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Dissapointed with Rockshox ZEB

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Dissapointed with Rockshox ZEB
Author Message
flag militantmandy
Posted: Jun 21, 2021 at 3:49 Quote
8tom8 wrote:
So what’s the verdict of this, I’m thinking about buying a lyric ultimate off bike discount due to the low price or should I save and buy one from tf tuned where they strip down the fork and check it all over but it’s around 200 pounds more?

Will it actually work out any cheaper by the time HMRC have sent you a bill?
flag jaame
Posted: Jun 21, 2021 at 4:06 Quote
I bought mine off bikester.co.uk from Germany (!)

It was £649 and arrived in six days including the Sunday I ordered it. The advertised price is the price you pay on bikester. All tax and duty is included, and it gets delivered by UPS.

Very happy with the service.
flag militantmandy
Posted: Jun 21, 2021 at 5:19 Quote
jaame wrote:
I bought mine off bikester.co.uk from Germany (!)

It was £649 and arrived in six days including the Sunday I ordered it. The advertised price is the price you pay on bikester. All tax and duty is included, and it gets delivered by UPS.

Very happy with the service.

Great to see that they're catching up with the situation. That's a lot better than the lottery that was happening towards the start of the year. I've bought loads of stuff from Bikester in the past, as well as Bike Discount and always had good experiences.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jun 21, 2021 at 5:34 Quote
Some of the German retailers are no longer shipping to the UK since Brexit.. you go to checkout and it tells you. Some others clearly state it on the website.
flag jaame
Posted: Jun 21, 2021 at 7:21 Quote
Yeah r2 bike says they won’t ship to the UK
flag bmxconan
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 22, 2021 at 10:14 Quote
Fork model –
Rockshox Zeb Ultimate - 160mm (66 degree head angle – 2018 Specialized enduro)


Basically I have 3 issues.

• Pressure is at least 5psi off for my weight (setup with 1 token): Actual pressure/weight/sag - 65psi/80kg/16%
Recommended pressure/weight/sag - 70psi/80kg/20%

• They are very fast, I have rebound set 2 or 3 clicks from the slowest (and it’s still semi-fast), Rockshox setting is 8 clicks from slowest.

• HSC damping has no or very little effect.

Is it just me or is this fork a bit shit? It's like it has very little real world adjustment, definitely not got the damping control to match the beefy build /looks. Not what I was used to on my ohlins rxf 36, and not particularly confidence inspiring on any kind of medium / large jumps. I'm not far off warrantying mine - actually just trying to work out if there is something wrong with it.
flag TibZ
Posted: Jun 22, 2021 at 11:53 Quote
bmxconan wrote:
Fork model –
Rockshox Zeb Ultimate - 160mm (66 degree head angle – 2018 Specialized enduro)


Basically I have 3 issues.

• Pressure is at least 5psi off for my weight (setup with 1 token): Actual pressure/weight/sag - 65psi/80kg/16%
Recommended pressure/weight/sag - 70psi/80kg/20%

• They are very fast, I have rebound set 2 or 3 clicks from the slowest (and it’s still semi-fast), Rockshox setting is 8 clicks from slowest.

• HSC damping has no or very little effect.

Is it just me or is this fork a bit shit? It's like it has very little real world adjustment, definitely not got the damping control to match the beefy build /looks. Not what I was used to on my ohlins rxf 36, and not particularly confidence inspiring on any kind of medium / large jumps. I'm not far off warrantying mine - actually just trying to work out if there is something wrong with it.

Seems to me like you are running too much pressure. Do not consider rock shox recommendation, only your sensations.
flag THJS
Posted: Jun 22, 2021 at 22:04 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
Well I did cycle the hell out of the fork deeply compressing it by hand like a madman about 50 times and it has freed up a bit so hoping it does bed in like you say. I hate those components like brakes that don't work after the bike has been upside down or forks that constantly need to be babied to stay stiction free for 5 mins.

Pull the lower legs off, take the airspring out, also the top cap, where the Schrader-valve is, clean the tube very carefully, so there's nothing, clean airspring-assembly, then apply only a smallish amount of grease (sram Butter or something), then put airspring-assembly back in, then put maybe 1ml of 0W-30 oil in the air spring from the hole on top, then put back together as with any lower leg service and boom, your fork should work better.
flag bmxconan
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 23, 2021 at 4:25 Quote
TibZ wrote:
bmxconan wrote:
Fork model –
Rockshox Zeb Ultimate - 160mm (66 degree head angle – 2018 Specialized enduro)


Basically I have 3 issues.

