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Just tinkering with the O2 shock on the new FlareMax. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of rebound damping. I'm happy with it as it is, but I'm running almost maximum damping, which still isn't much.
A quick bit of Googling suggests that this can happen when you lose pressure from the negative chamber. Apparently there are no little dimples to equalize pressure on these shocks, but nor does there appear to be any way to fill the negative side. So how does it get pressurized? It looks as though you just trap "a bit of air" when you put the air can on, but that sounds awfully random.
I found the same, I had to run pretty much full slow on the rebound and if I wanted to run less sag there wasn’t enough damping. It went for warranty but wasn’t much better, in the end I purchased a rockshox shock and I have the damping I want regardless of pressure.
Yup, that's it. Hence X-Fusion shocks feeling sluggish off the top.
Sacki from BikeYoke designed and built a new air can for the Vector Air that had a huge, separately fillable negative chamber and volume band tunable positive chamber, which also worked on the Stage (non piggyback) shock, but I think it was stopped as a product because X-Fusion didn't like someone making something better than they could!
Thanks. I'll probably give it a quick air can service as it looks so easy to do, but it sounds as though I'll just have to live with it (or replace it). Fortunately I don't like much rebound damping anyway. I don't go in for jumping so don't need to worry about getting bucked and keeping the rebound on the faster side makes it feel a bit more playful for general trail riding. I also "only" weigh around 170 lb so don't need to pump it up too hard. If I were much heavier or more aggressive it might become an issue as it seems that you need to wind on more damping as you increase the pressure to get the same feel. I guess that's common for air shocks though.
If you open the air can and loads of white oil spills out I think it's safe to say it's rather broken. I have a bag full like that and all showed the same symptoms as yours.
Well popping the air can off, greasing it up and putting it back together was easy enough. No white oil thankfully. Pushing the air can back on was a bit of a struggle since you are pushing against the negative spring, but that shows it must be working. Unfortunately it's had no effect on the rebound damping. It's still fast or very fast, but I'm guessing that's just the way it's meant to be.
I've got a Mk1 FlareMAX that I've recently stripped down to build up a RocketMAX frame, and I've used X-Fusion shocks that came with both frames (now have Cane Creek on the bike, but that's another story).
I know what you're saying about the fast-very fast rebound. Although one of the shocks is an earlier model, both have the same fast rebound range. I've had the early model shock rebuilt under warranty because it lost its damping, but the rebound is the same. I seem to remember reading that Cotic have gone for this shock setup to give the bikes a poppy and playful feel. When I first got the bike, I was a bit concerned about getting bucked on jumps and landings because of the fast rebound, but I've not had a problem, even when maxing out the available travel - I'm not sure if the rebound slows when its recovering from deep in the travel(?) (I tend to run the rebound at one or two clicks out from closed)
Although I upgraded to the Cane Creek shock (because I largely ride natural rough trails), for trail centres, I do like the more stable and urgent feel the bike has with the X-Fusion shock - and I've run the bike with the X-Fusion on over the winter to preserve the Cane Creek seals a bit.
The beauty with the Cane Creek is that you can alter the settings to give you the poppy feeling, and IMO, Cotic's baseline setup for the Cane Creek tends to be more like that. I run mine CC with different settings to the baseline to make it less clattery, so it's a bit of a PIA to adjust between the two setups - more than once, I've just swapped the shocks over!
Er...I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if you like thundering down rough rocky descents at speed, then the Cane Creek really is huge improvement. However, if you ride more flowy man made trail centre type stuff, then I think there's maybe less of performance advantage over the X-Fusion.
Thanks. To be honest it's only in the shed where I notice the lack of rebound damping on the O2. Out on the trail it feels fine. Not that I've got the talent to notice subtle differences, but it's not the shock that holds me back.
Thanks for the comments on the CC too. I mostly ride natural stuff too, but have been linking bits of trail together with road sections recently as I explore further afield. I do like the firmest setting on the O2 there. Not that it makes any sense to choose a shock based on how it performs on the road, but it makes it a bit harder to justify the extra cost of the CC.
not noticed that problem with mine, but occasionally the low speed compression/lockout lever will stop doing anything, and ive found letting all the air out, then pumping back up again sorts that
I had to do the air can on mine from new on a Flare, it topped out with a bloody annoying clunk from the first ride which went away after I fixed it. It was ok once I sorted it though. Starry bra...