Ask PB: Crackly Cables, Gearing Woes and Harsh Suspension

Jun 2, 2015
by Pinkbike Staff  
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Here at Pinkbike we get inundated with all kinds of questions, ranging from the basic "Can I have stickers" to more in-depth, soul searching types of queries like if you should pop the question or what to name your first child. Ask Pinkbike is an occasional column where we'll be hand picking and answering questions that have been keeping readers up at night, although we'll likely steer clear of those last two and keep it more tech oriented.




Crackly Headset?

Question: Pinkbike user brushyrush asked this question in the downhill forum: I've just purchased a Transition TR450 off of the Pinkbike buy and sell. Everything was great but I've noticed a crackling and creaking sound coming from the headset. There's no play in it, so it's not loose, but I can hear a weird noise when I turn the handlebar to the left and right. Any ideas as to what it could be? I don't want to shell out big bucks for a repair.

bigquotesThere's a decent chance that the noise you're hearing doesn't have anything to do with your headset, but it's not going to hurt to give it a going over since your bike was bought used. The first thing that you're going to want to do is to drop the fork out of the frame and clean all of the headset's surfaces. You probably don't need to push the headset cups out for inspection and cleaning unless the problem persists after you do everything that's laid out below, but wipe off the bearings, the split cone up top, the crown race, and the inside of both cups. Next, apply a very thin layer of grease to all of the components listed above before you reassemble.

As weird as it is going to sound, the noise you're describing actually sounds a lot like housing crackle from your shifter cable and housing. Over time the steel wire in the housing will tend to push out past where it was trimmed when first installed, and the bare ends are known for making the exact noise that you're describing as they are loaded and unloaded against the hosing caps as you turn the handlebar. Strange, I know, but I've seen this happen countless times, especially when metal housing end caps are used. You'll need to use a sharp pair of cable cutters to trim a few millimeters off of the end of the housing in order to stop this noise.
- Mike Levy

Mick Hannah s Polygon Photos by Paris Gore

Ratty ends of the shift housing can make strange crackling noises as you turn the handlebar, but it's a simple fix.








Gearing Woes

Question: Drummuy04 asks in All Mountain & Cross Country Forum : So I switched to a 1x drivetrain but was running a 26t front ring and an 11 x 36t cassette but have switched to a 32 front with an 11 x 42 spread and am having a lot of trouble climbing. Is there some sort of leverage ratio that I am not understanding because of the bigger ring? I am riding a lot of my normal climbs and find myself getting PRs on them but walking some sections. Anyone know why it's harder?

bigquotesI assume that you added a booster 42t cog to your existing cassette, and then paired it with a 32t narrow-wide chainring. Divide your original gearing (36 / 26 = 1.384), then do the same with your new gearing (42 / 32 = 1.312) and it shows that your original gearing was lower (your new gearing works out to about a 5.2-percent increase in climbing effort). Switching to a 30t chainring will net you a slightly lower low gear (42 / 30 = 1.4), which is very close to what you had before, while still giving you a taller top gear.

You can push your 32 for a month or so, increase your strength and endurance, and save the cost of purchasing a 30t chainring - or buy the 30 and tailor your gearing to match your present abilities. The hills around my place are pretty steep. Using a 42t cassette cog, I ride a 30t on 27.5-inch-wheel bikes and a 32t for 26-inch wheels. For 29ers, I use a 30, although I often wish for a 28 for long slug-fest ascents. - RC


OneUp Components 45T Sprocket and XTR Narrow Wide Chainring. Santa Cruz Nomad drivetrain.
Adding a 42-tooth booster cog to your cassette allows you to increase the number of teeth on the chainring slightly, netting a lower low gear, as well as a taller top gear.






RockShox Pike Feels Harsh

Question: rideone62 asks in the Mechanic's Lounge forum: I'm really a bit disappointed with my Pike and matching DebonAir shock. Both have good support but are just plain harsh. For getting such good media reviews they just don't get out of the way on square edge roots/rocks. Am I just feeling the not so subtle difference between coil/air springs? To get the right sag in the shock I'm running quite high pressure. About 270lbs for a 195 lb rider. If I'm really pushing it I could stand a slightly more progressive fork but I'm not overly concerned with that. I am wondering though if adding volume spacers might let me run less pressure and get a plusher (and more progressive) ride?

bigquotesBoth the Pike and the DebonAir are top notch suspension products, and they also happen to be very easy to tune via volume spacers in order to get exactly the feeling you're searching for. Let's start with the front fork first. By adding one or two bottomless tokens into your fork, (a super quick procedure that involves letting the air pressure out, unscrewing the top cap, twisting on a token, and then reinstalling the cap and reinflating), you'll make it ramp up more quickly at the end of its stroke. In turn, this should allow you to reduce the air pressure, making it feel more supple in the beginning of its travel.

