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So it looks like my Lyrik's CSU is creaking again - seems to happen every two years. I'm not very big or fast or gnarly but I'm a bit bored of this. I know my Levo's frame isn't designed for a dual crown but it's a fairly big chunk of aluminium and long out of warranty.
I'm thinking I could swap to a dual crown fork and then maybe I can get an angleset that takes advantage of the straight 1 1/8" steerer tube to slacken the front out? (At the moment it's an integrated headset so there's no wiggle room with a tapered steerer).
What could possibly go wrong 😉
If you aren't happy about that, could you reinforce the frame somehow? Massive lump of alloy attached to spread the force?
I have no idea whether this will rip your head tube off, but I strongly encourage you to do it anyway.
Did you stick the Lyrik on another bike to verify that's where the creaking was coming from though? Imagine fitting the DC fork and the creak still being there.
At the moment it's an integrated headset so there's no wiggle room with a tapered steerer
Not true now!
https://singletrackmag.com/2024/01/9point8-slack-r-headset-review/
https://9point8.ca/collections/slack-r-is-kits
Angleset for 'IS' integrated type bikes, Specialized, Trek, SC etc.
Lots of downsides to using a dual crown fork on what I assume is a more trail orientated bike - seriously limiting in tight corners being the obvious one!
I did look into the Slack-R a while back but it adds a lot of height under the head tube, so raises the BB, shortens reach and slackens seat angle too. Then again, with a dual crown, isn't the minimum A2C length shorter for a given travel? Or is that only the case with chunkier single crowns like a Zeb or 38?
My main "trail bike" nowadays is a 160mm singlespeed hardtail. The Levo is mostly my weird commuting and (self-)uplift bike. My commute is about to change to being via our small local DH tracks, although they do have some pretty tight berms and switchbacks. I've never ridden a DH bike - how problematic is the steering lock issue? I'm more of a tip it on its side than turn the bars kind of rider.
With the extra chonk of the ebike frame it might be an issue on euro style switchbacks. I'd avoid a fox 40 as the larger diameter stanchions will compound that. For a given travel the a-c will be less than a single crown fork.
I'd go for it. Probably a boxxer as the air spring seems to be a huge improvement compared to the zeb or lyrik
I ran a dual crown Boxxer 151 on a variety of Marins yeeeeears ago, and the head tube joint was about the only place they didn't crack, so I reckon based on that, it'll be fine.
Having gone from 36’s to dual crowns 3 years ago, I have found 0 downsides and many upsides.
So it looks like my Lyrik's CSU is creaking again - seems to happen every two years.
You lucky, lucky bastard.🤣
I'd love to get two years out of one.
Seems I'm down to about two months ATM.
I'm also considering a dual crown fork, but not on my Levo.
If I go for one it'll lightly be the Formula DH fork but running the clamps from their Enduro fork to get shorter offset and drop a little weight.
I think you should go for it though in the interest of research.😎
Go for it, maybe look at one of the enduro double crown forks like the Formula Belva, MRP Bartlett, Intend Bandit or the like.
Do Mojo still go the conversion to make Fox 36s dual crown (the MORC)?
The Formula Belva is looking quite appealing - the sticking point seems to be that I’m near the upper end of the recommended weights and then the ebike adds more, so I’m concerned that the positive spring air pressure I’d need would be too high for the coil negative spring.
Intend isn’t recommended for e-bikes because the uppers are bigger than on non-inverted forks. MRP Bartlett doesn’t have great reviews.
I’d like to know more about how you shorten a Boxxer to 160 or 170mm - a secondhand 35mm one feels like it would be a good choice (assuming that a freshly serviced used DH fork is a safe bet - I wouldn’t want to buy one that’s done Rampage or Hardline!)
And on the subject of Formula forks, does anyone have experience with the different damping cartridges? Both my Lyriks are Charger 2.1 and I get on pretty well with them - HSC at the more open end, LSC about a third to halfway shut, rebound towards the faster end. Running 105psi in the Lyrik on the Levo (B1 air spring) and 90psi in the Lyrik on my hardtail (C1 air spring).
I've been advised to steer clear of the Belva by someone who should have the best knowledge about any Formula product in the UK...
Hmmm…
In that case maybe I should go for a heavily discounted 38 Grip Ebike version…
Or maybe a Grip2 non-Ebike version?
Or a Nero.
With Belva crowns.
The 38 Grip 2 is discounted to £499 and immediately available - and having taken the fork out and clamped the steerer and pushed and pulled it fairly hard I'm not terribly keen on riding this fork as is for long...
Suspension tech here,
Might be worth checking your top caps are tight. The majority of forks that come through the workshop here that are creaking are doing so due the top caps working loose rather than movement at the stanchion/crown or crown/stererer interface.
Hope this helps.
I've got a fox 38. The only annoying thing is the 1 year warranty rather than 2 for SRAM/rockshox. Everyone in the EU gets a 2 year warranty on Fox it seems..
The top caps don't seem loose...
I didn't know about Fox's one year warranty in the UK, that's rather poor! My new commute will involve a lot more jumps and drops so hopefully if I've got another sketchy CSU it'll show up within that first year.
Anyway, I have this 170mm Fox 38 Factory on order so it should be here and on the bike by next week. Will see how the Levo suits the longer A2C, it's about 13mm more than my 160mm Lyrik. I've got the parts for a 27.5 rear wheel for mulleting it so if I'm willing to give up some reach and seat angle that's an option to get the BB lower again - although it's not exactly high at ride height now.