Great video guys! The only other thing I might add is one last step: you will want to slowly stroke the fork through its travel to normalize the pressure between the positive and negative air chambers before testing it on a ride. Not doing this could make the fork feel very strange at first and someone might think that the change is due to the token rather than the lack of balance between the air chambers.
Fun channel guys! I would just say to anyone that is new to this, do NOT remove your fork from the bike. It is not necessary and would add an hour to a 4 minute procedure.
This is the first time air spacers have been explained to me in a way that makes sense Thanks for catering to clueless idiots like myself. Not enough people do that.
Great video, my one beef with bike repair really is the amount of specialty tools you need to purchase to get into the game. Whenever I need to make a repair there is always a great video showing you how easy the repair is... as long as you have all of the proper specialty tools. I guess what I'm saying is... hey bike manufacturers, make bike repair more accessible.
Smashing video! Really nice to hear you mention female / lighter riders, the other info I've come across is all 'add, add, add' so it's refreshing to hear that's it's appropriate to remove spacers too ;)
You can do that, but most sets don't include a 32+ mm socket. I know neither my hand drive or impact drive socket sets do. I looked up individual sockets, and I could only find 1/2" drive and up sockets. So I would have to use my large torque wrench (18") or my breaker bar to use one of those sockets. The cheapest socket I found was $10. The Fox socket is a 3/8" drive (a more common size for a bike shop) and costs $25. I would say that while, yes, you can sand down a normal socket if you have a 32mm (or whichever size you need for your fork), but that assumes you already have what is effectively a specialty socket anyway. It really only costs you $15 more to have the specific tool in the drive size you probably want for your shop.
Love your videos this one was no exception. While I had already done this, it confirmed what I did was the correct move. I never had issues setting up suspension until I bought a 2017 Santa Cruz 5010. No matter what I did I got nowhere near 130 mm of travel with the Fox 34 Elite fork. Bought a flat face 6 point socket from the local hardware store for $11 and opened it up. Inside were 3 green 10 cc volume spacers, I removed them 1 at a time, test riding the bike adjusting the pressure etc. I ended up removing all 3 and fairly happy with the setup. I'm around 170 with gear, I try to ride light and smooth, not into big jumps. FWIW I did not remove the fork to do this, just put the bike in a stand, that saves a ton of time when you are removing them 1 at a time to test it out.
Terrific diagram and explanation. Made this seem like the kind of thing a regular rider might be interested in instead of just being a subject of interest solely to pro’s and wannabe’s.
Great video! I agree with the two main reasons: countering weight and absorbing big hits. Specially the countering weight part, people think that by just setting the sag that is enough, but there is more than that.
I don't have a vise so what I use to hold the fork is my bike work stand. It also makes adjusting the height and position of the fork very quick and easy.
The other reason for adding volume spacers is if your fork is not compliant enough on small hits. Volume spacers also allow you to run lower pressures for better small bump compliance without blowing thru the travel or having your fork sit too low in the travel.
Nice video. I find it much easier to leave the fork on the bike since it's a pretty quick job. You can even get some light and thin fork specific aluminium spanners and change your tokens on the side of the trail!
The best thing about this was when you added the motion fork graphics. That helps to illustrate so much esp. for visual ppl like me. Pls include graphics in fork vids in the future. Thx
This helps me out a lot because I. Looking to get a full suspension in the future and I only weigh 130 sometime 135 so figuring out if I need a spacer or not would really help after the fork and shock are set up properly
Thanks for the video and explanations. I'm not sure it is obvious in the video (I know you mention it briefly and smelt it!) that you MUST release all the pressure before removing the fork top with the socket. Not a complaint but I think newbies may watch as well.
For the flat socket, you might have success finding a similar flat socket for automobile oil filter sockets. Some are flat while some are tapered like Syd’s Chrome example.
I find they help on the mid range forks with no low speed compression. The tokens allow you to run lower PSI for more sag which can soak up small bumps and then getting that ramp up on the bigger hits.
I got all excited because I knew I had a 32mm socket and was going to see what is in the "new to me" fox fork. Busted out my calipers after seeing it was wrong and it is a 26mm on a fox 34.
Hi guys love watching your videos and probably anticipate yours more so then any others. That being said think would have been cool if you would have shown a before you put that second volume spacer in and after. To see how much if any of difference it made. Love your videos keep it up.