The same tactic can be uses for the DebonAir rear shock. Inside the air can are rubber bands that can be added or removed to accomplish the same thing that the plastic tokens do in the fork. Adding two or three bands will be a good starting point, and should allow you to run a little less pressure without bottoming out.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different configurations - the suggested settings for your fork and shock are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Everyone's preferences are slightly different, as are riding styles and terrain. Take notes detailing all of your initial settings, and then keep track of the changes you make. Before long you'll have everything dialed in and feeling just as plush and progressive as you'd like. - Mike Kazimer

DebonAir volume spacers
Adjusting the air can volume is a fairly quick and easy way to alter how a shock feels.



Have some unresolved tech questions? Jump in the Pinkbike Forum and we'll look to answer it for next time.

Author Info:
pinkbikeaudience avatar

Member since Jul 22, 2013
3,465 articles

66 Comments
  • 86 0
 The more important thing is, where can I find carbon shifter clamps?
  • 8 0
 my exact thoughts
  • 6 0
 €129 for a 20g saving....so enduuuuro
  • 52 9
 Placeholder for the olympic caliber honed 1.5% body fat keyboard cubicle warriors from the farthest reaches of Flatlandia, Arkansasistan or the UK to question number 2 - "Gearing Woes" --- ; "Oi Mate - I can climb all the mountains in MY neighbourhood with a 36 front ring and 36 rear cogset so you must be an out-of-shape wuss if you need a smaller gear".
  • 18 0
 Do you also have space for 'a 1x is not appropriate for every rider in every location?'
  • 26 8
 uwha m8? Me been doin 6000ft climbs in me unfit body on 32t-36t on true Enduro bike, ain't no 20lbs semislick Xc Mar-athon.Ra-Cer. 'Em trail are less rel-evant, it's 'bout yer muscle structure, ya know what I am sayin' m8? Get yo arse fit anyway and ya betta ride some moto
  • 12 1
 @leelau that's correct ;-)
Seriously though if I didn't use a 34t I'd run out of gears to go back down with, so it can't be that flat here? I don't mind what gears people are using so please nobody take offence but my point is just that if you need the smalls to get up, surely you need the bigs to go down as well?
  • 11 15
flag jstnrt (Jun 2, 2015 at 23:41) (Below Threshold)
 At this point I feel like WAKI should be given MOD status.
  • 10 5
 TROLL King!!!
  • 15 0
 if you can't clear it with a single gear and coaster brake then you aren't trying
  • 3 0
 if you can't clear it with a fixed gear and no brakes then you aren't trying
  • 7 0
 What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But fixies use toe clips. Toe clips will kill you
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns

forget toe clips, its all about ' Powerstraps' Wink
  • 3 0
 The answer to gearing woes is 2x. Learn to adjust your derraileurs properly and shimano ones work great. You can even shift a dropped chain back on without getting off the bike, unlike the 1x ers I saw at the last race I rode.
  • 2 0
 Track stand solves everything! Does your wife tighten them up for you at home and then your colleague at work unstraps you when you get there after several miles? I wish it were so in my life... I'd also commute in a helmet with leather strap between my teeth, tightened around my neck. Like wire around the neck of hardcore motorcyclists
  • 10 0
 Increasing progressiveness might make the problem worse as a bike with a very linear spring rate eats square edge bumps for breakfast (physics agrees). If he was talking about small bump sensitivity then by all means, but he's not. If he's sure he has the right sag % (I found 20 front and 30 back for that exact combo is great) then remove all tokens and spacers and run no LSC. Then just play with rebound, I found my fork and shock combo way too harsh but spent a lot of time trying out various rebound settings and found that to be the cause of the problem.

After it stops feeling harsh on square bumps then play with LSC, and finally once you start charging more, add tokens/bands as necessary.

(I am assuming the person doesn't have air trapped in the lowers and his lowers have oil)
  • 7 0
 This may be relevant if the fork was purchased used:

Many have noticed that, over time, the Pike will ingest oil from the lowers into the cartridge through the rebound assembly seal head. This messes with the viscosity of the damper fluid, and also overfills the damper so that the bladder hits the walls of the uppers at the end of the stroke, providing resistance. Bigger hits feel like crap after it ingests too much oil.

