jimw

This! Hall lock equivalent would be awesome. The only time it needs to actually move at the b-knuckle is when adjusting the b-screw. Otherwise it's just making noise.

2-3 years? I've had that happen after 2-3 weeks (!) when on say a bike park vacation riding hard DH every day. Will have to try some mastic tape and/or soft side velcro to extend the life a bit... but generally yeah I treat the whole thing as basically a wear item to be replaced periodically (but way sooner than 2-3 years depending on how much you trash it). Interestingly, I find this to be more of an issue on the trail bike version on my Enduro than the DH version on my Demo... maybe because typically shifting thru many different gears on the trail bike vs. mostly one gear on the DH bike? Or that it's harder to get the trail dampers in exactly the right position to not contact the chain at all throughout the entire range of a wide-range cassette vs. a tight 7-sp DH cluster. Or most likely, just because of spending a lot more time generally on the trail bike vs the DH (though on the flip side, the DH bike is most likely to be in chain-flailing scenarios a much higher percentage of riding time...).

World Cup riders - they fail just like us! Except faster and harder...

@DServy: Was gonna say the same thing. That PDF is a great read, both for the technical content and the humor. Another gem: "Don’t “invent” some new shock hardware width. Nobody needs or wants that. You have 3 perfectly good options already - 20, 25 and 30mm, and of those, obviously use 30x8 everywhere all the time or risk being scorned perpetually by Dumbshite, the Greek goddess of pointless hardware sizes."

@dirkmcclerkin604: Not defending them, but I thought it was interesting that in the recent interview with the Shimano PM he definitely admits to the wandering bite point issue, see https://www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-bryn-atkinson-and-shimano-product-manager-nick-murdick-on-developing-drivetrains-feedback-and-gearboxes.html "Nick: Yeah, exactly. 100% of a product manager's job is to figure out the best compromise every single time. Address weaknesses of systems that are out there. If it's a brake design with consistent bite point or heat management, I'm not just trying to talk about us, but anybody, maybe there is an inverse ratio between power and consistency. And so you have to accept where you're going to end up on the compromise and having a firm initial bite in a brake, because we developed it for racers who wanted to be able to brake as late as possible and accepting some inconsistency in the bite point in order to be able to deliver that. And maybe modulation that doesn't resonate with with some people too. Like, it was the compromise that we accepted in order to focus on what it was that we decided was the most important."

Coming in here 5 years later to post one of the only comments I’ve ever posted on pinkbike (lurker extraordinaire)… just to say @dan-roberts, that was one legit review. I had that opinion when this article first came out, the difference now is I just got back from a trip to Morzine, and among other places we rode Morgins and Champery… and holy sh*t, that is some LEGIT suspension testing terrain! Any suspension product that shines at those places is the real deal. Side note - running Ohlins TTX22m and coil RXF36m.2 on an Enduro and that combo kicked ass out there. Also, pro tip: you can run Cane Creek Valt lightweight springs on Ohlins shocks - cheaper, generally lighter, and NOT YELLOW! :)

"The coil shock actually stays high in the travel and remains active on small bumps, which makes the bike an effective climber, even without the cheater switch. You can firm up the suspension on the fly relatively easily with the three-position high-speed compression adjuster, mind you, that's not going to have much effect on where the bike sits in the travel at lower speeds." Actually, position 3 on the Ohlins TTX shock HSC adjuster IS a climb switch. Positions 1 & 2 affect HSC only; position 3 essentially feels like it cranks up LSC a ton. It is specifically meant for climbing; it's not a full lockout and is still somewhat active, but is VERY obviously firmer when pedaling. Mostly useful for fire road type climbing. I'm surprised so many people miss this; then again, making it part of the HSC lever is not necessarily intuitive (same thing with the RXF fork).

@poah: 50-211g weight SAVINGS depending on size. Good luck finding a 50g steel spring. :)