[Closed] Avalanche Dampers - are they REALLY worth it?

Yari plus avalanche would be same price as lyric.

Yari plus avalanche would be same price as lyric

Having just taken a Lyrik off my bike cos it felt crap (though I suspect throwing £200 for the Andreani piston kit at it or even more for the FAST damper upgrade would fix that) I can wholeheartedly recommend considering the MRP Ribbon fork.

Everything that the modifications to the charger damper that the other mods profess to do, the MRP already does straight out the box.

If you're anywhere near me, you're welcome to come and give mine a go if you like...

Just get a Yari. Most people who've ridden one (including me) are hard pushed to tell difference over the Charger forks. Certainly not a difference worth a couple of hundred quid.

Just get a Yari.

I think that's kinda where I'm at at the minute. I'm pretty curious to see what the difference between the dampers are so maybe get some use out of the forks this season, then after winter, get them serviced and the Ava fitted.

Appreciate the offer - I've a slight weird thing about mixing fork/shock brands (don't ask!) but it's another option I'd not considered that's worth looking at

 

it's around £400 fitted

**** that shit - luftkappe with fast damper cheaper.

Mbow, the FAST piston kit (without tge adjusters) is 160 quid including a 90 quid service thrown in.

The single biggest upgrade you can do to a Lyrik or Pike is run a coil with a bit less sag than you normally would run - 21/22 instead of say 25.

I spoke to Sprung yesterday

I'm still awaiting a response to my email of many weeks ago....yet they found the time to add me to their spam email list 🙄

I'm still awaiting a response to my email of many weeks ago....yet they found the time to add me to their spam email list

I wouldnt bother. The FAST damper is great, if you want a custom damper and more adjustibility.

FAST are involved with WRC, have telemetry gear etc and a decent R&D budget. Avalanche is a one crazy man outfit from what Ive heard - I'm not sure Id take a punt on that considering the cost.

Yet you took a punt on a man making coil springs in a garage 😉

That because the spring is almost 4 times cheaper and springs are a bit easier to knock up than a good damper - which takes a lot of riding data and a great deal of ubderstanding of fluid physics/engineering.

Theres someone here knocking up their own spring kit, seen anyone knock up their own damper yet? I thought not.

But even thhe crazy french dude posts up pictures of his data gear etc....not seen that from Avy yet. Not that Id buy a CRconception damper.

My avalanche modified dhx air is great, paid £250 for that with tax etc including the price of a blown dhx from eBay!, don't think I'd pay 400 tho, can you luftkappe a yari? Made a big difference to my Pikes

It was surprisingly easy to knock up a coil spring for the Pike if you have the relevant parts from donor forks. Whether it works or not, I'll find out tomorrow.

I would say that the fork moves up and down as well as the air spring from riding around the garden - it's more to do with whether or not the spring weight is right.

I know nothing about dampers, so I'll leave that side alone except for oil changes and bleeds. For now.

teethgrinder - Member

It was surprisingly easy to knock up a coil spring for the Pike if you have the relevant parts from donor forks. Whether it works or not, I'll find out tomorrow.

Making anything is easy til you test it 😆

Northwind - Member
Making anything is easy til you test it

Reassembling the fork and fitting it back onto the bike is the hardest part 😉

I find riding round the garden the hardest part
[img] [/img]

Avalanche is a one crazy man outfit from what Ive heard - I'm not sure Id take a punt on that considering the cost.

Appreciate the offer - I've a slight weird thing about mixing fork/shock brands (don't ask!) but it's another option I'd not considered that's worth looking at

No worries

I was kinda the same, but realised to keep RA both ends, I was gonna have to spend £200-250 on each end getting them properly tuned to [i]possibly[/i] meet my expectations... Having spent a year on the MRP Stage before, I knew how good that was out of the box, so I figured the Ribbon would be a safe bet too.

Besides I got offered a killer deal on a Fox Float X2 just before Christmas, so my collar had already stopped matching my cuffs! Get me... Fox shock, MRP fork, RockShox Reverb, SRAM eagle groupset but with Raceface cranks, Schwalbe front tyre and Maxxis rear... Only thing that matches is my Burgtec bar and stem! My old self would be having OCD induced nightmares!

But seriously though... Give the MRP a go if you're passing... It sits WAY higher in its travel than any RS fork I've tried (including tuned ones), but doesn't have the super harsh HSC that the Fox 36RC2 has if you're anything under about 16st...

