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Still waiting on my warranty SIDs - ordered a set of 2023 Pikes.
I'm reducing the travel to 120mm. Swapping out the air spring - but two are available (V1 and V2). They both look like air springs - not sure what the extra chunky head is for on the V2? To me, it looks like it acts as a token (built into the spring itself).
The negative air volume will be less relevant (in relative terms) if set up at 120mm... so V1 one it is, and £10 saved. Job done.
Am I under-thinking this?
The 'upgraded' (bigger) seal head was introduced to move the position of spring equalization to near top out, making the fork less likely to sit into the travel, as well as increase support and progression.
As far as I understand, the position of the dimple for pressure balance across the chambers was moved for 2023 onwards, and the V1 spring with that change was intended to limit the amount of unweighted travel loss, which apparently people complained about as the forks didn't measure with the full travel when sat sagged under self bike weight.
V2 increased the negative air volume and reduced the positive. Increasing the initial stroke suppleness, but with the current dimple position avoiding too much self-weight sag.
The V2 effectively matches something like the aftermarket luftkappe piston.
I'd suggest V2, for the extra bit of suppleness in the initial travel.
Yeah, v2 increases the negative chamber volume.
I don't have any direct experience of v2. Mine was a v1. I tried A1/B1/C1 and disliked them all for different reasons.
I bought a custom air spring in the end from a guy in Italy. It had a larger negative volume than the C1 (V1) and it was definitely better so if the v2 increases the negative, then it would be worth getting that over a v1. I guess it depends on a lot of things though like your weight and what you ride.
Larger negative means you can run more air pressure whilst maintaining sensitivity. More pressure gives more midstroke support which is where the c1 fell apart for me.
To get sensitivity right, the pressure was low enough that there wasn't enough midstoke and I'd run into the ramp up too easily. Run it with enough pressure to get decent midstroke support and it was harsh on small chattery stuff. Too much of a compromise for me.
Thanks for the replies - looking at the piston designs, it makes sense.
The V2 piston takes up more real estate in the +ve air chamber (reducing volume), and at the same time it increases negative air volume because of a clever hollowed-out design. So the balance changes.
Interesting solution. 👍