Quote:
Originally Posted by twowheels
Nate: Sorry to hear about your quandry, but you've brought up a couple points that guys should be aware of (as you now are).
1) Revalving brand new suspension can lead to a number of issues down the road. As you've mentioned the base components (seals, bushings etc) aren't broken in, and as a result their contribution to overall performance is still changing. Expect softer and plusher with time, leveling out about 10 hours.
2) Unless you've just bought a replacement bike for one you know intimately, at 4 hours you're likely not completely dialed in on what you want the suspension to do either (and it's giving a false reading because of lack of break-in). The PFP forks in particular feel firmer than others, but if you go softer to match feel you lose the performance they are capable of.
3) Good suspension *should* make you a better/faster/more confident rider. That usually means that you're hitting stuff faster/harder/differently than you would have previously, or even tackling more challenging terrain. Depending on where you are in the tuning window, that may require some more work to match your new riding prowess.
It's not much help to you, but I typically have my guys re-spring (if necessary) straight away, but discourage them from re-valving until the suspension is broken in(+) and they have a good feel for the bike. Then we'll re-valve and I keep working with them on clicker settings as long as they've got the bike.
+ if you've gone up more than a couple spring rates I'll do valving straight out of the box, or do fixes that I know work on a particular brand of suspension for riders of similar style and ability
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Steve, you've hit the nail on the head with your post. I should have just installed the heavier springs and ridden it until the suspension had broken in. Main reason I didn't is I had the money sitting there to pay for the revalve and had permission from the wife to do it - so i did it ASAP before she changed her mind
The other thing is as mentioned in point 3 I do consider myself to be a faster more confident rider now. I'm not bagging the tuner in this thread, initially he did a great job and I couldn't have been happier with the work done.
I was a tad disappointed when initially told I would have to pay for a service front and rear (total of approx $400!) during which he would revalve the stacks, however I've now realised it was because I was speaking with his son (a royal douche IMO). When I spoke with the actual tuner I was told we could work something out, but I would at least be covering labour involved in pulling down and putting back together the suspension. Fair enough.
I went one better and pulled down the forks myself, and today I went in to his workshop with the stacks recorded on paper. After showing him the video and then the recorded stacks and clarifying I wanted to firm it up a tad he supplied me with new shims and told me where to put them in the stacks. Couldn't have asked for a better solution IMO.
Now to install the new stacks and see what happens.