I'm still awaiting a response to my email of many weeks ago....yet they found the time to add me to their spam email list

To be fair to the lad at spring he's probably just fed up of enquiries about avalanche , back in august I enquiries and every month after that and the poor guy was just not getting any stock ( he said) or firm date by January I had a pretty good convo with him and looked at making my own coil conversion and damper or he said I'll supply you an online, I feel for him as I've been through that shit where suppliers or people you relying on pull the rug it has knock ons and your just exasperated by the end .....I dunno if he did eventually get anything from avalanche in the USA but hope it's going ok and he might just be cracking on making money doing what he can with the suppliers available....the last bit could just be conjecture but...

he might just be cracking on making money doing what he can with the suppliers available....the last bit could just be conjecture but...

Don't know for sure, but given he's just bought RedHill, and he's hired a couple of people at Sprung, I'd say he's busy enough without all the issues of lack of supply that Avalanche were giving him... When I enquired months ago, the Pike carts were 4 months late already, and he refused to take any kind of a deposit saying he wasn't holding his breath on receiving them any time soon! He's since become an authorised service centre and reseller for Ohlins, and he has a lot of experience with all the main brands too and comes highly recommended by many I've spoken to.

So I'd say on balance, you're probably correct! 😉

To be fair to the lad at spring he's probably just fed up of enquiries about avalanche

Thats as maybe but it takes seconds to add a standard email reply or add something to the web page. But to ignore 2 emails then add me to their spam list means they'll never see my CC details

Theres someone here knocking up their own spring kit, seen anyone knock up their own damper yet? I thought not.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/Millyard-racing-bike-2007.html

Yup.

@bruneep its not for anyone to disagree or agree it's not my firm I've missed emails in my own firm yet believe me from experience even a note to say sorry is never enough there.....I'm curious how you find out how you would even find out your on a spam lis (seriously curious for my own benefit)

It was interesting the other day and a bit of a thread deviation a lad from superstar was getting some grief for not recommending a competitors product I think he had no stock of discs or pads and for some reason pointed out google was an option to find an alternative .... I think it was meant as google who's good as opposed to go look for another supplier though again it's conjecture as I was skim reading it

..anyway I have no idea wtf I even meant by carrying on writing ... ah that was it my post might have been to intimate he's probably moved on generally from AVA though not defend or detract from your post, if that makes sense if he can't be bothered then all you can do is vote feet first

By spam list I mean unwanted marketing emails that I never signed up to.

Only contact I made was by two emails, neither were answered yet I get sprung marketing emails in return. I don't now as they are filtered to the bin

Ben

The Millyards oleo damper is something I don't really get, soft and mushy at low speeds - hardens up on high speed hits.

Great.

Oleos were used on motocycles in the 1930s - don't see any being used by works MX teams these days.

Ah gotcha

Tom_W1987 - Member

Theres someone here knocking up their own spring kit, seen anyone knock up their own damper yet? I thought not.

TBH, I could make an open bath damper, it'd be just within my cottage industry manufacturing capability. Would it be any better than a quality stock one? Well it's possible. Would people buy the Northwind Race Damper? Probably. Probably more people would buy it if I sold it for £250 than £100. I've a feeling more would buy it if I called it a NordWind Renndampfer...

(I couldn't make a spring though!)

😀

I've had no problems with Jake at Sprung. He answered my calls and my Avy shock was turned around pretty quickly so I'll happily keep using him.

Two emails and a post on Facebook got no replies. Not really difficult to post up a price. Shitty service

I've had no problems with Jake at Sprung. He answered my calls and my Avy shock was turned around pretty quickly so I'll happily keep using him.

If I could get this sort of service, my decision would be made on what I'm doing, but as yet still no reply even after a chase-up. Can you drop him a nudge from me haha

I'm also quite suprised - I thought I was going to get an outpour of love for Avalanche but quite surprisingly, not so much!

I'm also quite surprised - I thought I was going to get an outpour of love for Avalanche but quite surprisingly, not so much!

Jake upgraded my monarch on the Capra with the Avalanche damper, made a huge difference - went from wallowy with epic pedal strikes to lovely mid stroke support and poppy instantly. Comms were great, and I was really pleased with the service I received.

I can only assume that he maybe has some issues with his email addy or something in his personal life that is distracting him, as he was great with me.

Best of luck to him.

He usually travels with Katy when she is racing so might have been at crankworx

Jake was pretty good with me, serviced my avvy dhx - was long overdue! turnaround was less than a week, took a couple of days to answer a follow up question, but overall very pleased

I got the avvy mod done 3 years ago, the monarch it came with was always compromised on really big stuff, my avvy dhx was a genuine step up.