I ride ten hours a week and need to service the damper every three months.

Fortunately it's pretty easy to bleed the damper. I just crack open the the lower seal head, replace the seal, poor out old oil, poor in new, and bleed, which is pretty easy to do if you get the syringe fitting.
  • 6 0
 So I recently had a bit of trouble climbing a steep mtn in Golden, CO and I questioned my abilities. Took my bike to the shop to inquire about a smaller chainring. Bike shop said I must be crazy for running a 1x11, 42T cassette with a 36T chainring. They say most run a 32t or smaller. Another mechanic chimed, "Enduro." Looks like I need to do some research.
  • 4 0
 Running a 36 front paired with a 1x11 (11-42) is beastly! Better be strong and have good knees. You should be able to out pedal your 1x11 friends on the downs though!
  • 1 0
 I probably know that mountain you are referring to and our climbs change your perception of gearing pretty quickly! That said I started with a 34t, went to a 32t and now have a 30t on a 27.5 wheel size. I'd rather have a higher cadence when I climb and don't find myself running out of gearing on the descent very often (if at all). Most of the trails in the front range will get you into trouble if you are pedaling at 30 mph.
  • 3 2
 I ride 1x10 with a 34t up front and 11-36t out back And I've climbed up bike park wales and some stuff in the alps without a problem, all the fast local guys here run 36t and 11-36 and they get up everything fine, it's more about your riding style sometimes than it is your fitness Smile
  • 2 0
 I've been running a 34f 11x36r 10spd on 26's for a while out here - time to upgrade haha. The hills out here are legit and lengthy.
  • 1 0
 @herzalot , truly helps on DH!
@ryan83 seriously. That mountain goes straight up into the sky. I ride a 26" but that's irrelevant. I will most likely come down to a 34T, maybe 32T. I still want to have that pwr on the DH, since I mostly ride out here in the Springs.
@Scotj009 thanks for the info. I'm slowly finding out the intricacies of riding. I guess sometimes ignorance helps because I've mostly enjoyed my set up. Had no idea my 36t was considered outside the "norm." Like you said though, riding style.
@mobilechernobyl embrace the pain!
  • 1 0
 aorry, i meant 36 is the norm, clements uses a 36 outside of racing but when he races he uses 34 so 36 is the norm IMO but It's just up to riding style IMO Smile Salute
  • 4 0
 @Scotj009 Clements is a professional mountain biker. I'm happy that a 36 works for you and the rest of the pro gang but some of us mortals who climb 2000-4000 feet every ride have different needs. In the front range of Denver most rides begin with a minimum of 1000 feet of climbing, with no warmup. That mountain he was referring too (I think Apex/Lookout/Chimney) is something like 1500 feet with portions at 20+% gradient. We don't have fire road ride-arounds. To each their own but I use my easy gear for the first 20 or so just to get the knees warm.
  • 1 0
 yeah I totally agree, although I run a 34t so not quite pro yet Wink ... although I'm looking into a range extender and then getting a 36t as that will still provide an easier gear than I currently have but give me more to end speed Smile
  • 1 0
 @Scotj009 You keep it up, kid. Wish I had such an early start as you, haha!

@ryan83 I've done lookout before and that was pretty steep. This time I was referring to White Ranch. It was a nasty climb for sure. But you're right...really gotta earn your turns out in the front range. You gotta look into doing Mt. Buckhorne-Captain Jacks-Chutes out here in the Springs. It's a doozy of a climb but one of my fav DHs.
  • 7 0
 Pike feels harsch? No worries thats just the german edition
  • 2 0
 Ok there Jezza! (TG ref)
  • 4 1
 Regarding the Pike, deflate all the air out and slide a zip-tie through the seal to release some air out. It works for a while and it seems to be quite a bigger problem that few are willing to talk about.
  • 1 0
 If it keeps happening, take the fork in for an overhaul. The seals are not holding air at the bottom end of the fork.
  • 1 0
 Yeah. It should NOT feel harsh. I just overhauled mine with new rings, seals and a Charger bleed. Kinda feels the same but I'm not feeling much dive. I had two tokens in before and now just have one. It's suggested I have 0 with 160mm travel. Oh well...I like the lesser dive over the super soft feel.
  • 1 0
 I think he was talking about bottomless tokens.
  • 3 0
 @jhou That worked! Couldn't believe the amount of air that came out. Rode like new again. Thanks
  • 2 0
 @RichardCunningham, Thanks for the response! You know the trails I ride daily all too well and have most likely even ridden with some of the people I ride with in Simi Valley. It's a perfect place for riding any kind of bike.
  • 2 1
 Sometimes an issue with any air-sprung fork, if the negative spring seals aren't in top shape they can leak air into the lowers and compress the air space in the bottom (the space below the stanchion/air spring assembly, which normally should have atmospheric pressure only and a light oil bath to keep the bushings lubed). This can create a second positive spring that ramps up a lot, if your main fork seals don't blow out and hold in the air.

