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I've owned my v2 covert for about 18 months now and it eats lower shock bushes. I've tried genuine fox ones, eBay cheapies, and now I've just splashed some cash on a heavy duty mount.
My covert isn't used as a mini dh rig, it's more of a general hardcore trail bike (qecp, peaslake, South Wales etc) so it's not thrashed within an inch if its life on black runs continuously.
Anyone got any suggestions why my frame is so bush hungry, or anyone else having the same issues?? 😥
Mis alignment somewhere? Sloppy back end?
Do you fit them with the tool and is the mounting hardware good? FWIW the type of riding isn't normally the problem it's the bike. If it's out of line of loose in any way then Heavy Duty mountings and bushes will kill the shock shaft so watch for that.
I would have a look at all your frame bearings, I had a spell where I went through loads of top bushing on my Fuel Ex because the pivots weren't moving properly so too much force was going on the bushings.
agree with the above as Ive had coverts for about four years now and shock bushes havent been a problem.
Knew this was gonna be about coverts! Poly du bushes & mines been fine since
i'd say check all the bearings/check the back end motion without the shock on to make sure its all straight/no play etc. i had an old heckler which munched bushes too - replaced main bearings regularly/checked all tight/aligned, so put it down to the slightly flexy back end putting sideways strain on them, probably not helped by a raggy riding style and being 14stone! found BETD strong bushes with hula hoops lasted longest, use them now on my newer el guapo with no problems
You mentioned changing to a heavy duty shock mount kit- did it have top-hat style ones before? They're not very good IMO- more inclined to wear and flex, every bike I've had with them has worn its bushing fast, then stops once i replace them with heavy-duty (or "proper" as I think of it) hardware.
Ive got a Covert as well and found my top bush wore before the bottom one. The bolt actualy bent slightly. (Im 85kg in the bathroom) Its cheap to replace the bolt though, so if it only lasts a year Im fine with that.
In almost four years Ive done the lower one once, its does need doing again now, so thats a bush every two years.
I dont think I would bother with "hard wearing ones" if the normal one lasts two years, its not expensive.
The Covert does have a 3:1 leverage ratio, so perhaps thats why it wears them out a lot, and riders tend to ride them hard ?
But I do ride it four times a week, all year, all conditions, so Im not too concerened. I did wear out the bottom suspension bearings, but a whole set was only £26 so I did them all, only took about 40 mins with a proper bearing tool.
gazc's comment above sounds very plausible.
Iv had 3 full suss frames over the years - all different designs and they have all eaten shaft-end bushes but never had any trouble with the air can end.
Heavy duty bushes help quite alot - just ordered some for my latest frame yesterday (TF tuned) but they wont last forever.
The only reason I can think of for the bottom bushes wearing out quicker than the top is that the shock pivots more at one end relative to its connecting link/frame through the bikes travel than the other end.
This was the case with my Norco Six - shaft end moves through a big arc relative to the linkage it connects to as the suspension compressed - Air can end hardly moves at all relative to the frame. Probably a ratio of 10 to 1 ish.
Every time the shock rotates it wears the bushes slightly - The same ratio of 10 to 1 will apply to wear time.
Just my theory
[i]My covert isn't used as a mini dh rig, it's more of a general hardcore trail bike (qecp, peaslake etc) [/i]
😆
Them 'Downs are tough on bikes...
Thinking a bit mor about this - all my bikes have either had four bar linkages or Virtual pivot points. These linkage designs all have big angles of rotation for the shock bushes. Looking at the Covert I can see how this would suffer too.
But looking at single pivot designs like the Orange 5 - the shock is inline with the direction of movement of the swing arm and therefor would have much less shock bush movement.
Does anyone have experiance of single pivot bikes not eating shock bushes?....or problems with four bar linkage designs?
Northwind - Member
You mentioned changing to a heavy duty shock mount kit- did it have top-hat style ones before? They're not very good IMO- more inclined to wear and flex, every bike I've had with them has worn its bushing fast, then stops once i replace them with heavy-duty (or "proper" as I think of it) hardware.
This ^ I'd put money on them lasting much longer now that you've made the switch
Just fitted one of these kits to my old Kona for the same reason;
http://www.tftunedshox.com/Miscellaneous/Mount-Kits-and-Bushings/Mount-Kits-127mm