The Chickadeehill AWK air spring kit was born in Germany. After a small production run of prototype units and plenty of forum chat and requests, a business was born. Dual positive air springs aren't new tech. Manitou has had them for years in the form of the "IRT" (Infinite Rate Tune), and Öhlins feature them as the "Ramp Up" chamber in their RXF air forks. The concept is simple: the AWK's floating piston occupies the space that a large stack of air volume spacers normally would. Increasing the pressure in the AWK chamber fine-tunes the rate that the fork's air spring ramps up near full compression. Chickadeehill offers units to fit most RockShox and Fox air-sprung forks. Prices start at €130 and move up to €330. The RockShox Lyrik/Yari unit featured here sells for €190.
AWK Dual Air Spring Details• Dual positive air spring for Lyrik/Yari fork (other units available)
• Replaces existing top cap and volume spacers
• Weight: 64grams
• MSRP: €190 EUR
•
www.chickadeehill.de What does it do?The idea behind a dual air spring is to make the spring curve more linear near the end-stroke A single-air-chamber fork pressurized soft enough for small bump compliance would require a stack of air volume spacers to prevent bottoming - which means it will ramp up dramatically at the end of the spring curve. Using two springs in unison can flatten out that end-stroke curve. Having two chambers also means that riders can fine tune that end-stroke air spring curve to increase or decrease bottom out resistance.
In use, as the fork compresses the pressure rises in the main chamber, when this equals the pressure of the second chamber, its piston is activated and it will start to compress. All this can provide a much more linear feel to the fork as shown in this graph provided by AWK.
The AWK air spring is said to give a 'coil-like feel' so why not just use a coil-sprung fork if that is the ride quality you desire? Well, a coil spring is heavier than air and doesn't offer the range of adjustment that screwing on a shock pump to add or subtract a few psi does to achieve the correct feel or change the balance of the bike. There are some coil conversion kits starting to appear on the market, but these do not offer the ease of adjustment, are heavier, and the coil will score the inside of the stanchions, making it difficult to create a perfect air seal should you wish to return to the standard air chamber.
At 64 grams, the weight of the AWK is comparable to the standard top cap (22grams) plus the extra 15 grams per volume spacer you'd normally choose to install.
InstallationThe AWK system is easy to install. Simply release the air pressure, remove the existing top cap of your fork, and replace it with the dual-air unit. The unit can be threaded in using a 32mm top-cap socket (this can contact the fork crown, so a protecting it with a thin cloth is recommended). The direction of the Schrader valves can be adjusted with a 24mm spanner before pressurizing the system.
To inflate the system correctly, you'll need to inflate the AWK chamber (marked with the 'O'), Then inflate the fork's primary air spring to half the pressure. My preferred pressure was 60 and 120psi, which gives the fork that coil-like feel some people are looking for. After that, you are free to play with pressures to your heart's content to achieve a specific feeling.
I did have some problems losing pressure when removing the shock pump, as the valve cores protruded a little too far. That has now been changed. If yours has that issue, AWK recommend using a pump with connectors designed to prevent air loss while unscrewing.
ImpressionsThe AWK kit does give a different feel to the fork; Using the 1:2 air pressure rating, as suggested, there was certainly more mid stroke support and the fork rode higher in its travel compared to my normal setup, using volume spacers at similar sag values.
The range of extra adjustment it gives you can be mind boggling and confusing, but it can also offer a performance advantage if the riders know what they want and need. As a reminder: take care to balance your spring curve with your rear suspension. Making an air fork more linear with a rear suspension that is very progressive isn't going to work out.
At €190 the kit isn't cheap - around 20% of the price of the complete fork. And, if you don't know what you are looking for, you will likely be better off tuning with volume spacers and different sag values.
Pinkbike's Take | The AWK kit does offer a similar feel to a coil sprung fork, without the added weight, and there's the benefit of air-tuning the fork for a wide variety of riders needs, but you'll have to know what you are looking for.— Paul Aston |
The purpose of the the AWK is to make an air spring more linear and either increase the support in that 2/3 stroke low point or reduce the end-stroke spike, depending on how you look at it.
Remove all your tokens and increase your air pressure. Alternatively, if this is too firm in the early stroke, remove the tokens and add some compression damping.
I use it.even in Parking lot test you feel the difference and it is much better than just hitting the strong progression you get from. Volume spacers which are sold as mid support ;-)
Besmides i Do Not see it like I GOTVA CHEAP YARI,WHY BUY A UPGRADE OF HALF THE PRIZE? It is more, buy this and have a superior fork to a lyrik for a still better price
I must say this kit has me interested seeing as there is no PUSH kit for the Yari.
