92SE-R9's piston made a huge difference in my '17 36. The fork had terrible small bump sensitivity and now it feels like your moms cooter.
2015+ fox 36 harsh
- Thread starter 92SE-R
- Start date
Same here. Got mine tuned since I was running almost no comprehension and that helped a lot but I went ahead and added the new piston and it’s much better now. Mine was from the sale on 2015 oem forks that so many got in on—I was under the impression that later models were better in this regard. Guess not.
Thinking about swapping out the damper on my 36. Fanatik is currently selling the Grip2 upgrade for 305$, does anybody know a cheaper source?
In case it's an RC2: Why would you do that? What's wrong with yours? What do you hope to gain on the RC2?
Some report a significant decrease in stiction, although others have stated its minimal. I have two ‘15 RC2 36s, one converted to coil. One has always felt good, while the other can feel wooden at times, even after a full rebuild - and that’s the one that’s coil. I’ve often suspected that the issue with that fork is stiction in the damper.
I can tell you that wholesale is $198 so that doesn't sound like a praticularly cheap deal, more like MSRP. I'd sell you the barely used RC2 damper out of my 2018 29" 160mm 36 for $50 + shipping. If you have an older one this might be an improvement.
While doing the swap to a 2019 170mm Grip2 I stroked both dampers (with all adjusters open) and couldn't feel a real difference so I'm not sure stiction is the issue. I think my fork now feels plusher but it also got a new air piston, long travel, and less air pressure at the same time. I only bought the new damper cuz my RC2 was limited to 160mm.
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I would say that the new sealhead in the Grip2 is definitely lower friction than the one in the Fit RC2 but that's offset by the noticeable friction caused by the spring-backed IFP.
It is an RC2 and this might sound weird, but I like to have a replacment damper in reserve, so when a good deal comes around I usually snap one up. There is no real urgency for me to replace the damper as I'm not unhappy with the RC2, my question was mainly driven by the fact that I have a friend flying over from the States and he could bring one along, which would be significantly cheaper than the 380€ that the Grip2 costs over here. I could get an RC2 as well, but I'd just like to give the Grip2 a try if I can get a good deal.
Over 300 of the $'s?
For that cost, I would have a serious talk with myself about calling Craig Seekins.
For that cost, I would have a serious talk with myself about calling Craig Seekins.
Good insight. Is that on the bench/dyno or riding?
That's on the bench / in the hand. Riding, I doubt you could notice a difference in sensitivity / friction between one or the other.
So I picked up a near new 2017 RC2 set of 36s to replace a old set of pikes on my tranny patrol.
I got a few small rides on them and they felt off and we harsh over the small stuff. And I put that down to not having the fork setup correctly and the lowers needing a rebuild. So Gave the lowers a rebuild and dropped the amount of compression damping I had on the clickers. Over the weekend we were riding the Maydena bike park and the front end of the bike worked me over on each run, ended up lowered the air pressure down to 60 psi and had only 2 clicks of low speed compression damping during the first day and the fork still felt harsh through the braking bumps. The second day of riding I was having issues holding onto the handle bars as my forearms were still sore from the day before.
So I am thinking that a vorbsprung luftkappe or some other way to increase the size of the neg airspring or the MRP fulfill valve to increase the air pressure in the neg airspring.
Does anyone have feedback on the luftkappe or the Fulfill valve?
Thanks
Brent
I got a few small rides on them and they felt off and we harsh over the small stuff. And I put that down to not having the fork setup correctly and the lowers needing a rebuild. So Gave the lowers a rebuild and dropped the amount of compression damping I had on the clickers. Over the weekend we were riding the Maydena bike park and the front end of the bike worked me over on each run, ended up lowered the air pressure down to 60 psi and had only 2 clicks of low speed compression damping during the first day and the fork still felt harsh through the braking bumps. The second day of riding I was having issues holding onto the handle bars as my forearms were still sore from the day before.
So I am thinking that a vorbsprung luftkappe or some other way to increase the size of the neg airspring or the MRP fulfill valve to increase the air pressure in the neg airspring.
