I think I'm done with Craig for a while...
- Thread starter Electric_City
- Start date
I think it's a new system to mitigate air fatigue inside the lowers. It's for extra aggressive riders who have a BMI over 30.
can you get models that attach to your lungs? asking for a couch riding, beer drinking friend.
I did *not* ask for that information...
same webdesigner
somebody needs to make a photoshop of the two-and-a-half-crown thingy from Kapfinger, the Seccus and this...
I dont think its fair to roast Craig's strange looking products or his antique website.
Ill relay my experience
I found my 2018 float x2 on my pivot to be a little mushy a little harsh.
now Ive got no problem working on ANY damper I was looking to see if anyone had ever reduced the valving on the main piston of the X2 so they could close down the adjusters to achieve a less digressive characteristic. Then I came across Craig's site and I saw he was changing the main piston to allow rebound shimming as well. So i figured well I can play with this thing and maybe get it where I want it or I can send it to Craig as hes already got this figured out. I sent it in and it does work better, its not perfect but its rideable.
Next on my Mondraker summum, I never got along with the DHX2 it came with the rear suspension was wooden with any spring rate/damper setting. I asked craig to do the dhx2 he wanted me to get rid of it and go to a van rc, or an RC4. I bought an rc4 and tried it stock which wasn't great. I started looking at EXT storias and the avalance chubie/woodie.
behold theirs a used chubie on craigs site in my size. I call and he tells me i have to buy it from its owner and its a pain in his ass and he doesn't want to configure it but he will and he would rather do a new one. Ok so why list it on your site dude? So I buy it and of course I'm going to have him configure it. He was just barley OK to deal with. He hadnt done a shock for this frame before so when it came to the hardware this thing has bearings in the link ends I told him I would make the bushings to accomodate he freaked out like nobody has the ability to do that.... (ive been making shit on mills/lathes since i was 15 I worked in production machine shops and repair machine shops). He reccomended a 500 or 550 spring, neither of which he had, when I asked about a 525 he flipped out about spring manufacturing. (if you want craig to flip out ask about 25lb increments).
The shock performed meh.
I had requested an "expert dh" setting
it was mushy, not really pumpable, and harsh.
this is the longest wheelbase bike ive ever had and its for SURE not my daily rider.
also throw a broken/plated collar bone (from the daily rider) into the middle of this whole thing somewhere.
I had also acquired the fox 40 pressurized cartridge, at some point just to add it to my fox 40 horde. Because i though they were neat. I installed it and No comp dampening whatsoever. (mind you I had tried to buy one from craig but he was missing like 1 part to be able to build one)
Back to the shock after recovering
one day I cranked the LSR all the way out playing round in the neighborhood and it wasn't too fast, and i've got some stairs at a local church. I realized that the LSR was WAY TOO SLOW, and that its been packing this whole time. I emailed craig to ask if i could send the cartridge to see its daddy and I never got a response. I ended up tearing down the damper and finding a buggered lsc needle. So I emailed him a picture and he calls and accuses me of doing that and im like whoa i just bought this dude. I ask him about the settings chart, and if he had a chart like he does for his open bath "No" its different" ok so can you reccomend me any settings to start? "No" can you sell me a new LSC needle? "OK" can you at least tell me what rebound stack to run with air? I did this to my fork https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/fox-40-fulfill-project-aka-moar-schraders.285303/
He went absolutely bezerk on me.
craig "we dont tune suspension like that 1 inch into the travel the spring force doubles"
me - "isnt that the defenition of linear"
craig -"screaming tantrum for some reason"
me - "craig its adjustable i could mimic stock I just need a rebound baseline"
craig - "rant, uninteligable, derogatory"
me - "ok jeezus man ill put it back to stock, i still need a rebound baseline do you want me to send you the cartridge ill pay you to rebuild it and put whatever stacks you want in and ill put the air back to stock just for you"
craig "im too busy"
me - "ok i need a stack then"
me - "Id also like to send you my shock the rebound is way too slow its packing"
Craig "there is no better second tune"
me - "Cant you pull a face shim or move your cross over or something?"