With something like an x2 that you've set up properly the difference may not be so great

only one way to find out

And herein lies the problem...

Not saying it's anyone's fault. It's hard enough for a mag like Singletrack to organise a group test of all the current high end off the shelf forks as it is, without worrying about taking them to the next level!

I'd love to see someone like Steve Jones and the DIRT boys do a back to back on say a stock Pike vs Lyrik, vs FAST tuned versions, vs Andreani Modded versions, versus Avalanche modded versions, vs stock Fox 36RC2 (and its PUSH tuned variant, vs... etc etc... you get the point.

Problem is, it ain't ever gonna happen! In the meantime we have tonnes of heresay and conjecture. I know for one that whilst a stock Lyrik is good enough for riders way better than me, it doesn't suit my riding style and I prefer something that sits up in its travel more. Yet at the same time, the fork I prefer that sits up in its travel more may also yield the better rider a similar benefit too, but then we'll never know until we get everyone in the same place at the same time, for a double blind test, against the clocks, with various different forks in various different tunes, and... and... etc...

In the meantime, we'll just have to carry on finding our own research, and forming our own opinions I guess...

I'd love to see someone like Steve Jones

And a team of neuroscientists and linguistic experts to decipher what Steves getting at - I like the interviews he does with companies - and he is great fun to listen to - but Dirts reviews are just off.

Enduro mag are the best at the moment for trying to add a little bit of rigour to their review process, German magazines in general actually.

Only slightly related but I had an Avy MTN8 fork and a rear shock on my Brooklyn
Racelink and they were sublime, I also had a rear shock for another DH frame that I ordered direct from Craig @ AVY and that was equally brilliant.

And a team of neuroscientists and linguistic experts to decipher what Steves getting at - I like the interviews he does with companies - and he is great fun to listen to - but Dirts reviews are just off.

Enduro mag are the best at the moment for trying to add a little bit of rigour to their review process, German magazines in general actually.

Yeah, but... No disrespect, but I KNOW for a fact Steve and his guys ride anything they get given to review HARD...

Enduro Mag? Well when I questioned them about the "15 Reverbs on their demo fleet that not one had developed a problem with" (I've killed 9 myself, with my 10th on its way out!), I concluded that not only do they barely ride anything they're given to test, but that when they do, it's ridden with kid gloves to put it mildly... This was further backed up by their trail bike review a few months later, where they marked the Evil Following down a number of points against the Spesh Camber because of it being slacker and not being as focussed for climbing as some of the other bikes being tested, and that it didn't reward at the pace they were riding it at and they felt it needed to be ridden harder to fully appreciate it! 😆

Oh... And been riding Steve's local trails at Staunton a fair bit recently... Never met the guy, but I'd love to shake his hand, those trails really are as good as it's possible to get in the UK! I don't care what kind of "rigour" you thing Enduro Mag seem to add to the review process, there's no substitute for getting some shit hot fast riders out on the kit on some of the gnarliest trails that the UK has to offer, for some real world quality testing...

So excuse me for sounding dismissive, but if he or his team don't come across as the most insightful, I'll take that with a pinch of salt cos I know how hard they ride and the trails they use to test the stuff they're reviewing... 8)

Don't get me wrong Mboy, Porter knows his stuff - it's just the affable bugger explains what Dirt think of a product in videos - much better than the magazine does in the written reviews.

I like how some of the other mags are starting to do lab testing (eg on brakes) and telemetry testing on suspension - and there are other magazines that are better at explaining in writing, why one product feels better than the next one. With Dirt, it's usually the suspension reviews that irk me though.

The G19 "review" is a great one

https://dirtmountainbike.com/bike-reviews/trail-enduro-bikes/nicolai-g19.html

it's not so much of a review - more like an advert masquerading as a Unilad/lad bible article for the all the downhill "bro's".

I really like the avy upgrades to my 2006 Fox 36 and my 2005 fix5.0c. But they were ,£250 ish per end dealing direct. On that experience, I'd happily buy again.

I was happy with the fork, but upgraded the shock. That was so good, it made the forks seem weak so I had to upgrade them as well.

Not sure I'd do it again at £400 per end via someone who doesn't respond to questions and queries.

My Aeris 145 that went to Enduro mag came back with some decent battle scars. I reckon Jim (who's pretty damn quick) rode that bike pretty hard.

He doesn't write for them any more though, so I guess thats not really helpful 🙂

Enduro mag's reviews seem to vary a lot with the reviewer - Jim & Trev's are usually more insightful than some of the Germans' writing.

