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Avalanche Suspension, who had their suspension tuned by them?

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Avalanche Suspension, who had their suspension tuned by them?
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flag 155hk
Posted: Jun 21, 2019 at 12:59 Quote
Was going to get my fork and shock done soon, who has gotten their suspension done by these guys before? Thoughts? Worth it?
flag maxlombardy
Posted: Jun 21, 2019 at 13:45 Quote
155hk wrote:
Was going to get my fork and shock done soon, who has gotten their suspension done by these guys before? Thoughts? Worth it?
Check MTBR, there is a ton of info in the threads over there. Much more than you'll ever get out of this crowd.

https://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/avalanche-racing-needs-disclosure-917353.html

https://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/avalanche-push-2018-fox-34-factory-130mm-1066740.html

https://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/avalanche-vs-fast-suspension-pike-1024960.html

Just a few to get you started.
flag BeerGuzlinFool
O+
Posted: Jun 24, 2019 at 14:30 Quote
I had them rework an elka shock a few years ago. You won't be disappointed. It totally changed the way the bike handled.. in a good way. I have a friend that had an old 888 done by them and he wouldn't stop talking about how great it was.
flag skidrumr
Posted: Jun 24, 2019 at 14:39 Quote
With only a few exceptions I will always source a quality used suspension platform and send it to Avalanche for a build specific to my bike, weight, and riding style instead of spending one red cent on any new fork or shock. As long as the chassis is solid their build will outperform anything you can buy off the shelf. Do yourself a favor and give them a call to find out the pros and cons of the components you have in mind before committing, they will improve anything but are honest about whether it will give you what you're looking for. Their stuff is mostly set & forget, and I have yet to need more than fresh oil & seals, so more time riding.
flag aanev
Posted: Jun 24, 2019 at 20:28 Quote
skidrumr wrote:
With only a few exceptions I will always source a quality used suspension platform and send it to Avalanche for a build specific to my bike, weight, and riding style instead of spending one red cent on any new fork or shock. As long as the chassis is solid their build will outperform anything you can buy off the shelf. Do yourself a favor and give them a call to find out the pros and cons of the components you have in mind before committing, they will improve anything but are honest about whether it will give you what you're looking for. Their stuff is mostly set & forget, and I have yet to need more than fresh oil & seals, so more time riding.

^this
flag Loki87
Posted: Jun 24, 2019 at 23:39 Quote
skidrumr wrote:
With only a few exceptions I will always source a quality used suspension platform and send it to Avalanche for a build specific to my bike, weight, and riding style instead of spending one red cent on any new fork or shock. As long as the chassis is solid their build will outperform anything you can buy off the shelf. Do yourself a favor and give them a call to find out the pros and cons of the components you have in mind before committing, they will improve anything but are honest about whether it will give you what you're looking for. Their stuff is mostly set & forget, and I have yet to need more than fresh oil & seals, so more time riding.

Pretty much my approach to suspension nowadays too, even though avalanche is a little hard to come by in europe.
That said, any custom tuner has worked for me until now and Avalanche´s reputation precedes them, so i would not hesitate to send my components to them.
Despite what the big mainstream manufacturers try to make us believe, suspension tech hasn´t really evolved at all from basic shim based dampers. We pretty much had the gold standard for years, it´s just that most manufacturers weren´t able or willing to give it to us in a functioning package and chose to stick to gimmicky stuff that makes for great marketing acronyms.
For that reason, as long as a company produces a reliable damper in terms of production and construction quality and know what they´re doing with their ports and shim configurations, they have a winner.
Avalanche seems to have all these aspects dialed for years and years now as i´ve never read a negative review about their stuff.
flag englertracing
O+
Posted: Jun 27, 2019 at 13:06 Quote
I have an avy chubby on my mondraker summum, also have an x2 and rc4 small shaft.

Can get stiff lsc and even lots of hsc without making the avy harsh.
Same can't be said about the x2

Have an avy "ssd" reworked float x2 on my pivot 5.5

So an x2 is kind of a pos that gives you a compromised compression circuit in order to gain an external hsr, good for fox as there is no need to offer soft medium and firm shocks, but bad for us.
The problem is that with a poppet valve system you can only get so much low speed for a given hs setting, in other words you have to run more hs than you want to get any low speed and then you end up with almost no mid speed and too much high speed.
Blah.

I'll paste this from a post I did on ride monkey
First the X2 is a gimmick.
Ill lay my case
The twin tube design was heavily implemented by ohlins in road racing, where the shaft velocities are low, and the only high ones are potholes. Having the external low speed adjusters and external high speed adjusters is good in this application as the high speed sets the pressure at which the damper will blow off when they hit a pothole. The larger units have or had shimstacks that either lift off the seat via the high speed spring, or have an edge loaded shim to bolster the shim stacks cracking pressure via the high speed adjuster

