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I’ve got a Cotic Jeht with the CCDB inline air & it’s quite harsh; I get nowhere near full travel & it feels over damped on high speed compression.
I’m 96kg & spent ages setting sag - 230psi gives me 16mm sag at the shock, which is 30%.
When I look down at the shock whilst pedalling it’s incredibly supple & active. When I use the climb switch it’s still quite active, but not as much; happy days - gives a good platform to push against on climbs.
However, when I push on and up my speed, and hit the rooty fast down hills, even when I try to go through the travel, it only uses about 2/3rds, it also feels very harsh as though the high speed compression is way too high - it’s completely opened up.
I think it comes with two volume spacers installed to increase progression because apparently the Jeht is quite linear. Would volume spacers cause the harsh feeling? It’s not like a subtle ramping up, it just feels harsh and rattly on anything quick and rough. But when I think about it I’m only using the middle 3rd or so of travel.
Have you used the base settings recommend by cotic? That's what I've gone for on the flaremax and I've not tweaked it much from that. I'm definitely using all the travel and it feels very plush.
I'd email cotic and see what they suggest.
Normally too harsh is because of too much compression damping or too slow a rebound - meaning the shock packs down. Or it could be the air spring is ramping up too hard - but at 96kg with 30% sag I would have thought you’d need some tokens I’d the frame doesn’t ramp up much in its leverage curve.
Have you found the Cane Creek basic setup sheet yet?
Try the Cane Creek app called Dialed. The shock had a lot of adjustment and the app does work if you follow what it says.
What do you mean feels harsh?
I used the Cotic tune, as supplied and worked from there. It felt a bit dead (I like a little pop off roots, and trail features so tend to have damping backed off) so I opened the rebound up a bit - it’s now very poppy and active on the trail.
I was still getting a harsh compression feeling on faster and bigger hits and found I’m not using a lot of travel so I wound the high speed damping all the way off, without any difference. Paul suggested I’ve too much pressure so I deflated the shock (I also ensured the shock cycles through its travel smoothly whilst deflated & it does) & reset the sag being careful to follow CC’s instructions regarding charging the negative spring. I’m still getting the harshness and found that any less pressure (even by a tiny amount) sends the sag way off.
Out of frustration and after checking with Cotic I put my CCDB inline coil shock on, from my other bike. Paul suggested using a progressive spring but I already had a 600lb Valt spring so tried that. Despite Cotic saying the Jeht doesn’t really suit a coil spring this actually felt really nice. It didn’t quite have the sprightly pop I wanted but it felt hell of a lot nicer and more stable than the air shock. Plus I was getting more travel (no massive bottom outs either though).
Using the coil full time isn’t an option so the air shock is back on. I think so far the only thing I haven’t tried is removing the volume spacers. I’m struggling to believe that they would cause so much ramp up or progression to restrict travel so much (especially given my weight).
This is my 4th Cane Creek DB and I’m fairly used to setting them up, but I’ve never messed about with volume spacers before, which is what is making me wonder.
Maybe a stupid question but how have you got the lsc set?
What do you mean feels harsh?
Like a hardtail
Maybe a stupid question but how have you got the lsc set?
I’ve eventually taken it almost off (a little at a time). It’s currently VERY active whilst pedalling & bobbing a lot. Even with the climb switch on it’s moving a fair bit. It was incredibly stable using the Cotic settings - I do like a bike that is stable around its sag point, but I also like a shock with very light high speed compression so it acts/moves very quickly when needed - in other words, acts like a “shock absorber”. I’ll put it back to Cotic setting now I know it’s making no difference to how it feels at speed or in rough terrain (think frozen or baked cut up bridleway at speed, or Peak District rocky chutes and descents).
Just a thought but wonder if your climb switch isn’t fully opening the damping....
Mmmm I wondered that but it does actually make a noticeable difference, very similar to the coil shock.
Follow the cane creek guide to setting up the shock. Find a trail you are familiar with and spend a few hours playing with settings. You’ll find what works for you. Bring your shock pump and tools to remove volume spacers. It’s just a small flat blade screwdriver and a length of tube really to grip the air can to remove it. I had to add some volume spacers when I ran one on my orange five. But once I spent a morning setting it up, it transformed the bike
Like a hardtail
roots shouldn't use that much travel compared to a drop etc. If you were using all your travel on roots I would be concerned. Use this
at a guess you have too much LSC
If the only thing you haven’t tried is volume spacer removal then I think perhaps it’s time to try removing one of those then. Go back to standard Cotic settings but with one volume spacer removed.Same sag.
Find a bit of trail you can easily session over and over to try different tweaks. There’s a Cane Creak tuning video that I found useful on their website and the basic tuning guide too.
Right, took out one volume spacers & the difference is night & day.
The whole thing feels more supple but without feeling under-sprung or overly active. All damping settings are back to Cotic’s standard & it feels fine.
Getting the air can back on was a pain the arse though..!