Does anyone have feedback on the luftkappe or the Fulfill valve?
Thanks
Brent
I have 2 of 92SEs 36 pistons for sale, as well as a 150mm Push 36 ACS coil kit if you're interested.
Switched that fork to a Lyrik; I may get the Lyrik specific kit in the future.
Ok, nothing wrong with the kit then?
I am somehow tempted to convert my Yari to coil and this kit and the one from Vorsprung tick nearly all the boxes for me but I find them too pricey...
Nothing wrong with the kit. I really dig the adjustable ramp up you get from the air spring, it makes it easier to match the rear in some cases. The only downside is I wish the increments between spring rates was narrower. Supposedly Vorsprung's kit will have 10 weights; I'm really interested to see what the increment spacing is.
Disclaimer: I'm cheap, and I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous.
I stumbled across this thread and I am bored, so I would like to share my findings. FYI for value-conscious monkeys still running NA1 36s at non-reduced travel (ie, 160mm or 180mm, depending the air shaft length).
The negative plate on the NA2 36 (2018 & up) is about 12mm shorter than the NA1 negative plate, and the diameter by the o-ring is exactly the same. The NA2 neg. plate fits in the NA1 CSU by shaving about 0.040"/1.0mm from its bottom. Best if you have an access to a lathe, but it can be accomplished by other means - I chucked it on a cordless drill with an aluminum M10 screw I had taken off some old suspension bits I had laying around, and gently and slowly ground it with a flap wheel while spinning the said drill, trial-fitting the plate until the snap ring fully seated inside the stanchion tube.
Not as good as Luftkappe, but it's cheaper especially if you happen to have a friend who recently changed the travel on his/her NA2 fork. The cost can range from free to $50 depending on your negotiation skills and how good of a friend you have been to your friend. I ended up paying $50 plus shipping as I don't have any friend.
Combined with MRP FulFill, the fork has noticeably less initial breakaway force. I put over 300 miles on the fork in chunky AZ/NV environment since I did this mod, and so far I haven't had any problem. I had the @92SE-R piston installed when I took this picture, but I've since gone back to the stock piston with reduced groove diameter since I wasn't able to use full travel even with no volume spacer. My fork is set at 175mm.
I stumbled across this thread and I am bored, so I would like to share my findings. FYI for value-conscious monkeys still running NA1 36s at non-reduced travel (ie, 160mm or 180mm, depending the air shaft length).
The negative plate on the NA2 36 (2018 & up) is about 12mm shorter than the NA1 negative plate, and the diameter by the o-ring is exactly the same. The NA2 neg. plate fits in the NA1 CSU by shaving about 0.040"/1.0mm from its bottom. Best if you have an access to a lathe, but it can be accomplished by other means - I chucked it on a cordless drill with an aluminum M10 screw I had taken off some old suspension bits I had laying around, and gently and slowly ground it with a flap wheel while spinning the said drill, trial-fitting the plate until the snap ring fully seated inside the stanchion tube.
Not as good as Luftkappe, but it's cheaper especially if you happen to have a friend who recently changed the travel on his/her NA2 fork. The cost can range from free to $50 depending on your negotiation skills and how good of a friend you have been to your friend. I ended up paying $50 plus shipping as I don't have any friend.
Combined with MRP FulFill, the fork has noticeably less initial breakaway force. I put over 300 miles on the fork in chunky AZ/NV environment since I did this mod, and so far I haven't had any problem. I had the @92SE-R piston installed when I took this picture, but I've since gone back to the stock piston with reduced groove diameter since I wasn't able to use full travel even with no volume spacer. My fork is set at 175mm.
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I actually switched back to my 2015 air spring after having the ACS3 for a bit. I have the 92seR piston which made a noticeable difference for sure. I then put in an Avalanche cartridge and MRP fulfill kit just for good measure. So far I like this setup the best. I think the stock piston and harsh tune in my RC2 attributed to the harshness of the fork.
Great custom build!
How did you reduce the groove diameter? How did you manage to cut down the plastic of piston head..
