Ask the experts

[toast2266]

Nothing looks too wonky to me there. But you're at the low end of normal sag for that bike - 30% ish. You could bump down to a 375 or even a 350 spring if you want the rear to be a bit more supple. And you're in the middle of your LSC settings. I'd open that all the way up, ride it, and then close it down a couple clicks at a time until you find a nice balance between suppleness and crushing the rear end in corners / off lips. You're also in the middle of your HSC, which means you can bump up the HSC a bit if you find you're bottoming out with a softer spring.

All of that is in addition to what Andeh said - the fork is the biggest problem.

Edit for Jamal: 65mm stroke on the gnarvana, and I think the 11-6 has 24 clicks LSC, 28 clicks HSC,

[Andeh]

The calc I'm using that seemed to be pretty accurate for my Megatrail says for an S2, you should be getting about 27% sag with a 400#. 375# should be closer to 29%. I think you're oversprung a bit.

[Norseman]

found this ad moderately amusing:

Bought this bike for my wife but she’s too busy driving the Porsche her boyfriend bought her, so she doesn’t ride it at all. Or me.

Open to trades: send picture of wife to <show contact info>

Bike will be included in trade

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/bi...619920690.html

[rideit]

WRG, I forwarded your stats off, we shall see what he thinks. Those guys are awesome, and actually care.
And MG shreds, he knows a thing or two.

[rideit]

Reply:

"Based on that, he's running the rebound pretty fast, and possibly too stiff of a spring.

Slow down the rebound and/or go down a spring rate would likely help make it more compliant for less aggressive riding.

Another tip for the ElevenSix, which is what I run primarily on my Gnarvana: don't be afraid to use both compression valves. Optimize the softer one for where you want more compliance, and the other for aggressive riding and flip the lever to go between them."

[Boissal]

Agree that it's a bit weird to hear of a coiled Gnarvana needing to get up to speed to feel plush. One thing that I like about mine is that while it can be a complete plow it's also a really fun bike on more techy low speed trails littered with weird hits. My previous trail bike was setup to be perfect for hauling ass and it suffered a bit at lower speed (suspension too stiff basically) but the Gnarvana feels good regardless of how I ride it. Took me a bit of effort to get there as it's my first coil shock but once I found the setup I haven't done much to it other than toying with LSC to adjust for steep/less steep terrain.

Edit: same weight as WRG, running an EXT Storia, 375 lbs spring on the same bike. I had a 400 but traded it back in for a 350 as the 375 is about as stiff as I'll ever go at my weight and when I installed the 400 to get a feel for it the shock was brutally stuff. Different shocks of course, and I'm sure different riding styles, but going to a lighter spring might be the ticket. My setup feeling almost too plush when I bounce around but rides pretty high in its travel and with the HBO on the Storia I don't think I've ever felt the bottom. I run the rebound pretty damn fast as well as I hate when the bike feel unresponsive (which is the feeling I always get when I slow down rebound a bit, especially paired with the Mezzer Pro which seems to have a fair bit of rebound damping at baseline).

[rideit]

I actually suspect that WRG has incurable new-bikeitis.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

I actually suspect that WRG has incurable new-bikeitis.

This is a huge part of it.....alas it's not in the cards at the moment.

It's crazy to me that the Push spring rate recco says for me to be on 400# and that the Gnarvana recommended "Plush" settings on that shock would be setup to be so harsh. Gonna open the LSC a ton and slow down the rebound and see what happens. Then get a softer spring if possible. And get a fork that doesn't suck balls.

It would be really cool to get this bike feeling good so when I can't fight the new-bikitis I can get another short travel "everyday" bike.

I was out riding with one of the Cannondale guys on his new Habit yesterday in Helena. Nothing gnar there. I was simply overbiked on the DH and he was having much more fun on the uphills with a 5lb lighter bike.

[rideit]

Does he happen to have an Utah tattoo?

[Velomayniac]

What press fit bottom brackets can I use on a dh bike with a 107mm BB? Can I use any PF92 bottom bracket, and just toss out that protective sleeve that would not be long enough anyway? Is there any major downside to not having this protective sleeve?

I cannot find any Shimano BB71-41C, which is the one that has the 107mm protective sleeve designed for Saint/Zee 83mm Cranks (this is confusing)

[D(C)]

I have a decision to make about a SID fork I'm going to be running on an upcoming Transition Spur build. The fork I have is the Select+, which comes with the Charger 2 RL (bladder-style) damper. A friend gave me an extra Charger Race Day damper, which is what comes in the Ultimate. The damper components are miniaturized with lower oil volume, saving a substantial amount of weight.

But let's say you care more about consistent performance and reduced maintenance. Am I better to stick with the 'lower-end' Charger 2 RL damper, which has a larger oil volume? Or is the Race Day damper pretty hearty?

I guess I can try both since I have both, but I'd kind of just prefer to stick with one.

[simple]

Not to be rude but ride them both and make your own decision. It's pretty easy to swap out.

[D(C)]

Not to be rude but ride them both and make your own decision. It's pretty easy to swap out.

Yeah, fair enough. I was more just checking if anyone had any past experiences or theories based on how the dampers are built.

[Roxtar]

I have a decision to make about a SID fork I'm going to be running on an upcoming Transition Spur build. The fork I have is the Select+, which comes with the Charger 2 RL (bladder-style) damper. A friend gave me an extra Charger Race Day damper, which is what comes in the Ultimate. The damper components are miniaturized with lower oil volume, saving a substantial amount of weight.

But let's say you care more about consistent performance and reduced maintenance. Am I better to stick with the 'lower-end' Charger 2 RL damper, which has a larger oil volume? Or is the Race Day damper pretty hearty?