One strange detail they overlook is leaving BB height or drop off their geometry diagrams - I contacted them about that omission and they said: "You're absolutely right, the bottom bracket height is indeed quite important. However, most readers don't know how to interpret it and we try to keep things as simple as possible by focusing on the most relevant figures."

[quote=benpinnick ]My Aeris 145 that went to Enduro mag came back with some decent battle scars. I reckon Jim (who's pretty damn quick) rode that bike pretty hard.
He doesn't write for them any more though, so I guess thats not really helpful

I can do battle scars, if you'll loan me the 145 if thats what you're looking for bagged 2 KOM yesterday so I'm on fire.

I don't write for the mag either.

hope that helps

😉

Don't get me wrong Mboy, [s]Porter[/s] [b]Jones[/b] knows his stuff

Porter runs Mojo...

Jones is Dirt Mag!

Though indeed both know their stuff, albeit Porter doesn't come across all that well on camera at times. Good rider mind, does also ride/build @ Staunton too.

Enduro mag's reviews seem to vary a lot with the reviewer - Jim & Trev's are usually more insightful than some of the Germans' writing.

I couldn't agree more. I get the impression that the Germans tag the bikes up fireroads then tickle them down a mediocre descent, from the way their reviews come across. I may of course be wrong, but I'd trust a review by a good British rider, on trails I know, far more than I would most European reviews given I know how different the riding preferences typically are in Europe.

Yeah I meant Jones....late at night etc

Not sure I'd do it again at £400 per end

When i could randomly get in touch via an alternate number, they said the £400 was it fitted and fork serviced, but when I asked how much it would be just for me to fit they said somewhere around £300 - which makes it a much more reasonable option - especially when Avalanche themselves say they're designed to be user-fit. Pretty much just drop it, do up the bolts, fill 'em with the good oil.

Do you still have to drill out the hole for the rebound adjuster?

??

you just drop the cartridge straight in for the pike one i was looking at

Swapped the original Fox 34 CTD for the avalanche and it fixed the issues I had.
That being the point when you are going for a custom tune you need to know whats the problem and address that (and then understand what the compromise will be)

Do you still have to drill out the hole for the rebound adjuster?

So.... after all of that, it looks like Sprung can't actually get the dampers in for sale, so maybe just get a lyrik and be done with it! Unfortunately had to find this out through a third party though, still frustrated by the lack of contact

Any updates on this? Was it a delay or is it still the case? It would be a shame if there wasn't an Avalanche UK option. Either way, comms from Jake are still poor/non existent.

Jakes been busy opening his new bike park so I guess the avalanche thing is on the back burner?

Shouldn't really be advertising something he can't actually do or at least update his website. Pretty shit customer service that doesn't really install confidence

That ^^^

Guess they are busy enough to worry about not responding.

Back to tft for me.

You could just phone Avalanche and deal directly? They're effortless to buy stuff off in my experience (obviously makes sure that the US price still makes sense when it's landed in the UK)

Currently £310 before delivery and import costs.

How much is the (not quite obtainable) UK price?

Lets just say, I was hoping it would start with nothing more than a 2!

was £400 not mentioned somewhere in this post

3rd post - £400 fitted

That was fitted, so I assume, includes the cost of a service.

Fast damper is £224 including service from tftuned

Is that the open bath cartridge or the damper upgrade? Also, aren't they currently in short supply?

So I FINALLY got a reply back from Avalanche - although this may have been spurred on by the fact I commented on one of their instagram posts after someone had asked the same thing I had nearly 6 times (basically saying something along the lines of "good luck! I've been trying to find this out for weeks now and they refuse to reply to me").

Yes it was a little petty... but I was a little annoyed. Exactly what poah said, they shouldn't be advertising something they don't currently sell, and as it stands have no immediate plans to.

Unfortunately given exchange rates etc, buying them from the US really out-prices them in the UK market now, especially with guys like FAST available for almost half the price! When I managed to get a very quick call through to Sprung ages ago, they had said the damper would be £300 to drop in, or £400 fitted (inc service). Although £300 seems like a lot, it still puts it in the same ball park as a Lyrik so isn't a crazy price - although seems like Rockshox were being a bit sneaky about the bigger negative spring in the Lyrik.

For the time being - I'm now sat in between the 2017 stuff, or hold out for the new gear, but will have to see what the prices on the new Lyriks are like - if they're getting on towards the £900 mark, then I'd rather either pony up for some 36's, or just get the 2017 stuff and maybe at some point put that extra money towards tuning... although, I'm still not that fast so probably makes bugger all difference!