I *did not* want junk like a Recon/Sektor, but knew I wasn't getting a Pike, so I'd say the Yari has met expectations. Stiff, burly, smasher of a fork. Doesn't quite have the Pike sensitivity, but again, rising our approved sloppy winter trails I've been nothing but pleased with it. And for the price? It's a keeper in my book.
If you had the option to spend the coin on a Charger2 damper upgrade for the Yari or to spend similar money on something like this CAWK unit (ah jeezus), which would you buy? Advantage one way or another?
The Yari and Lyrik are the same forks ecept the charger damper. Completely identical chassy. Thus a spring kit fpr LYrik fits the Yari and vice versa ;-) I already used cartdridges for a lyrik in the yari.
BEsides best bang fpr buck is a x-fusion metric hlr as deal from private user.
I had very much luck and got a black stanchioned 170mm metric hlr with roughcut damper for 300 pounds, barely used and fresh serviced. THis forks kicks ass of lyrik or FLoat 36 (basically it is the same damper as the FIT unit of the FOX but other attributes make this a winner)
You get them from fahrradfahrwerk just Google and write a mail in german or english: -)
They make the FORE forks. Inverted, coil sprung (both legs), open bath, not super heavy
website is a nightmare but their products are great.
they have more infos on facebook
www.facebook.com/CrConception/?ref=br_rs
It allows you to lower psi in the main chamber and still get the support wanted at mid/end stroke, getting the best of both worlds (small bump compliance and great support)
This is the real "set and forget" for me.
Pinkbikes take doesn´t seem to be too good, considering the usually glorifying words for every new bits of stuff
Also, this is really a more advanced tuning measure: most riders aren't sensitive enough to how their fork works to be able to tell the difference between this part & volume spacers, & even among people who can tell, the stock spring rate is probably good enough for most of them that they'd rather have a slightly cheaper fork.
AutoSag was invented for a reason. This thing might as well be setting up the space shuttle to go to the moon for most people.
i'm running it in three forks. I'm normally more into coil suspension front and rear. But the AWK works great for me. I'm in Whistler at the moment and riding it in my Boxxer. If i compare it to my friends Boxxer with coil spring, i can barely feel a difference on parking lot stick slip tests.
A lot of people out there with air sprung forks that would rather put a coil in what they have, than replace the entire fork.
i am looking at you @PUSH
Fox 36 with AWK also gives the possibility to tune negative air pressure.
On another note, curious if this can be combined with luftkappe? Or are they same side units
1) www.facebook.com/IntendBC/posts/1766242820284339
2) www.facebook.com/IntendBC/photos/a.1734175670157721.1073741827.1692579290984026/1906301752945111/?type=3&theater
www.pinkbike.com/news/intend-suspension-bike-festival-riva-2017.html
Ride the AWK and you want never get back.
www.fahrrad-fahrwerk.de/federgabel-service-und-tuning
Better mid stroke support and I am happy not having to fiddle around any more with the LSC (completely open now).
Just needs some lube 1-2 times a Season.
(Besides that MRP is born in 'Murica!)
www.fahrrad-fahrwerk.de/service-formular
Unfortunately the service form is in German only. If anyone needs help, just give me a ping.
All AWKs are available for self installation, except the 2017 Fox36 as it is a bit tricky.
BTW - I'm not working for Fahrad-Fahrwerk nor chickadeehill, I just like smart products of small and innovative companies
On the air spring curve you see in the beginning it is very steep, then flattens and then gets steeper again.
This means: in the beginning you have a rather harsh feeling, meaning bad small bump compliance. This is why negative air springs are so popular, they "preload" the fork and thus help overcome this first bump. Bigger negative spring has a stronger effect, this is why Debonair, EVOL, Luftkappe and similar got popular (youtuber andrextr has a very good video on the effect of negative springs)
When you put tokens in your fork (or the MRP ramp control, which is like a token that only gets activated if a certain movement speed in the fork is achieved), you just decrease the positive chambers volume. The last steep portion of the curve gets even steeper = more difficult to compress the later portion of the travel (end stroke progression). Also it starts to steepen a little earlier than without tokens, this is why many people (imho erroneously) say that "tokens increase mid stroke support".
Since many people set the forks pressure so that they dont get hard bottom outs, when you put more tokens in you can get by using a lower pressure and thus have better small bump compliance. Increasing compression damping will result in a harsher ride. I personally would rather have more air pressure and less damping (My settings with a stock Pike RC are for my 90kg: 90psi, 2 tokens, about 1/3 clicks in). I´m also using the LSC to counteract the air spring, which is wrong in theory but works well enough. If the air spring was linear in the firstr 2/3 part of the stroke I could probably get by without compression daming, but hey the fork still feels very good and I´m no WC rider.
