Problems on Singletrack

[nieuportpilot]

I'd like to get some input on whether to make any adjustments to my ride for descending tight singletrack.I ride a 98 4000 with the original Noleen shocks and an ELT Crosslink.  Both shocks still work but have little rebound damping.  

This weekend I rode with my son in a race in Eastern Arizona.  Significant rain had fallen the night before, so the trail was VERY muddy and slick.  On the singletrack descents I had a hard time staying on the correct line, particularly with the many rocks.  It felt as if my fork would dive for the ground just as my rear suspension would propel me up and forward.  Not a very comfortable ride (but I managed to stay on most of the time).

This is not the first time that I have found the bike difficult to control on rocky descending singletrack with tight turns.  Is is just me?  Do I need to replace or adjust the shocks?  Any other suggestions?  What do you all think?

Thanks for helping.

[shovelon]

Hmmmm,

I once had the feeling of wandering in the rear, with a tendency of the front end diving. But it was the squirrely rear that caught my attention. I kept looking at the swingarm pivots, but they looked great.

All this time I felt uneasy that I had too much weight over the front. So I shortened the stem a bit and it helped shift some weight to the rear. Happy with the result in the front I still had that wander in the rear. Tightened spokes, checked pivots, skewers and the gamut. Same story.

Then I switched the fork out for more travel. It raised the front a bit. The wandering went away. The best I can figure is that the front end had little or no rake when descending. Combined with a super rigid linkage fork, it made the rear feel flexy. To this day I don't get the nosedive shimmys.

My setup was an Oz with carbon crosslink. I possesed 4.7 inches of travel in the rear, and 3 inches on the front. I am a firm believer of having equal or more travel in the front. No more shimmy.

Food for thought,

Terry

[Matno]

Both shocks still work but have little rebound damping.

Are you sure about that? Little rebound damping usually means a shock isn't working so well. If you can't adjust the rebound damping to be a little slower, I'd say you blew a seal somewhere along the line and didn't know it. My Stratos Helix Pro has very slow rebound damping (almost too slow for XC riding), and it NEVER bounces me forward. My Smart Shock did that to me, but only after it lost all its oil and thus lost its rebound damping.

On the other hand, I also had a horrible feeling of going over the bars on every descent when I had a 3" fork. Switched to a 4" fork, and added an inch of spacers under my stem at the same time, and the ride has been blissful every since. No more endos (I had several before the switch!)

[will]

That does it... I'm going back to the Marzo Air fork on the primary bike.
Love that XLink EXP, but I keep wandering off trail whenever it gets soft & sandy or too technical. At least I can make nice adjustments to the Marzo.

[rapiddescent]

Does the ELT Crosslink have the eccentic cam adjustment?  in english! this means that earlier forks allowed you to change the harshness of the J-Path.

The old vectors and early crosslinks do not telescopically compress, instead they follow a J-Path and in the most harsh setting have a long J tail and tuck under.

The way to adjust the forks is to rotate the barrels inside the links so that the big holes are facing forward.  Each barrel (on the older forks) had two holes drilled into them.  A small one and a bigger one.  Nearly every rider I have seen does not know about this adjustment.

Pictures anyone?

callum
rds
http://www.rapiddescentscotland.co.uk

[will]

That eccentric bushing sounds cool, but I dont think it's on the EXPs...

[will]

Here's a link to a pic... my pic posting is hopeless!

http://idriders.com/cgi-bin/album_k2.pl?photo=Will/XLink_EXP_Side_View.jpg

[jimbo]

Sounds like Matno's right.  Blown shocks.  Minimal compression damping means blowing through your front travel which equals brake dive.  Minimal rebound on your rear shock will have the effect of the saddle kicking you in the ass compounding the brake dive.

[Sprucey]

I agree with the above.

The first thing I said as I read your post was increase the rebound damping on the  shock.

You should have just enough pn to stop that feeliong of being jetted up off the saddle on rebound.

Re: The front - sounds like the fork is diving - ie compressing to much. It is either too soft for your weight or the compression dasmping is too soft.

Read my comments re@ razorback in a different post above.

Sprucey

[Carbon_Angus]

try the adjustments mentioned above for the fork..ride position, then after you have done that, dump the x~link.

it is my all time favorite fork....for climbing and washboard, but my nemisis for rocky downhill.

[smiley=beer.gif]

[nieuportpilot]

Thanks for the analysis folks.  I guess I'll start looking at new shocks and/or a fork.

[Parafly9]

They have that fork on Ebay for < $100. What is your guys' opinoin of it? I currently have Vector II's (with Elastomers