Vorsprung Announces Smashpot Coil Conversion Kits for Öhlins RFX36 m.2

 *overstated

 Totally agree on shock vs fork. The fork weight does get to me sometimes, don't be fooled by those who say it's "not noticeable". It's certainly noticeable, but well worth it in my opinion.
Smashpot in my Lyrik was a fantastic upgrade. In addition to performance, I like never having to mess with air pressure and the decreased service requirements.

 @rojo-1: glad to hear you're liking it!

 @jpat22: It's not noticable for me, first ride yes, you can feel its heavier, but after that I haven't once thought about the weight.
So I guess it depends..

 @Plancktonne: Obviously at first you notice it but just like anything, you become accustomed to it over time. If you were to remove the weight, you'd go through the same process again.

 Hahah we figured a few people would enjoy that. It was also a bit of a play on "dashpot" which is a very simple open-bath type of damper (not a million miles away from the Smashpot's hydraulic anti-bottoming system), and "smash" because who doesn't love a good smash.

 Ooo, new product idea!

 " want the benefits of a rigid fork and the look of a $2000 top end fork, We will jam old seals from our suspension fork services in the fork until it moves like butter in the artic" Ask for the MOrigid upgrade on the service ticket and receive a free MOdrop helmet as you will need it!

 Assuming you mean if you're installing a Smashpot, so the stock spring side isn't relevant - it depends on your weight and the type of riding you do really (largely meaning how much stiffness do you demand). The Lyrik is great for lighter riders (lighter because its stock damping is very light and it's hard to get enough rebound control or compression support with the stock tune if you're on the heavier side), the 36 gives better rebound control but has the same issues on the compression side, the Ohlins RXF36 has a great damper with a broad enough range of controllability, the Onyx also not a bad option. The Zeb can also be a pretty solid option for lighter riders but if you're looking to purchase a fork alone they wouldn't be my first choice because if you're light enough for the damping range to be adequate then the Lyrik is likely to be stiff enough. The 38 has the same damper as the 36, which at least in rebound has a great usable range, but has the same issue with the compression range being very soft, and when the air spring friction/hysteresis disappear you notice that a lot more because in most air sprung forks, the majority of the low speed compression "damping" is coming from friction and the spring, not from the damper.

With that said, nobody really makes a "bad" fork these days. We can sit here and pick holes in them til the cows come home but to be completely frank, if you're someone who buys forks/shocks with HSC/LSC adjusters so that you can back it all the way off twice instead of just once (this is not a slight against anyone - many people prefer it that way, especially if their fork is a bit sticky), then the soft compression damping on the VVC Grip2s and Charger 2/2.1s probably won't bother you too much. However, if you ride a lot of steeper terrain and/or stuff with big hits, and/or you're heavy and/or you charge unusually hard, then particularly soft compression damping starts to feel very unsupportive.

 @VorsprungSuspension:

Thanks for the great breakdown, much experience with the DT swiss Fork?

 @Garradmiller: I saw a photo on the internet once, that's about it.

 @VorsprungSuspension: have you guys seen a rulezman RRT fork? They say they reduce the fork friction, not just adjust the damper. I'm just wondering if any suspension shop has experience with them.

 @mdinger: I do not think Vorsprung is going to comment on the work of their competition but since I am in the same line of work but not related to any of the two you may have an answer from me.

The amount of friction in a fork is dictated by general design, lubrication and tolerances / alignment. Especially the latter two can be worked on. Rulezman does both, same as any other suspension guy. He is just better at marketing.

What rulesman does additionally is changing surface treatments (reanodising), however I do not understand why. Noone uses crappy surface treatments these days, at least not in the high end segment. Friction problems, as I said, are more about alignment and general tolerances.

Just throwing out the air spring with all its intrinsic problems like friction, striction, hystereis (=damping), velocity dependend spring rate you might call it, will propably do more for your fork than anything a suspension guy can do even if he gives your fork the "worldcup treatment", which would be giving the fork the tolerances and lubrication it is supposed to have from the factory.

When I order a new fork for a customer I do the same. I rip it apart and make sure it works as the manufacturer designed it, not how he manufactured it - and so does every reputable suspension guy.

Rulesman just gives it a nice marketing spin and adds some fancy anodising. Marketing bashing aside, I expect those forks to perform very well.

 @VorsprungSuspension:
"if you're someone who buys forks/shocks with HSC/LSC adjusters so that you can back it all the way off twice instead of just once"
You just nailed it (and make my day)!
My experience with coil vs air on shock (X2 2020 vs DHX2 2020 with same factory settings on Knolly Warden) is that air spring friction account for at least 3-4 clicks in LSC on coil spring.
That being said, I can run the X2 with HSC full open thanks to air spring progressivity instead of closing HSC 1/3 from full open on the DHX2.
So, my point is air spring got more friction BUT allows you to run less HSC, which finally account for a more sensitive suspension.
Maybe I'm wrong but I do prefer to rely on air spring progressivity rather than hydraulic to maintain pitch attitude and support because of speed-based shock filtration is constant and doesn't account for speed of bike, weight distribution, shock compression (i.e. not position sensitive), topographic variability of trail, up, downs, etc...
That's only my opinion, I got to thank you because I learned a lot from your Tuesday Tune, so I will be very happy to get edified on my points.
PS : I've set a luftkappe on both of my 36's to fix harshness and mid-travel support and it worked really great.