Now the AWK has two positive air chambers, and depending on the pressures of each one its possible to tune both mid-stroke and also end stroke progression, which was kind of described too short in this article in my opinion. If you pump up the second chamber very high you also get the "token-effect" in the end (second chamber starts compressing when both chambers have an equal pressure), but it would start earlier in the stroke, depending on how many psi´s are in there.
This makes it possible to set the main chamber with a relatively low pressure, having very good small bump compliance, without the diving caused by the flat mid part in the curve. And you get to keep the end progression for those bigger hits.
Hope I helped and didnt make it worse
So it sounds like, given my set up with the Luftkappe (which gives good small bump sensitivity), the advantage of AWK over the MRP ramp is the ability to adjust both the mid-stroke and bottom out (end stroke) rather than just end stroke? Bit more adjustability basically? If that's the case, and it's compatible, think I'll try this considering the price of each.
Yep for me that´s exactly what it sounds like. Tokens/ramp control affect the later portion of the travel, and with AWK you can tune the whole curve. I dont exactly know what the limits of the system are, if you pump of the secondary chamber extremely high in theory it should have a similar effect to a volume-reducer like tokens. Depending on the ratios of the pressure of both chambers you get a different looking curve.
I wish the article had gone more in-depth on the physics behind this, maybe different graphs for different ratios, but oh well. I can guarantee that with this you can tinker a lot more than with the MRP though
I have a Pike RC that I think works great, although I would like just a little bit more small bump sensitivity. I dropped a few psi and added some compression to keep the fork from diving too much (just 1 click, but it seems to be enough). I remember taking out the one token that was there after seeing the graph explaining what happens when you add more tokens (more ramp up, but also more initial force needed to get the fork to compress). BUT, now I'm confused because since you need less air to get the fork to the proper sag, doesn't that reduce the spring rate and therefore make the fork more sensitive? Can someone help me sort out the logic with the tokens?
Sincerely,
Confused Fork Guy
On the air spring curve you see in the beginning it is very steep, then flattens and then gets steeper again.
This means: in the beginning you have a rather harsh feeling, meaning bad small bump compliance. This is why negative air springs are so popular, they "preload" the fork and thus help overcome this first bump. Bigger negative spring has a stronger effect, this is why Debonair, EVOL, Luftkappe and similar got popular (youtuber andrextr has a very good video on the effect of negative springs)
When you put tokens in your fork (or the MRP ramp control, which is like a token that only gets activated if a certain movement speed in the fork is achieved), you just decrease the positive chambers volume. The last steep portion of the curve gets even steeper = more difficult to compress the later portion of the travel (end stroke progression). Also it starts to steepen a little earlier than without tokens, this is why many people (imho erroneously) say that "tokens increase mid stroke support".
Since many people set the forks pressure so that they dont get hard bottom outs, when you put more tokens in you can get by using a lower pressure and thus have better small bump compliance. Increasing compression damping will result in a harsher ride. I personally would rather have more air pressure and less damping (My settings with a stock Pike RC are for my 90kg: 90psi, 2 tokens, about 1/3 clicks in). I´m also using the LSC to counteract the air spring, which is wrong in theory but works well enough. If the air spring was linear in the firstr 2/3 part of the stroke I could probably get by without compression daming, but hey the fork still feels very good and I´m no WC rider.
Now the AWK has two positive air chambers, and depending on the pressures of each one its possible to tune both mid-stroke and also end stroke progression, which was kind of described too short in this article in my opinion. If you pump up the second chamber very high you also get the "token-effect" in the end (second chamber starts compressing when both chambers have an equal pressure), but it would start earlier in the stroke, depending on how many psi´s are in there.
This makes it possible to set the main chamber with a relatively low pressure, having very good small bump compliance, without the diving caused by the flat mid part in the curve. And you get to keep the end progression for those bigger hits.
So yeah I´m seriously considering getting the AWK but the price and the reasoning in my head that the fork I´m using is still very good in a grand scheme of things put me off.
Hope I helped and didnt make it worse
SO: if you were able to match the exact same pressure at sag as you had without a token, as you had with 1or2or3or4, then the fork would feel very similar, with token or without, until you got deeper into the travel. but unless you do a shit ton of math to figure that out, it's impossible. Not only has the pressure & volume of the spring changed, but so has the sag point: the fork will support a given weight, at a given unloaded PSI, at higher point, because it will reach the equilibrium pressure sooner due to the increased ramp. Add to that the fact that you probably don't load perfectly the same amount of weight on your fork every time you set your sag, sticktion affecting your sag reading(you're actually supposed to have someone push you both up & down from your sag point, figure out halfway between both figures, to determine real sag,) & you can see how repeatability is insanely hard to achieve.