DON’T remove the fork or even the wheel from your bike unless you wanna have much more work, recenter the brake caliper, and what not. Although a general clean up is a good thing from time to time LOL
oh boy the brake calipers...so annoying I just changed the discs and pads and it's so hard to have them not rub, I got rid of my quick release axle because I'm not taking that wheel of unless I puncture a tire
So, to be clear, the most important takeaway I get from this video is the "why" part. I was never quite clear as to why one would need to add volume or take away the volume spacers. I always wondered if I needed them. But I'm not doing a lot of big stuff on my bikes right now, so I don't think I need to do either. Thanks for the tip! Hey, I have a question for you. It's totally unrelated to this video, but maybe this would be a good AMA topic? I just went through the process to wax two chains for my bikes. I'm curious if either you or Macky wax your chains, and why or why not? Thanks! Stay upright and keep the rubber side down!
We don't because Squirt lube has a similar effect to waxing it (although doesn't last quite as long) and is WAY easier, especially if you're in a van 😉
@@sydfixesbikes Agreed. Started down the chain wax path and quickly got tired of all the extra effort. My son turned me on to Squirt and it's just soooo much easier and seemingly just as good.
I had some kind of grease on my mtb chain what I believe you clal wax...really bad don't recommend it it makes dust and dirt stick to the chain, someone recommended squirt lube, place the tip on the chain spin the pedals 1-2 chain cycles and your done, my chain is much smoother and silent now and I have 33 speeds the chain moves around a lot
@@sydfixesbikes 😂. I'm confident doing most things on a bike but building wheels is actual witchcraft. The last time I considered doing it after pricing it up and the amount of hair I would lose doing it I gave up. I also don't have a big enough cauldron to do the required spells.
Literally just removed a spacer out of my Fox 36 last weekend. light 125lb rider that doesn't do any giant drops or jumps so I'd always have travel to spare. (also didn't remove fork.. just held it stable with my legs around the wheel)
Thanks I've just got one because of this video. I'm pretty light but I'm learning to do bigger drops. My fox 34 rhythms don't like that 🤣 hopefully this will stop me from bottoming out on the big drops. 2019 carbon levo 🤙
The fox specific socket not only is flat but shallow and 3/8” drive. I don’t use them (because I’m cheep) I just buy a socket and grind it flat… but ordinary sockets are taller and more commonly a 1/2in drive.
I need all the tokens! They are the only thing that make air forks somewhat tolerable to me (still like the feel of coil). I use tokens primarily to get the beginning of the stroke softer for a plusher initial stroke. Also... just to pick on you. Usually after tokens are installed... usually it requires less pressure with more tokens so don’t go to the same pressure without checking.
Hi Sid and Macky! Love all your tutorials, I have a question regarding my suspension, I was under the impression that tokens would reduce the travel but now I don't think that's the case according to your explanation. My suspension travel (small size bike) on the spec sheet says 100mm instead of 120mm on all the other sizes. If the fork is stock, how do they vary the travel? Thanks!
You are correct. Tokens do not change the travel. To change the travel, you replace the air shaft. We actually already shot that video but will probably wait to publish it fit a few weeks to space out our suspension videos.
Running thru my travel tokens is my fix. My LBS says no!! Lol warranty on the fork. But I just did it myself. At first I was just running way too much air to "fix it"
Be very careful, my mate changed mine exactly the same with the larger spacer. When the shock failed they blamed the spacer so didn't warrant the failure. I will avoid FOX at all cost from this point on. I have always used them but they have shown their true colours. Not how did we fail but what did you do to it !!! Best to get your LBS to do the work.
@@sydfixesbikes The part I was responding to is at 3:24, when the on-screen text says "28mm for 34-series forks". Is there a later correction text that I missed? Because I have a new Fox 34 that uses a 26 mm socket. I just now double-checked that with calipers.
Hi Syd/Mackie - riding a new 21 Pivot Switchblade, Fox Factory 36, heavier rider at 230lbs. I’m running 100psi with stock Fox settings and it never seems like I’m getting anywhere near full travel. I’ve dropped a few PSI a ride and now at 90 and still just getting about 3.5” of travel on most rides. It seems like if Add a token, it would get worse?
You are correct that adding a token would exacerbate the problem. One thing to think about though is that you may not be riding trails where you *should* be using all your travel. In general, you should only use 2/3 or so of your travel unless you have a big compression (drop, g-out, etc) on the trail. So it may actually be working the way it should be!
