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I have a 130mm travel Evil Calling which has a progressive leverage curve. The current shock is a RS Super Deluxe Ultimate with a medium rebound tune, low compression tune and a soft pedalling platform.
I have bought a RS Deluxe RL shock to replace it for the simple reason that it was £40 cheaper than a service. The new shock has a medium rebound tune, mediu compression tune and no pedalling platform.
I am suspension blind. I can't usually tell the difference between shock and fork settings unless they're really bad. I know that the Evil has much better rear suspension than the bikes I've had in the past, which have largely been four bar systems. Will I notice the difference between the medium and low compression tunes, and how much will it ruin my bike?
For context, I'm pretty content with a Motion Control fork on one bike and a 2019 Charger fork on another and have never felt a need to muck about changing dampers or anything. My riding is Tweed Valley style steep stuff and slow rocky nadgery techdeath in the rest of Scotland.
I don't think so. I changed a Super Deluxe Ultimate for a low-rent Deluxe with only rebound adjustment and I could barely notice any difference.
The new shock will feel alot firmer/harsher through the bumps... Unless you are heavier than the tune was designed for and the old shock was therefore too soft, in which case it will feel great... Hard to say!
I once had a bike with what was very clearly the wrong shock on it, far too much compression and since it was an OEM shock from a different bike it wasn't adjustable. Really ruined it, the back end was just dead.
So yeah it can, but it depends how wrong it is 🙂
@benpinnick - you're the guy most likely to be able to answer this on here - how big a difference is there between a medium and low compression tune? From what you've said it won't go - I'm 72k. I don't know what weight people like you would spec a shock on a full build for, but I'm guessing my weight's either the middle or the low end of the range and so I'll get my brains rattled out. Part of the reason I like the Evil so much is the level of comfort off the top of the suspension.
To clarify:
To save £40 on your £5k bike you're going to put an £80 shock on it? (Assuming £120 service at tftuned)
What happens to the old shock?
I'm not mad or rich enough to spend £5k on a bike - it cost me £1800. The shock's a £370 shock but wth a massive discount.
I'd probably sell the old shock so it'd effectively cost me nothing, but obviously there's no point doing that if the new shock will make the bike worse.
Slick & Slide do the SD for £105.
Top-notch work and service.
The difference will depend on which L tune it should be. 'L' Not too much, noticable but maybe ok. 'L1' More noticeable, 'LC' Very noticeable.
I'm suspension blind too. I changed a shock with a different tune and actually preferred it. Had a better lockout. Still went up and down. Bought it exactly for the same reason as you plus the stanchion was black and matched the forks 😂
I'm the same weight as you, my medium Bird Aether 9 (also 130mm) came with a LL1/380 tune. I'm running the compression damping adjuster in the middle for most of my riding, and on "less" for rough stuff.
It would be very interesting to see a chart of the damping ranges (or fixed value for shocks without an adjuster) for the different tunes. To see how close they are, overlaps etc.
could try and do your own air can service and save all the hassle? Some super easy step by step videos on youtube. A lot of people find it intimidating but it is actually really easy - especially the rockshox ones