darren

[tweasol]

^^ From an OEM Pike. The only difference here is the lack of a floodgate knob?

[PUSH Industries]

There are different levels of OEM PIKE.

No Moco
Moco with internal Floodgate Adj. (above picture)
MoCo with external Floodgate Adj.

Darren

[Garrett]

I'll see about adding the MoCo later on but for now I like how it feels. Did a bunch of my favorite trails today and it handled pretty well. Thanks for the info on this.

[Rivet]

I'm not sure what's hard to believe, I surely wouldn't lie about it. RS made an OEM fork for Specialized that came with an aluminum top cap in place of where the Motion Control unit is found on the aftermarket forks. We service them all the time. It simply has a rebound rod in the leg. Some riders op to have the MoCo unit installed during service and some don't.

In fact, this setup is no different than running a MoCo Pike with the compression adjuster set to full open.

Darren

Clearly reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.

[PUSH Industries]

Clearly reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.

My apologies as I thought you were referring to that fork existing. It seems now that you were referring to the oil effect. It's true that it wouldn't have an effect because it's not passing through anything on the compression stroke.

Darren

[Garrett]

The first thing that needs to be asked is how much do you weigh and what bike is it on?

Darren

Im 220lbs and the bike is a Specialized Enduro FSR:



I'm mainly looking at this damping so the fork will resist bottom outs and diving while being plush at the top of travel with proper sag. Sound about right?

Or can this be accomplished by getting a firmer spring? At this point I can't afford to do both, so its one or ther other.

[PUSH Industries]

At that rider weight you have to go up in spring rate for sure. Having too soft of a spring can make the suspension feel harsh as well as have the effect that you're describing in regards to excessive fork dive. Start there for sure. The replacement springs are $30.

Darren

[DISCO]

Yeah, if you are bottoming out it's time for the black. Personally I think the MoCo is better suited to air shocks than coils and just run rebound for longevity, when it's cranked down there is virtually no bob and it's still active on medium to big hits. All the little nit picky adjustments might matter on a flimsy carbon hard tail with 80mm of travel, but a bigger bike like the enduro will be more fun to set, forget, and rail.