@@sydfixesbikes cool, thanks for the response! Not sure what video I saw, but you stated you had 20k subs at the beginning of 2021 and now you’re over 50k! That’s amazing! I’ve done RU-vid for a good 7 years now in a very niche industry and have only hit right under 80k. Great channel, btw!
If by highest setting you mean slowest, then yes, likely a token will help as it will allow you to run lower pressure in the fork so the same amount of rebound should be slightly slower.
If you are asking how much air to put in your fork, there isn't just one answer for everyone. They have a video coming on how to set up your fork and shock, so watch that.
Thank you for the simple information. Is it possible to add a smaller sized spacer? For example if you have a 36 fork can you add the 34 or 32 sized spacer below it? The reason why I ask is because my fork says it came with 1.5 tokens per fox tune ID number and I can't find any website with a 1/2 sized token for my fox 34 fork.
Hmm... That's an interesting question. I don't think smaller ones will attach, so I don't know what they're talking about. If you end up taking it apart, we'd love to hear what you find!
I wanted to add tokens just the way you did it, so I took up the plastic topcap. Then my father came into the garage and asked me what I was doing, if I needed anything. I told a socket wrench would be fine. He got it, but in the meantime I left for a moment the bike with him alone. And that ""eager idiot" unscrewed open the fork without slowly releasing the air from inside before. So I assume that now negative and positive chamber pressurers are not equal. Travel distance I can see from outside is about 120mm instead of 140mm, the fork is absolutely soft and linear, althought there are two tokens inside now. From Fox factory there were no tokens. I don´t think that I can equalize the pressures by myself . So I took the bike to a local shop. But a service man is going to be there next wednesday. Do you think the problem is that my father unscrewed the cap/nut before letting the air out before? Can I somehow manage to equal the pressures, if that is the problem. Or the problem could be something else? I've had problems with tuning of the Marzocchi fork and Fox Float DPS evol. performance 2021 shock since the day I've bought them. Although I set the pressure for sag right and also number of clicks for rebound according to FOX specifications. Both fork and shock were too soft and dived deep even on small bumps and jumps. That is why I decided to buy tokens for the fork and shock. I haven´t installed tokens into my shock yet. My brother has the same bike as me - Orbea Occam H30. He has never had these problems with his bike. I am interested in one more thing. How is that, this fork can have shafts for travels 120-140mm with 29" and 150mm for 27,5". It is because of the geometry of the bike. With 150mm and 29" the angle would be too low? I also wonder how can you say precisely pressure on analog fork pumps? You can just guess difference of 5 PSI. For precise pressure setting you need a pump with a digital manometer. I hope you can help me to identify the problem and how to solve it. Thanks Mirek, Czech Republic.
Hard to say. In general, once you add air back into the air chamber and it reaches the same pressure as the negative you should be able to compress it a bit and it should equalize (the positive/negative air transfer channels are about 25% of the way down the leg). Hopefully the shop guy can figure it out 🤞
Hi :) Can all forks me modified in this fashion (do all have an air valve even?) I have a Cube brand hybrid bike with front shocks that have no lockout. They are still softer than I prefer even tightened to the maximum adjustment. Are adjustable shocks able to be modified with inserts the same way as these ones you work on? If I can increase the firmness further I would be very pleased :).
If you're a heavier rider you'd actually look out to remove them. Tokens affect the stroke until SAG little to not at all so a heavier rider will add pressure to reach the correct SAG, but with a lot of pressure and tokens you will eventually ramp up much too soon and not use your travel as you could with less tokens.
No; this is backwards. Tokens effect the volume of air throughout the entire stroke, which means the largest response is towards the end of stroke as air volume rapidly decreases and resistance dramatically increases. This means your required air pressure for preferred off the top compliance can be lower while still maintaining proper bottom out behavior. Tokens add bottom out resistance. If you want to model the math look up Boyle’s Law. To clarify, a heavier rider can ride a lower psi with the same bottom out resistance while using a token, meaning better small bump compliance due to increased progressivity. The typical heavy rider adds token(s), light riders may remove one because they have too much bottom out resistance.