..does someone sale his se92 ? PM
Thanks.
Great custom build!
How did you reduce the groove diameter? How did you manage to cut down the plastic of piston head..
..does someone sale his se92 ? PM
I chucked the piston on my trusty ghetto lathe (Milwaukee cordless drill), then gently cut the groove with the side of a fine-tooth flat file, then finished with a piece of emery cloth cut to the width of the groove. It must have worked well enough, it's still holding air pressure after many bottom outs.
I'll sell you one of my SE92 piston if you'd like. I think I kept the instruction, but not 100% sure. $40 plus postage. Let me know if you're interested.
P.S. I posted a related post/ride report in another thread. Fox Grip 2
I have the Luftkappe on my 2018 36 RC2 - I had to replace the older air shaft with the updated version due to top out issues, so bolted up a Luftkappe while I was at it. I'm actually pretty surprised by how big of a difference the Luftkappe made in how the fork behaves in its early travel - it is much more eager to get into the stroke, likely also due to the more precise seal head fit. I yanked out the volume spacers and added some pressure, and the fork is still super supportive but is a bit easier on my hands. I still think I'm running too much damping, so next step for me is going to be backing off low and high speed and potentially adding even a bit more air pressure.
For the price, I'd say its a big upgrade that is easy to install yourself. I think that doing both the Fulfill from MRP and the Luftkappe would be overkill though.
Ended up going with the luftkappe. And have been very happy with it.
Didn’t change any settings on the fork after I installed it and all of a sudden the fork came alive over trail chatter. And when shock wized, the score jumped up 10 points from when it was not installed.
The other thing I found was that it is very easy to have to much low speed compression. And when I was running the shock wiz it keeper telling me to run more low speed and back the high speed compression right off, which it already was. I ended up backing off the low speed and added some more high speed after reading some stuff on here and watching some stuff from vorbsprung about how they interact with each other and BAM! The fork started feeling really planted through the rough and the shock wiz even liked it more and stopped telling me to add more low speed compression.
Zombie bump. 
I am changing travel of my 2018 36 from 170 to 160mm and the new air shaft is different again. I have the correct part 820-02-536-KIT - the 2019 update for NA2/Evol 36s but there's no hole under the top out bumper assembly anymore. Anyone else seen a shaft like that or did I get a mislabeled 34 shaft?
I am changing travel of my 2018 36 from 170 to 160mm and the new air shaft is different again. I have the correct part 820-02-536-KIT - the 2019 update for NA2/Evol 36s but there's no hole under the top out bumper assembly anymore. Anyone else seen a shaft like that or did I get a mislabeled 34 shaft?
I can't help you with specifics but I feel like I never had 2 air springs of the same design. Everytime, I have one in my hands it seems like there's been an update.Zombie bump.
I am changing travel of my 2018 36 from 170 to 160mm and the new air shaft is different again. I have the correct part 820-02-536-KIT - the 2019 update for NA2/Evol 36s but there's no hole under the top out bumper assembly anymore. Anyone else seen a shaft like that or did I get a mislabeled 34 shaft?
It seems to be working fine. I was curious because Mr. Vorsprung explicitly mentions the hole in the Luftkappe installation video.
maybe there's a better place but i'm tired of digging.
who's tried to warranty a 36 for the dreaded CSU snapping sound? i feel like i'm traumatized and might die every time i hit a square edged rock or land a jump these days. it's a 2019.
if you tried to warranty it, did you call on your own or go through a dealer? what was the outcome? thx!
who's tried to warranty a 36 for the dreaded CSU snapping sound? i feel like i'm traumatized and might die every time i hit a square edged rock or land a jump these days. it's a 2019.
if you tried to warranty it, did you call on your own or go through a dealer? what was the outcome? thx!
Oooooh.. 1 more thing I get to look forward too ...lol
Why are these creaking versus the older ones? I can't remember any of my fox 36 180s creaking or popping...
seems to have become more of a problem from 2018 (?) forward...my 2017 36 is on my kid's bike and has seen significant abuse and doesn't do it...