But that's talking about measureable repeatability. what's much easier to measure is how the fork FEELS to you. This is where bracketing & keeping a suspension setup diary come in: You KNOW when your fork is too stiff or too soft. measure these points, & you reduced the range of "good" settings: it won't be, say, less than 50PSI or more than 80PSI. Keep refining that down until you can't feel any obvious defects, & if you still want more, start timing different setups, & see what makes you faster.
As for your pike RC small bump complaint, it's very common due to the HSC tune RS put in the RC version of the fork: the shim stack is so stiff that it only opens on extreme events, which means that 99% of impacts are going through the LSC circuit, which cannot flow enough oil for sharp impacts. They did this purely so that you have a psuedo-lockout when you crank the compression knob, so if you don't care about that, look at changing the shims on the compression circuit in the damper.
I always err on the stiffer side because I would prefer the bike to remain "up" than feel "divey." But given that preference, there are times, usually when I'm going slower, that the fork feels like it's not being used effectively. But didn't Aaron Gwin said something like "stiff forks make you go faster?"
@groghunter I just looked up shim stacks, and they're very cheap upgrades! I'll study the logic behind them and see if I'll mod my already-pretty-good-for-my-skills fork.
I have found that I set up forks to be stiff enough to not feel wallowy, dive, or get hung up on bumps. This ends up pretty stiff and very hard to bottom out. In fact set up this way, I've never had a hard bottom out and most rides leave a lot of travel on the table.
Would an upgrade like this make it easier for me to use travel while keeping enough support?
Or just exacerbate the problem?
I set up my fork for the parts of a ride that interest me most, for me its the fast stuff. So relatively open LSC and more air pressure to counteract + 2 tokens for the bigger stuff. And yep on slower sections its not being used effectively, but I dont care if the fork doesn´t use 150mm of travel when going uphill, as it would probably slow me down while pedaling. In the end you have to find the compromise that works best for you and your trails.
And I also heard that phrase not only from Gwin but also from a few other racers, but they´re riding on 10 levels above me so I take it with a grain of salt. If I were to put 150psi in my Pike I doubt that I´d be faster and more controlled, again I use what feels best for me (and sometimes I compare strava times, but as I´m progressing my skills I´m faster every time regardless of setup.. so objective testing is difficult).
@acali: I only can write about theory or what other people wrote in the German forum where Chikadeehill is active, and your problem is exactly what the AWK is about. Low main pressure for good compliance and high second pressure against the mid-travel-diving and also a certain bottom out progression.
Basically, what I'm saying is that you should tune your fork to feel good on your rides, & if that means you don't use all your travel, who cares?
The price is only that high for the lyrik yari Version, as it has tapered stanchions.Gruß you could Not Run an air piston in the upper stanchion. That is why it needs this separate can. The pike awk looks like manitous IRT from the dorado with alu Post in and is around 140 Euro.
I think there's too many variables if you are looking at the numbers but the curve looks right - high force to overcome initial sticktion from seals, then a progressive curve where the air spring is compressed.
A modern air sprung suspension does have two "air springs". the positive and the negative.
www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-negative-spring-air-shocks-2012.html
This graph shows the combination of two.
from 0 to 40mm you can see the degressive spring caused by the progressive negative spring 'upside down", and from 40mm to full travel you see the progressive positive air spring doing his job.
The fork its progressive at the end of the travel, but before, you have a digressive then linear spring.
Yeah I had one it was not good I massively reduced the volume of the second chamber to give anotice end ramp up. But I'm a big guy 110kg
You just think that becasue the industry made you believe the typical air spring curve is LINEAR :-D Quite the opposite.
I like the feeling of the AWK way more, besides the fact that the Motion Control in that fork is shite.
MRP RCC: The characteristics of a progressive air spring stays the same, but with the semi-seperate chamber more progression is generated. Also, the MRP does not act like tokens as it is often wrongly described. It's a separation of the positive chamber that controls air-flow in between. -> Therefore it is speed-sensitive, that's the part I don't like. It does however help to control the bottom-out force. Unfortunately I find it hard to predict.
AWK: Flattens out the spring curve, effectively imitating a linear coil spring, more or less at least. The secondary positive chamber pressure lets you dial in some progressivity, which is also nice. But the big advantage comes from the fact that you run less pressure in the primary positive chamber which leads to vastly improved suppleness. Also way more mid-stroke support, which allows for less LSC damping -> even more supple.
If wasn't a lazy ass, I would switch those cartridges so that I had the AWK in the fork with the Charger damper. Or get a second AWK and ditch the MRP RCC.