• Pressure is at least 5psi off for my weight (setup with 1 token): Actual pressure/weight/sag - 65psi/80kg/16%
Recommended pressure/weight/sag - 70psi/80kg/20%

• They are very fast, I have rebound set 2 or 3 clicks from the slowest (and it’s still semi-fast), Rockshox setting is 8 clicks from slowest.

• HSC damping has no or very little effect.

Is it just me or is this fork a bit shit? It's like it has very little real world adjustment, definitely not got the damping control to match the beefy build /looks. Not what I was used to on my ohlins rxf 36, and not particularly confidence inspiring on any kind of medium / large jumps. I'm not far off warrantying mine - actually just trying to work out if there is something wrong with it.

Seems to me like you are running too much pressure. Do not consider rock shox recommendation, only your sensations.

Any softer and I bottom them out, i've tried 2 and 3 tokens and less pressure, just seems to get harsh, I've f*cked about a bit tbh. Anyway what I'm trying to answer definitively is does the HSC actually do anything. I feel no difference in the carpark or on the trail.
flag jaame
Posted: Jun 23, 2021 at 5:44 Quote
I had a Totem in 2011 with the HSC and LSC. The HSC did nothing at all. Now I have a Zeb Select and the LSC appears to do nothing.

I’m guessing your HSC does nothing.
flag bmxconan
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 23, 2021 at 5:58 Quote
jaame wrote:
I had a Totem in 2011 with the HSC and LSC. The HSC did nothing at all. Now I have a Zeb Select and the LSC appears to do nothing.

I’m guessing your HSC does nothing.

Yep my LSC does work although there's like 20 clicks and 2 clicks from fully open does me Rolleyes
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jun 23, 2021 at 6:41 Quote
These Rockshox dampers are a pile of shit, I was going to upgrade my Select damper to a Charger 2.1...but not willing to pay £300 for a slightly better pile of shit that still doesn't work properly. For that price could just drop an Avy cartridge in there.
flag jaame
Posted: Jul 28, 2021 at 5:45 Quote
A couple of weeks back it was close to 30 degrees. The rebound had to be set two clicks from slowest even with just 70psi in the fork. If I backed it off to four from fully closed, the fork made a squeak squeak sound like a dog’s toy. Weird.
Now we’re back down to 20 degrees I’m running it at about 5 clicks from slowest.
I’m thinking of rebuilding the damper with double the viscosity of oil which will hopefully bring me a bit further into the range and help the compression adjuster to work a bit.
Has anyone done this? I believe the rockshox oil is 3wt. I might try 5wt.
Has anyone else had the squeaking?

Re: decals. I would love to get some Totem decals made up in the Zeb font. Will post up if I do it.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 28, 2021 at 7:03 Quote
I rebled the damper with 5 wt, mainly because I buggered it up pushing the damper leg in too far during a rebuild purging too much oil out. In a nutshell the rebleed may fix the squeaking and remove trapped air creating more consistent damping so it is worth doing, it did for me.
However what it won't do is fix the compression dial, that still won't work after a rebleed, it requires dissassembly of the compression unit which is pita and really you need special tools to do it, tbh it's not worth it. In regards to the 5wt oil, it makes bigger all difference, there may be ever so slightly more support and damping but it's honestly so small that I wouldn't even like to say this is the case. The way the damper works, oil viscocity doesn't make the biggest difference.

So yea rebleed is worth doing, expect oil to get everywhere when retightening the compression stack onto the main cartridge assembly, you may think you have purged it all out again but it will be fine, be careful you don't get oil in your eyes like I did, the damper is a pain to work on and oil squirts everywhere. Don't expect dials to now work or damping amount to change but expect possibly the trapped air and sqeaking will be gone.
flag bryanpinkster
Posted: Jul 31, 2021 at 12:21 Quote
jaame wrote:
I’ve just bought a 190 Select. I wanted the 170 but the 190 was all they had in stock. The sag gradients are only printed for 190. My last fork had the sag gradients for both 160 and 170. I’m now a little concerned there is some difference between the 190 and the under 190 forks other than the length of the air shaft.

Does anyone know? If I buy a 170 air shaft will it work?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, swapping air shaft lengths works fine. The damper side doesn't care and is the same regardless of travel length and the lowers are all the same length too. The only diff between the forks is the air shaft and etched sag markings.

My bike needed a 150mm but none were available so I grabbed a 180 and sourced a 150mm air shaft.

As for sag markings, the 180 came with % marking for both 170 and 180 which are now irrelevant for the installed 150mm travel. In this case just calculate the millimeter length for 20% and 25% (or whatever sags you may want) and then take a ruler over to your fork and see where those lengths may fall on the etched sag markings. Make a mental note of where your fav sag will reside among the old/original markings and you should be all set.

 


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