I agree the rider is the one that will need to do the fine tuning at the end of the day. But from the sounds of it, there was absolutely no baseline tuning that was 100% the shops responsibility. Was it silly of the OP not to notice? Definitely. I can't even relate to him to be honest; there is no way I could hop on a bicycle and have the suspension be so out of whack that I would run the risk of getting tossed off something that I should have been able to ride over under normal circumstances, and not notice that the suspension was off. Hell, I can generally tell if its at least ballpark just by bouncing up and down on it a few times. It seems strange that he wouldn't notice that after so many years with moto's. I also typically don't go 100% and risk falling first ride out on a bicycle, unless I feel really, really, really comfortable with it, which clearly he didn't.
Fine tuning sure.
solution: pelvic thrusts
supreme misunderstanding and appreciation of what it takes to be a bicycle mechanic and to know exactly what is going on with each component of a bike and how to fix it. Its like saying, looking at this desk, how hard is it to be a carpenter and create something like this out of something so simple as wood? bikes are the same, it is an art form to understand something that is so simplistic yet so finicky and easily distorted. In the end its really simple, Giant bikes comes semi-assembled, the builder should have checked over the bike and had it set and ready for you, this includes the der cable and tension. Also, they should have roughly adjusted the shock for you. Torque specs need to be constantly maintained, this and final shock tuning, are on you.
I'm about to be made fun of, but I use a torque wrench on pivots. and stem bolts/seatpost bolts if handlebars or seatpost is carbon.
Please read the post. I was talking about the shock not the forks.
I went over the bike briefly but have never had issues in the past and figured this bike would treat me as well as the others especially since it was my first new bike. I guess the original owners of my other bikes did all the setup themselves. Also the first rule to suspension tuning is riding the motorcycle with the stock suspension and figuring out what needs improved. I think you guys are not reading my post correctly. I DIDN'T EXPECT THE SUSPENSION TO BE SETUP PERFECTLY.
The FSA set isn't installed at this point it's the 0 degree head set that was popping. I honestly believe it will be fine.
I now realize that I should have taken the bike apart and put it back together myself. I have bought about a dozen new dirt bikes since 2000 and they have all been safe and reliable right off the showroom floor. Live and learn I guess.
I can assure you they are ready to ride. WHILE they are usually not perfect out of the box they are always safe to ride.
Thanks for the support. That was my biggest issue was that the guys at the shop told me it was ready to ride! They were giving me a hard time for wanting to order the correct springs before riding it. There exact words were "man just ride it and see how you like it before you go buying things for it that you may not need". Guess I will buy my next bike in pieces and build it myself.
I expected to have to do some fine tuning but damn man all the clickers were set to full soft. Who the hell calls that a starting point? I will check all my settings on any bike I buy in the future and have no trust in my LBS.
That's all I was wanting/expecting.
The bike felt fine when bouncing on it in the parking lot. It wasn't until the bike got into the last 50mm of travel that the spring had enough energy to start putting me over the bars. Hell on the small rough stuff the fast rebound made the bike feel planted. I guess my fault was in trusting someone to do something they said they did. I have never bought a new bicycle and my only experience with buying new is with motorcycles and every one I've ever bought was setup to work off the showroom floor and only required me to fine tune it.
Lol.... Nice.
Glad you are enjoying the thread. It was the shock that sent me over the bars FYI.
Don't you think the shop would treat a kid different? But if you walk in, tell them that you work for 12 years in the moto industry and tune suspension for a living then they might think you know your way around something as simple as a bike. And that you are used to RTFM before you go out and ride that thing. Don't ya think?
"The final issue came towards the end of the day. I was adjusting the ending rebound stroke adjuster on the Rock Shok R2C2 and was amazed to see shock oil seeping from the adjuster."
Sounds like your shop sucks and welcome to the world of DH. While it seems practical to compare DH to Moto, the fact is that most bike shops are in the business of selling recreational bikes and as such are not specialist in the field of high performance bicycles (this includes high end road bikes as well). As such there is a bit of a nod of the head silent understanding that if you want to have things done right you must either take it upon yourself or seek out a specialty bike shop. It's just the nature of the beast. Chalk up your experience as a learning lesson and pass along your issues to the shop as there should be some accountability and hopefully they can use your experience as a learning lesson as well.
I never told them anything about myself besides this was my first new bike. I'm not upset with the shop or Giant I was just posting to see if this was a common occurrence. I will continue to do business with them because they are very nice and I probably won't even mention the issues because what good would it do? I learned my lesson and I will put a wrench on every bolt/nut in the future when buying a new bicycle. No harm no foul and lesson learned.
Sorry I'm not up with the bicycle lingo yet. I assumed when I started talking about the reservoir and floating piston with air charge it would be obvious not to mention the "shock oil" comment but looking back I can see why there was some confusion. Either way my fault.
The first 100 yards was nothing more than a drop in on a single line trail across a field. My issue came on the first big root and rock that put the suspension deeper into the travel than I was able to duplicate in the parking lot. Either way it's my fault and I learned from it. Thanks
Thanks for the picture. There is a nice puddle under the bike and the shock is covered so I guess something is going on with the o-ring. I'll take it to the shop today to see if they can warranty me the parts at least.Sounds like your shop sucks and welcome to the world of DH. While it seems practical to compare DH to Moto, the fact is that most bike shops are in the business of selling recreational bikes and as such are not specialist in the field of high performance bicycles (this includes high end road bikes as well). As such there is a bit of a nod of the head silent understanding that if you want to have things done right you must either take it upon yourself or seek out a specialty bike shop. It's just the nature of the beast. Chalk up your experience as a learning lesson and pass along your issues to the shop as there should be some accountability and hopefully they can use your experience as a learning lesson as well.
With respect to the rear shock, the ending stroke rebound adjuster has 2 dynamic radially sealed o-rings to seal the adjuster assembly. It would be extremely unlikely that both of these are damaged in order for oil to egress out of the system. I still stand by my assessment that this is a case of lubricant as a result of assembly. The ending stroke adjuster actually has 2 degrees of freedom and not only turns radially, but also moves up and down axially. This means that the outer o-ring in the system is free to move up and down with the adjuster due to the gland design. See attached image of this o-ring.
This adjuster sits in a tight bore with a diametrical clearance gap. When the adjuster moves axially you are actually displacing a small amount of volume within this gap, and if there is any lubricant/air between the adjuster and reservoir it will likely do exactly what you described. Now, if this adjustment knob continually 'spits' and bubbles out charged oil, then you have an issue and you sure as heck will know because you'll have a clunky cavitated shock with a dead spot with no damping in no time.
Apologies, I'm mistaken as there is only one o-ring on this adjuster. Going back on memory I've confused one of the spring loaded shims as an o-ring.