@@spiritualspatula There are multiple factors to look into here. Travel Size of negative chamber and type of negative spring Rider's weight Riding style You can't simply say that this is a physical law and the setup and design of the used suspension don't have an effect on the behavior. The law applies but it's affected and removing tokens on a suspension fork is mostly the way to go for heavier riders if they want to use the full travel more easily since they run a higher initial pressure anyway to maintain SAG, thus creating an even higher pressure at the end of the stroke. The higher the initial pressure, the quicker the effect of tokens show. There is no one way to go. It worked for me.
What is the average weight they use? Google says the average US male is 197 pounds. That would mean they come setup pretty close for me at 185. Are they really set for someone that heavy stock?
That's what I was thinking was sure . So I'm a big guy I'm running about 145psi on my 160mm and my travel ring is about is about half way maybe 3/4 the way up my tube. Is that good or would I need to add a token? Just trying to learn this.
@@danhart2411 I'm the last person to give advice on suspension setup. Generally go with max pressure, max spacers and fully locked out 90% of the time. And still bottom out. The "average" weight rider they design for must be around 140 lbs.
To clarify, as Nathan said, it does NOT change the fork travel, but if you put in the same pressure, it will compress slightly more at the top. If you generally find the o-ring 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the stanchion after a ride, you're probably okay unless most rides include a jump, drop, etc that's as big as you normally do, at which point you'd want to be going through most of your travel on that hit.
Hi do you have a junk frame can i have it to the to build my dream bike cause can i afford to buy a frame f ok to you im from philippines i love to watch your video cause i learning do you have a parts out can i can use
Being a heavier rider, this is a perfect example of when adding a token or so can improve your ride. Adding a token will increase the progressivity of your fork so you can have higher bottom out resistance and support as you increase travel while maintaining good small bump compliance. Depending upon your suspension, there may be additional settings that can help dial in your bike specifically for jumping, but a bike that jumps the best will ride like garbage in high speed rock gardens, so it will always be a compromise. If I set my enduro or DH bike like my dj or vice versa, I’d be ejected from the trail in short order.
I would first make sure that your sag is set correctly and then, if you have Low and High Speed Compression, increase the high speed a few clicks. I'd also consider body position when landing (make sure you're landing both wheels simultaneously with your weight centered over the bottom bracket). Then consider tokens!
No, only add to the air side. The other side is your damper side which is where the shaft that controls your remind and compression lives. You can't add spacers (nor air) to that side.
if you ride coil setup you don't. I like coil setup a lot, no air pressure adjustment needed, more consistent. of course it weighs more. I haven't experimented with volume spacers yet, as I went from a air fork right on a too smal blike to a new bike with coil. but I know what volume spacers do. but my previous bike had Fox 23 with a long volume spacer it was about 10cm long and was not this type you have here it was one solid part. and on regular rides if I had the fork as plus has would be optimal it would bottom out on the rougher trails but fork had 130mm, so it was setup bit too harsh, I set it up with just enough pressure to not bottom out but still use full travel. but now I ride coil and 170mm travel, so not an issue anymore anyway even if I had it setup with air chamber, I have a air chamber but not experimented with it, as I love the coil setup.
Older models used oil (float fluid) instead of volume spacers since oil doesn't compress. Instead of adding it removing tokens, add or remove oil from the air chamber.
you did not need to take the fork off, but if you did service on it it makes sense, but if not there is no need to do it, just keep it on the bike, make sure bike and fork is clean and let air out install or remove volume reducer, do test run, and repeat if necessary. simple really.
You do not need to remove the fork. Just loosen the stem bolts. Twist the bars out of the way. Straddle the front tire between your legs to keep it from rotating as you apply torque to loosen the air pressure cap. It's nice that you did this for the video, but it is completely unnecessary if doing this at home. I can literally add/subtract tokens in 5-10 minutes using this method.
@@sydfixesbikes I don't think so, you have to remove the wheel, brake caliper, dismantle headset and after that reassemble everything back together, adjust the brake caliper position, etc. 20-minute job instead of 3 minutes...
For anybody that has a lot of different forks to wrench on, an economical option are the wrenches from Epic Bleed Solutions. Easy to store, economical, color coded, work great epicbleedsolutions.com/collections/tools/products/flat-socket-spanner-fox-rockshox-forks. Also, for anybody interested in the diy side it’s not hard to remove the chamfer from a standard socket, if you have the right tools. So, while you can accomplish it without the “official” tool, definitely don’t try a standard chamfered socket.
Those wrenches look great. Thanks for sharing. We didn't mention flattering a standard socket because we figured a grinding wheel is even more expensive than the correct tool 😁