The easiest fix is to gently create a small space in the seal using some soft plastic like the end of a ziptie, although you have to be very careful not to damage the seal. Do this on both sides. If significant air burps out, go for a ride and see if anything changes.
  • 2 1
 To the guy with harsh suspension. I had the same problem with my Pike and DebonAire, and what I found helped was slowing down the rebound on both by roughly 4 clicks and took about 10PSI out of the fork. Previous to that it had felt really nervous and harsh as well, when I slowed the rebound down it felt so much more composed and stable, it did not chatter and was far more plush!
  • 1 0
 Going to try this with the Pike. I've no tokens in my fork and fooled with the air pressure a bit, but not the rebound. Thanks
  • 1 0
 No problem mate!
  • 7 4
 I run a 48 tooth single ring up front with a standard 10 speed 11-36 in the back, and climb over 20,000' in a day. You people that need a 1 to 1 ratio are so weak.
  • 1 0
 Check the crown race on the fork. A lot of the cheaper headsets have a split ring plastic crown race that will creak if not properly pressed onto the steerer. Happened to my fairly new Intense Tracer after a couple of months. Was sure it was the bearings, until it wasn't.
  • 1 0
 @ 270 lbs you probably need a custom tune for that fork. I don't work for SRAM but there's no way the design parameters accounted for a near 300 lb person kitted up smashing an AM rig. That's such a small % of their market, it doesn't make sense when you're also going to have 120 lb dudes riding the same fork.

I know riders that are sub 150 lbs and sport 2 reducers. They just ride faster than the rest of us, but that's what the spacers are for, not to account for clydes.
  • 3 0
 Learn to read, he is 195 pounds running 270 in the fork. He doesn't weigh 270. Haha
  • 1 0
 For the harsh suspension set up. Did the bike come oem with the pike and monarch. Or did u upgrade an older frame? Some bikes work better with difrent types of shocks or difrent tunes.
  • 4 2
 A harsh pike? Say it isnt so! All the angry fox owners who converted to the pike made it sound like it was god's gift to the earth and it could not be faulted.
  • 5 2
 No fork is perfect, but all are better than fox (I say this as a fox 34 owner)
  • 3 1
 We each have different experiences. I've owned my last piece of Rockshox garbage...Absolutely love all the 36's from Fox that I've owned, no issues whatsoever.
  • 1 0
 Same here @WhatToBuy Been running my Float 36 (2012 FIT model with re-worked internals and 2014 Kashima stanchions) for quite awhile now, and absolutely love it. I'm a big dude (6'4" 245lbs) and it works flawlessly. Supple on top, handles big hits very well. There will always be haters.
  • 3 0
 @nagrom77 exactly my point- you had to have the Fox internals reworked to make the fork usable- i had to swap in an avalanche damper into my Fox34 to make it usable, and now it's great, but the fact that we have to resort to 3rd party companies to make our fox products usable only furthers my argument that fox is pretty crappy compared to most other fork brands.
  • 1 0
 @xeren I hear you. However in my case the internals were reworked by Fox in house at their Watsonville, CA shop. I do agree with you that no fork is perfect. I have ridden a number of different manufactures offerings, and surprisingly, from what most folks report about them, I have had the best experience with Fox. To each their own?
  • 2 1
 Yeah I rode the Pike and ended up buying a 34. The Pike was fantastic, but so was the 34, and the 34 was $200 cheaper. The Pike is simply WAY overhyped...that's not to say it doesn't deserve praise...just that it is presented on MTB forums as the cure for all fork issues when really it's just a great fork, among lots of great forks.

Furthermore, the Pike test bike also had the CCDB, and it was freakin maddening. I'm sure it's a fantastic shock, but I gave up when I was still trying to dial it in on my 5th ride with the thing. I've learned there IS such a thing as too much adjustability. Decided on a Float CTD and had it dialed in within an hour on the first ride. It's been perfect ever since.

