NOLEEN ELT Cross Link Spring

[ReBeL]

I have the Noleen ELT Cross Link forks…brand new from ebay. There super light but they have a 250lbs spring on them. I’m 170lbs, I find this spring to soft.
What do you guys recommend?
[smiley=nod.gif]
Thanks

[Colin]

Wow! a 250lb spring is too soft for you at 170lb?

THE HUGE K2 / PRO-FLEX
SPRING AND SHOCK
COMPATIBILITY CHART

says:

Rider Weight (lbs) Spring Rate
up to 140                        150
130-170                          175
160-200                          200
190-230                          225
230 +                             250

so you should be fine on a 250lb spring, too stiff if anything!

Are you sure it's a 250? I think the stock spring with a new set of crosslinks is a 200? (should still be OK for you)

Either that or your bathroom scales are lying!

Bottom line is if it is a 250 and you do think it's too soft then you need a higher spring rate 300 ? 350 ?
<OUCH!>

I weigh 200lb with kit on and I run a 200 front spring on my Crosslinks and Vectors and never bottom them out.

I don't think anyone on here runs anything above a 250 so I reckon something else is wrong.......?

[will]

There's something strange afoot here...

I bought the same forks with the same spring as ReBel (The white ELT's, right?) and I weigh the same.

On the 856, my forks are WAY too soft and bottom out all the time. Even with 30% of the spring used for preload, it's a marshmellow.

I'll bet Simon or OP or... can put this to issue to rest.

In the meantime, I'm about ready to use a mouth guard for the teeth rattling big hits!

Will

[Simon]

I've not had much to do with crosslink forks (a dabble with vectors'2 in the past).
However this must be a spring rate problem (adding preload won't change the spring rate).
The only thing I can think of at the moment is that the springs are incorrectly marked,I've noted that the K2 spring rate chart only lists upto a 250lb spring maximum for the ELT fork,forks are not usually sold with the maximum rated spring but with one usually in the middle of the spring rate range available,the 250lb spring should be marked NB2L-250X.
I think these springs need to be tested to see if they are of the correct spring rate that they are marked at,
hope this is of some help
Simon.

[ReBeL]

Here are the numbers on the actual spring NB 2-200 L-R. Does this mean 200lbs? The ebay listing said 250lbs. I have to agree with Will...these things are marshmallow soft. (Mine are a light grey is colour though)

I too have the preload adjust as far as possible…we can’t turn it any more!

I can coast the bike around in the basement…put on the front brakes and almost get thrown off the bike (only have about 20 feet of room so there is no speed involved here). It nose dives that bad.

I really like how light these forks are and would like to make them work. I found it odd too that the factory chart says I should be ok. If I could, I’d put a video clip up just to show you how soft these are.

Another thing I’m wondering about is steering response. How is it? Is there a noticeable difference in response between these forks and todays standard forks?

Thanks
ReBeL

[Simon]

NB2L-200 is a 200lb spring (ebay listing was incorrect)
you can uprate to a 225lb spring NB2L-225
or the stiffest listed NB2L-250
any stiffer you may have to get a custom wound
spring or source a suitable spring from a shock specialist,just ensure you get the correct size and the correct stroke spring for your shock,2" should be ideal.
just because the factory setting says its ideal for your weight doesn't mean it will suit everybody,we all have preferances and differing riding styles,you shouldn't be using more than 3 turns of preload to give the correct sag,if your using as much preload as you said then you do need a stiffer spring,extra preload won't stiffen the spring,your obviously unhappy with the performance and it needs sorting,I'd go for a stiffer spring.
Simon.

[Carbon_Angus]

yes the 200 was the standard on the elite x~links..at least back in 97.

somethin's a-miss.

but i don't know what...

as far as steering response it mostly depends on your stem length. they are a good xc fork, not that great for doing down hill, but great going up.

[smiley=beer.gif]

[Scott]

Double check your usage of travel-ride a known course where you use most of your x/c abilities.  2 or 3 times on the route check the shock's wiper marks on the shaft then clean it off-you should meet up with the bottom out bushing once or twice on the course and rarely have a full bottom out.  this is the best way i know of testing the spring rate-rocking back and forth in the shop parking lot's not a real world test.  also make sure you have some compression damping while the spring's off-lose this and a proper weighted spring feels soft.

[Colin]

The only other thing that I have just thought of is that, are these "new" forks from eDiscount?

Are they "standards" or "longs"?

Either way, are they fitted correctly?

Maybe you havn't got the critical measurement right?
Have you got enough headtube/steerertube spacers in?

did you set them up using the "crosslink Helper" http://idriders.com/proflex/files/crosslinkinstall.2.jpeg which I posted when I bought my Crosslinks off eDiscount.

If the critical measurement isn't right, then maybe the linkage leverage is way off and so causing them to be soft?

I'm not certain about this, just scratching around for reasons............

[will]

Guys,

I've got one of those NIB Crosslink EXP's from eDiscount (see it in the gallery) with NB-200 spring.

You'll see in my gallery I'm not a HUGE guy, but a few beers over 200 pounds. (How many "stone" is that anyway?)

Here's how soft the fork really is: I can bottom out the red rubber wiper that rides on the damper shaft by leaning over the handlebars and pushing down. My static sag is slightly more than 40% of the travel.

Even with that shortcoming, it is a sweet fork. The engineering is decent, the motion is buttery smooth, and the steering is razor sharp. Turns out it's amazingly stout: My wreck last weekend bent the disk brake plate and not the fork. That's a 6000 series aluminum plate 0.3125 thick!

Where I miss the Marzocchi Fly Light with 100mm of travel is on the bigger roots and "big" drops of more than 2 feet.

I believe a 250# spring may be just the ticket. We shall see.

[Simon]

You'll see in my gallery I'm not a HUGE guy, but a few beers over 200 pounds. (How many "stone" is that anyway?)

I believe a 250# spring may be just the ticket. We shall see.

Will, its 14 pounds to a stone, so 200 pounds equals  14 stone 4 pounds.
I agree 250# spring should greatly improve things,
Simon.