I guess I can try both since I have both, but I'd kind of just prefer to stick with one.

From my understanding the Race Day damper is just a scaled down, less user controlled, version of the same damper. I don't think it's in any way fragile.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Opened the LSC and even HSC, slowed down the rebound and did two laps at the local DH ripper. More berms and flow with some jumps.....and many many braking bumps. On the smooth stuff the bike felt pretty good. On braking bumps it feels like the bike is going to explode. As if the tires are barely touching the ground. Bike making lots of noise. Now I know braking bumps are the worst thing for bikes/suspension but the SB150 handled this stuff SOOOO much better.

Could a shit fucking fork actually cause the whole bike to ride rough as shit? Did I just ruin myself forever by riding a fancy ass Yeti dentist rig before this bike?

[Dee Hubbs]

What press fit bottom brackets can I use on a dh bike with a 107mm BB? Can I use any PF92 bottom bracket, and just toss out that protective sleeve that would not be long enough anyway? Is there any major downside to not having this protective sleeve?

I cannot find any Shimano BB71-41C, which is the one that has the 107mm protective sleeve designed for Saint/Zee 83mm Cranks (this is confusing)

You can just use a 92 wide BB and pull the center sleeve.
OR
Shimano XT BB-MT800-PC Press Fit Bottom Bracket - BB107
Manufacturer Part Number: IBBMT800PC
OR
RaceFace EXI BB107 Bottom Bracket: 41mm ID x 107mm Shell x 24mm Spindle, Double Row Bearing, External Seal.
Manufacturer Part Number: BB19BB10410724
OR
Wheels Manufacturing PF41 ABEC-3 Fat Bike Bottom Bracket for 24mm Spindle Cranks (fits 105mm to 132mm shell)
Manufacturer Part Number: BB86-FAT-BB

[J. Barron DeJong]

Opened the LSC and even HSC, slowed down the rebound and did two laps at the local DH ripper. More berms and flow with some jumps.....and many many braking bumps. On the smooth stuff the bike felt pretty good. On braking bumps it feels like the bike is going to explode. As if the tires are barely touching the ground. Bike making lots of noise. Now I know braking bumps are the worst thing for bikes/suspension but the SB150 handled this stuff SOOOO much better.

Could a shit fucking fork actually cause the whole bike to ride rough as shit? Did I just ruin myself forever by riding a fancy ass Yeti dentist rig before this bike?

Anti-rise on the Guerrilla Gravity is actually a little lower than the SB150, so shouldn’t be worse under braking due to that (though both are quite high).

Pedal kickback on the GG is higher by a not-insignificant amount though. Maybe the issue is that kickback combined with the high engagement hub? Any chance you could swap in a wheel that has a slower engagement hub?

ETA: closing rebound could be packing down the suspension.

ETETA: if you have the luxury of time, it’s almost always best to make a single adjustment at a time.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

So previous suggestions were to actually OPEN the compression aka run LESS compression.....but maybe I need to go the other way even more? Go back to factory settings and then actually close/add more compression?

I really like running Hydra hubs and can't imagine running less engagement.......and I would need to find another wheel with a stupid offset to try anyway.

[toast2266]

It's the fork.

[climberevan]

WRG, I agree with J that you should open/reduce/speed up the REBOUND. What you're describing sounds like packing to me. If you like it on slower/smoother stuff, leave the LSC alone. If you blow through the travel on sharp edges hit at speed or landing from larger drops, close/slow/increase the HSC a bit.

One adjustment at a time is the golden rule, and ignoring that will almost always result in misery and/or confusion.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Regarding the one change at a time thing: Even though you’re only changing one thing at a time, that doesn’t mean the change necessarily needs to be small. Like, you don’t necessarily need to do only 1-2 clicks on an adjuster (though sometimes you may want to).

If you’re not really sure how close you are to ideal, it can help to make a fairly large adjustment to see if it’s going in the right direction. You may find that you’ve overshot - no longer suffering from the initial problem, but worse in a new way. In that case you’ve now ‘bracketed’ the range you’re going to settle in and you can fine tune within that range. Or, you could find that the large adjustment made everything better and should see if even more of it helps.

Also, I’d say many riders (probably most, really) are going to have a hard time feeling the change that a single click of rebound or a single click of compression is making.

[gramboh]

Anyone ever get a fork back from a rebuild with the air spring top cap stupid tight? Got my 38 back from Fox and I swear they put 50Nm on this thing. Spec is 25Nm I believe. Cannot budge it with an admittedly flimsy flat box wrench and don't see the proper chamferless socket will be easier given how thin the wrench flats on the top cap are. Annoying, never had a problem getting top caps off to change volume spacers before.

[east or bust]

^I’ve had that issue and very very carefully had to shock it loose using the butt end of a socket wrench. Obviously put some sort of padding between the cap and whatever you’re using to hit it.


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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Might be worth buying and servicing/swapping out airspring?

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3631284/

I really liked the feel of my last fork which was a 36 with a coil conversion. This seems to fill that niche? I'm guessing this fucker is heavy as hell though.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3613751/

[Dee Hubbs]

^I’ve had that issue and very very carefully had to shock it loose using the butt end of a socket wrench. Obviously put some sort of padding between the cap and whatever you’re using to hit it.

He's referring to the Top Cap Assembly, not the Air Top Cap (which can be hammered off with the head of your shock pump).

and I swear they put 50Nm on this thing. Spec is 25Nm I believe.

The torque spec is 220± IN-LBS, so ya 25Nm ( 24.29 to 25.42)