I'm not going to go around trying to kick these products off their pedestals, but I will remind prospective buyers that nothing is perfect, and EVERY suspension product has compromises. Too many forum threads have guys blindly slapping tons of money down on these fad products that won't end up solving the issues they started with.
  • 2 0
 @TheRaven sounds like you just don't want to put in the time for suspension tuning- which is fine, not everyone does. I would imagine more PB users are willing to put in the time than your average mtber, but that's neither here nor there.

CTD does have fans for it's simplicity, but my theory is that, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, CTD is eventually going to "accidentally" be perfectly set up for say, 1 out of 20 users. For the other 19 out of 20, a fork with more tuning options is a far superior option. Sure, it may start off worse, but over several rides, you dial it in, and it ends up being far, far better than a 1-size-fits all damper like the CTD.

Given your preferences, it's not surprising that you didn't like the CCDB either. It takes a LOT of tuning to get right (though my DB inline was immediately worlds better than the fox float ctd shock it replaced, even on the cane creek stock settings). It took me literally months of riding to finally get dialed in exactly how i like it, so i can understand why someone wouldn't want to deal with all that, but it is insane how smooth that shock is. The low speed damping makes rocky trails feel like rough pavement and it absorbs drops smoother than anything else I've ridden.
  • 2 0
 @xeren Actually, it sounds like you and I differ greatly on what "putting in the time for suspension tuning" involves. Over the years I have "honed" my process for setting up a new bike (or new frame). I have a found a great trail that offers the full gamut of the types of features I encounter on my regular rides, a one-mile loop that I take laps on to set up my bike. I will ride a full loop and make mental notes of what I don't like, with the intention of holding off on any adjustment until the end of the loop. Then I make my changes and ride again. I do this until i'm happy. Since i've used this method, i've never had to re-tweak my suspension (as long as there's no malfunctioning parts) on later rides. The CTD on my Tracer frame was set up to perfection within an hour. When I used the test bike with the CCDB, I had to come back to my test loop over and over again because I would head out onto the mainline trail feeling good about the setup, only to find harshness later in the ride.

And I do disagree about your assertion about having more tuning options...it's completely dependent on the rider. A CCDB is completely wasted on 19 out of 20 riders (in fact I would say the figure is higher than that), when they could get an even better experience by having a custom tune performed on the shock they have (or the shock that comes on their new bike), for less money than a factory stock CCDB. That's what bothers me about all this hype - someone posts a thread saying "my rear suspension feels harsh", and the immediate response is OMG YOU NEED A CCDB RIGHT NOWZ, when the RIGHT answer would be something like "what is your weight and riding style, and what are your current settings?" or, even better, a link to PUSH, Mojo, Avalanche...etc. Instead of spending $600 on a CCDB and needing to be a suspension expert to set it up, they can pay $200 to have a suspension expert set up their current shock for them. So I assert that it's BOTH the CCDB AND CTD that are right for 1 out of 20 riders, everyone else needs to have a proper tune done by a capable tuner.

Also, I've noticed that an awfully high percentage of members of this site seem to think that they are suspension setup experts. We all know how close to reality that is. But that, also, is neither here nor there.

And finally - MONTHS TO GET YOUR BIKE SET UP? HELLZ NO. My schedule combined with the climate I live in gives me 6-7 months a year to ride. Each winter I tear down my bike and completely clean and rehab it, during which time I generally make a few "small upgrades" (as i'm sure you do too)...which means that I get 6-7 months of riding out of a given "bike"...no way i'm going to spend several of those months being not completely happy with it. Nope.
  • 3 0
 it was months of fine-tuning- as i said, the DB inline, even in the stock settings was far better than i could ever get the float ctd after fiddling with it for far too long. i was happy with the db inline from day 1. i'm probably just more OCD about my suspension setup than most, and I don't like doing laps of one section over and over, so i just ride as much and where I normally do, then make adjustments afterward. yes, i could have brought the tuning time down, but i wasn't in a huge rush because i was already 95% there and i'm lucky enough to live in an area where i can ride 12 months of the year

and i definitely don't consider myself an expert, but on the other side of the coin, i think there are a ton of mtber's, and even PBer's, who have never even experienced a properly (or even close to properly, which they could achieve on their own if they took the time with a fork or shock that allowed adjustment) setup suspension

and you're right that custom tuning is probably the most happy medium - i'm very happy with my Avalanche damper (it truly is setup perfectly for me and my riding style) and I probably would have done the avalance tune on the fox float shock as well had it been available at the time I bought my DB inline. But for someone who is buying a bike and choosing between 2 models, one more expensive but with a cane creek, i'll take that over a bike that comes with a fox product that I would immediately have to pull off and ship to PUSH/avalanche, etc.
  • 1 0
 Both well stated assertions. When read side by side this is a perfect example why a "One size fits all" approach to our sport by the manufacturers is an absurd notion. Time to go ride! Smile
  • 1 0
 I feel like i'm pretty picky about my bike setup, but I have to be honest with myself and admit that my bike's capability is way beyond my own, so who knows how objectively perfect my setup is. That said, I don't care. I love it.