Ohlins, doesnt use a FULL ttx design, but rather a hybrid of a decarbon and a twin tube on their own offroad shocks.
Then in comes cane creek.
they licence the ttx system, but does it look like the ohlins found standard on a specalized?
NO
its a twin tube with poppet style high speeds.
putting a rim loaded or blow off type shim stack takes up a bit of room
see the size of the bridge on the ohlins shock, its pretty big and only has the HSC adjuster in it.
then comes fox, another twin tube with poppet style high speeds........
well a poppet is not a shim,
a shim has no preload unless on a dished piston.... which nobody uses offroad
the problem with a ccdb and x2 is that you cant get enough low speed from them without cranking the high speed adjuster down,
preloaidng the hs adjuster makes for a harsh feel.
so your stuck with either
no low speed and plush mid-high with no real HIGH speed dampening
or
Some low speed dampening Harsh mid-high and no real HIGH speed dampening
but its high tech
but its FACTORY,
but its the best fox has to offer!!
but but but but.
nope,
all your getting is an adjustable HIGH speed rebound.
what value does that bring YOU!
well unless you routinely gain and loose hundred lbs and need a massive spring rate and rebound change then about nothing
again it benefits fox
No need to sell an aftermarket or even oem variations of the shock. You know the Soft Medium and Firm tunes, that should be correlated to a frames leverage ratio and your weight, and speed...
One size fits all, a manufacturers dream,
just tell them that its so sophisticated that everyone needs the same one.

I started looking to see if anyone revalved them, wanted to do it myself since I always have serviced my own dampers for moto, bike, race cars, for myself and others. Came across avalanche putting their piston in adding a rebound stack, and a softer "mid valve" stack which lets you crank the HS adjusters down, allowing the damper to have a reasonable amount of low speed, But when you hit something hard the MV shims allow flow, and at higher speeds the poppets open. It seems to work well enough. But I cant help but think that softening the stock MV arrangement by removing most shims (fox shows a soft tune on the parts schematics but does not offer it for sale) id go at least that soft. and run the high speed adjuster down to 8 from full in. It should work, very well actually, creating a hybrid twin tube.
flag aanev
Posted: Jun 27, 2019 at 22:31 Quote
englertracing wrote:
...

These are exactly my thoughts. I own a X2 with CF tune and recently bought a damaged one in order to obtain CM/CL shims (2017 version). I plan to install the CL tune upon servicing.
flag englertracing
O+
Posted: Jun 28, 2019 at 9:02 Quote
Is the Cf an oem shock?
I was under the impression all the aftermarket shocks are the medium.

I encourage you to put the CL tune in.
flag aanev
Posted: Jun 28, 2019 at 10:21 Quote
It is an aftermarket one bought from Mojo a while ago. Here are the specs:

C972
2017 Factory Series Float X2
2017, FLOAT X2, F-S, K, HSC, LSC, HSR, LSR, FOX, AM, 10.5, 3.5, 0.3 Spacer x3, CF, Orange Logo

Definitely putting the CL.
flag jgottya1
Posted: Sep 11, 2019 at 22:27 Quote
If you are still deciding, Avalanche is a sure bet. I have been running Craig’s shocks and forks since he started making them exclusively for Brooklyn’s old huge travel bikes. For the past 10 or so years I will not even buy a bike or frame that can not fit an Avalanche shock.

Fan boy??? Nope... been riding full sus since they first came out and motorcycles twice as long and know how good suspension and tunes should work and Avalanche is spot on.
I have several shocks and rebuilds in the stable still. Most recent is a new Cannondale Jekyll 4. I sent him the fox float evol / Gemini shock and requested part way between his description of an enduro tune and a DH tune, with just a tiny portion of initial travel stiff blow off... for a tad of flat smooth pedaling efficiency without flipping some frigging lever... and first ride to break in, seemed pretty close, after second ride when tolerances had settled in... totally spot on as I had imagined every single inch of travel in every single trail condition would feel like.

Craig is super knowledgeable about suspension, frame linkage leverages and fluid dynamics. If you can put into words what you actually want your suspension to do and provide him with the correct data variables, he will make your dream shock or fork a reality and all done with beautifully machined parts.
So yeah Avalanche downhill racing suspension rebuilds, or the Avalanche advantage as it is called, is an absolute yes vote from someone that has had many and destroyed many others over the last 25+ years.
flag Ramvet78
Posted: Jan 1, 2022 at 18:22 Quote
I have a 38 w their hybrid coil setup. Its awesome. Its really everything i wanted. I can hit stuff faster and harder with more confidence. The install was easy and took 30 min. I have an ibis HD 5 and i was trying to get craig to build a rear shock. He told me he wouldn't because he felt the side loading of the yolk design wouldn't be ideal for his shock design. He said it would work but he felt the longevity would be sub par and he wasn't gonna put his name on that. He then sent me in the direction of other brands. I ended up w an EXT rear as a result. Craig is a no bs guy and wants the best outcome and not to sell something. His products are awesome!
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jan 2, 2022 at 6:56 Quote
Do you have to pay upfront with Craig and what is a typical turn around for say a Hybrid setup?
flag Ramvet78
Posted: Jan 2, 2022 at 9:48 Quote
I paid 50%, then it gets you in the queue. From there it can be a couple of weeks to a few months. He initially told me 12 weeks and it was 8. Once it was finished, I paid the remaining portion and he shipped it. This was in spring-summer so he was busy. Its worth it, my fork is awesome now.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jan 2, 2022 at 10:41 Quote
Ahhh that makes it a lot easier on the wallet...might opt for the full hybrid instead of smashpot/avy damper... I'm just concerned the hybrid will have more stiction even though Craig claims it won't. Not to mention if a Smashpot has been in there won't it have scuffed stuff up potentially meaning his hybrid won't work? Or does it seal in a different way to the standard fork?
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