 @VorsprungSuspension: Great info. What ranges of weight do you consider a "lighter" and "heavier" rider to be? I get a little hung up on this being 170lbs naked which seems to usually be right in between the two, then I don't know which direction to go. Or maybe I just start eating a lot more donuts?

 @jpat22: ha, keep an eye on our social media in the next few days, we have some stuff coming explaining exactly that.

 @gnaralized: nothing wrong with preferring an air shock to coil, in some cases the frame's geometry and spring curve works a lot better with air than coil for sure. You aren't "wrong" to prefer anything, though it's possible that the reason why you prefer it is a reason different to what you think.

Air springs have an inherent amount of compression damping built-in due to their polytropic behaviour, they are essentially a form of heat pump. For the exact same damper settings, an air shock actually has more LSC and HSC (and friction) than a coil shock (not just a different spring curve + more friction). Unlike a hydraulic damper though, the air spring has an upper limit on how much quasi-damping it can generate.

 @Helmchentuned: worth noting that a large part of the reanodization done there is the outer tubes, which are not a sliding surface and don't make a difference to the performance - that one is a cosmetic thing. With that said, you can certainly make improvements in friction with different seal compounds, bushing clearances etc.

 @VorsprungSuspension: Right, was totally ignoring that he does that to the dorado where it does not do anything at at all. It might make sense on some MX Forks with sliding upper bushings but unfortunately noone in the bike industry does it that way. the rest like goods seals, tolerated bushings and proper alignment does 99% of the work.

 @VorsprungSuspension: do you plan on making a Coil kit for the DH38?

 @NicoOfner: Maybe at some point, it's not currently on the cards however - there are not huge numbers of dual crown forks out there these days, and very few of the DH38s.

 Shocks often use a hydraulic topout circuit that increases the rebound damping near topout, but the shocks that don't use that rely on a bumper of some sort. Forks usually have adjustable travel that precludes a hydraulic system, so they use a mechanical system (topout spring usually, sometimes a bumper).

 @VorsprungSuspension: Steve - once you have converted to coil I assume you can convert back to air - like the Ohlins coil.

 @fartymarty: correct for the RXF36 - it has a standalone drop-in air cartridge that won't be affected if the stanchions get scored. Likewise with the Zeb and 38, we use a stanchion liner that makes it highly probable that converting back to air would be no issue should you want to.

 @VorsprungSuspension: thanks. Good to know the Zeb and 38 can be converted as well.

 I'm not really sure what you mean by a better handling system? It isn't currently planned for the Ribbon sorry.

 MRP offers their own coil conversion kit, or installs it for you…

 There's a lot of things that make it difficult to offer coil forks as OEM - the number of spring rates required (and the number of fork SKUs that results in), the potential for noise, and the additional weight are the big ones. Based on sales figures I've heard from the bigger players and knowing our own market figures, it's fair to estimate that only around 0.03-0.05% of people out there buying high end MTBs end up converting their fork to coil - and about half of them post on Pinkbike regularly, whereas for sure most people who buy a bike aren't getting stuck into the comment section here. If you were Fox or Rockshox and someone said "hey let's double our fork SKUs for probably less than 0.1% increase in fork sales revenue" I think that would probably not seem worthwhile.

 @VorsprungSuspension: I meant more towards the consumer side of things. A lot of people are raving about coil shocks, but choose to ignore what makes coil great exclusively for the fork ?

Maybe (I hope), we'll see a new trend coming for coil forks in the future as well.

 Yep, you did miss it, but it's understandable as it's right in the first paragraph and then there are some sexy pictures to look at.

 @Plancktonne: thanks, missed that, first paragraph is normally a load of yawn.
What are Ohlins playing at?
Damn annoying as my (now sold) 29er RXF M2 coil was sublime, I only didn’t get another pair in 27.5 because of availability, I bought another brand, so Ohlins are missing out on sales, who’s going to want to buy one of the most expensive forks only to have to spend out more for a coil, come Ohlins you made the RXF epic and now you can’t supply it WTF!

 @DG370: coil forks are a much lower seller than air forks (particularly OEM), and right now it's so difficult to get certain parts and materials (including the wire for coils, among many other things) that, from our understanding, Ohlins have decided not to continue manufacturing the coil version of their forks at least for the time being. It says a lot that they never even offered a coil version of their DH fork.

 It does, they are the same chassis.