On your second point, in my 20 years of "real" MTB riding, i've yet to ride with someone more knowledgeable about bike suspension than myself (and that includes two shop owner/mechanics), and I likewise don't feel like i'm an expert (thus the reason I encourage letting the experts handle the tuning). So I don't feel that a given rider would necessarily achieve a better self-tune on a CCDB than they would on a CTD. I think that would come down to which shock was closer to that rider's ideal setup out of the box.

And as for the new bike, you can buy the bike with the fox and send the shock off for two weeks to be tuned, or spend "several months" as you put it, to get the CCDB right (an assertion which my experience with the shock seems to support also). I'll take the fox and be having a great experience on the trails as soon as possible, thank you.

I love wrenching on bikes as much as anyone, but the idea is to be riding more than wrenching. At least for me it is.
  • 2 0
 Manitou for the win!

seriously underrated and ignored by many.

Bought a Manitou fork when my latest Fox fork cr*pped itself just out of warranty, and never been more impressed by a brand I got forgotten about!
  • 1 0
 @TheRaven
"And as for the new bike, you can buy the bike with the fox and send the shock off for two weeks to be tuned, or spend "several months" as you put it, to get the CCDB right (an assertion which my experience with the shock seems to support also). I'll take the fox and be having a great experience on the trails as soon as possible, thank you.
"

As I said before, my CCDB came out of the box worlds better than the best i could get my fox. months of fine-tuning is just months of it getting better and better, not months and months of pain and agony trying to tune it. it's not the big deal that you're making it out to be.

as for the new bike scenario, you said " you can buy the bike with the fox and send the shock off for two weeks to be tuned...I'll take the fox and be having a great experience on the trails as soon as possible, thank you."

doesn't having to wait 2 weeks to ride a new bike you just bought sound like a little later than "as soon as possible"? i'm not waiting around 2 weeks while my new, shock-less bike sits, taunting me, unrideable, when i could be riding a CCDB immediately, and fine-tuning it over time...
  • 1 0
 For me, "out of the box", both the CCDB and CTD were not right. Neither was better than the other, both were off. If anything, I would say the CTD was closer since I could just quickly changes modes to get the most rideable setting, whereas it's not that simple with the CCDB. But that's nitpicking. Sounds like the CCDB is simply closer to your ideal setup than it was mine.

As for the new bike scenario, I suppose this simply illustrates a difference between you and I because i'd rather continue riding my trusty old bike than to be riding a new one that i'm not happy with. Now that's just playing along for the sake of discussion because in real life i'd just ride one of my other bikes (assuming I already sold the bike i'm replacing with the new bike).

I think we're doing a great job of illustrating why there can't possibly be one "best" shock for everyone. What it really comes down to for me is the big picture...I can have the CTD tuned to perfection for me for the same or less than I can have the CCDB factory-stock. I'm all for putting in the work to make something awesome (just take a look at my bike resto threads on the forum for proof), but that's supposed to be to SAVE money, not spend more.
  • 1 0
 you're a much more patient person than I am!

yeah, as i said, if avalanche or push had the tuning for my evo shock available at the time, i would have gone with that. unfortunately avalanche just started working on them in the last couple of months, and push still refuses to (I don't blame them, apparently avalanche had to invest ~$25K in parts to work on the evo shocks since they have to replace so much of the internals to make it a decent performing shock).

of course the DBinline has a larger oil volume than the fox float shock, which I like, so it's not that simple of a decision, but i think i would have liked to save $200 if i could have
  • 1 0
 An Evo?! Wow I guess I missed where you mentioned that you had an Evo before. I take back alot of what I said then. There is no comparison between a CTD Evo and a CCDB. Yes, a CCDB would probably be better out of the box than a CTD Evo could ever be.

I was speaking in terms of the "real" CTD (factory). That could certainly account for alot of our disagreement.
  • 2 0
 Never in my life have I been so excited to trim cable housings. If this eliminates that heinous sound I will ride my bike all day.
  • 1 0
 Well said @TheRaven







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