Craig "its not that simple"
me - "dude i have to ride this thing and the rebound is so slow its not enjoyable i would like to pay you to move the rebound to your next lightest stack"
craig "no i wont support your experiment"
me - "im trying to pay you"
craig "your gonna pay me to un do it too?"
me - "sure" thinking wtf?
craig "do you wanna get an engineering degree and come run my business for me"
me "what? no I just need faster rebound"
me - "I guess ill have to do it myself do you have a manual for this thing?"
craig " manuals make more questions"
me - "ok can you tell me ifp depth and what weight oil you used"
craig "rant rant rant"
me - trying to get off phone with him at this point
craig " your gonna go on mtbr and make bad posts about me"
me - naw dude i use ridemonkey and i wont
craig "you dont understand social media posts ruin my company"
me - still trying to get off phone
craig continues to rant and tells me im wasting his time and how busy he is
me still trying to get off phone
like 45 mins wasted
I decided I was 100% done with Craig
I decide to purchase Restackor to see what i could come up with without having to tear it down 20x
It had a 2 stage rebound stack in it but the crossover diameter was so large that it basically acted like a single stage stack,
13mm clamp
15 x 0.25
16 x 0.25
18 x 0.25
20 x 0.25
22 x 0.25
24 x 0.25
22 x 0.1
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.2
what i found with craigs stack....
the stack height was longer than the shaft length, so the 15mm shim was on the threaded portion not the shaft portion and the nut pinched the shim and deformed it. This is extremely unprofessional.
also, the port to port distance was around 15mm and its a genral consensus among suspension professionals is that generally the clamp shim should be nearer in size to the port to port distance. This small clamp was requiring a taller stack to achieve desired stiffness which was using all of the avaliable shaft.
what i wanted was for sure not to have so much bleed (adjuster not fully open)
more LOW LOW SPEED REBOUND
Less LSR/MSR
same or more HSR for safety
so i designed this stack with restackor
15mm clamp
18 x .25
20 x .25
22 x .25
24 x .25
24 x .25
18 x0.05 (theres actually a whole story about how to get a 0.05mm crossover)
24 x 0.1
24 x .01
24 x 0.15
you can see here Orange is the stock tune at like 15 clicks or something like that
blue is the retune at 7 clicks
it was an immediate improvement. Rode higher, didn't pack
my friends took some high speed videos of me and some other people hitting jumps
i noticed with a nice match of landing angle and no overshoot that i was using tons of shock travel
so looking at craigs compression stack
big time two stager, with two shims acting as a LARGE crossover
26x.15
26x.15
22x.1(this here means the 26 mm shims have a LONG ways to go before they contact the 25 and which means Very little LSC)
16x.1
25x.15
24x.15
22x.15
18x.15
16x.15
14x.15
14x.3
I figured
he was so far out to lunch on the rebound that ID turn this two stage into a single stage and get some LSC/MSC
I went
26x.1
26x.1
24x.1
24x.15
22x.15
18x.15
16x.15
14x.15
14x.15
you can see the orange is the original two stage stack, and blue is the single stage stack
more LS/MSC
much better hold up
but kind of bad small bump,
ive been back in to increace LSR by changing one of the 0.1mm face shims to 0.15, and another time to reduce the HSC by changing all the High speed shims after the clamp shim to 0.2mm
15mm clamp
18 x .2
20 x .2
22 x .2
24 x .2
24 x .2
18 x0.05 (theres actually a whole story about how to get a 0.05mm crossover)
24 x 0.1
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.15
rebound is fantastic
but i think im going to go back in and add a thin crossover to the compression stack to soften the transition from bleed to damping and add a tiny bit of HSC
also
the system does NOT feature a hydraulic topout and the bumper system clunks HARD on a High leverage ratio frame
pulling the sealhead to the stop by hand creates a loud audible noise
so i made a few pieces
im sure craig would flip out if he saw this
it tops out on the spring first, and eventually the means of the standard system
all in all
FK craig seekins, He is an arrogant punk ass demeaning egocentric prick who probably cant even ride.
If hes not riding his tunes and he is opposed to feedback the how the fuck does he know whats working? A tuner should take all feedback, but for sure with a grain of salt but it should be welcomed, instead Craig is outright offended.
He thinks he knows everything to the point that YOU HAVE TO BE the one who is WRONG even if he has to contradict himself to prove YOU wrong.
He is so offended by anyone else doing anything or any product anyone else sells
the ultimate combination of boomer and snowflake
If you want a whack tune and a bunch of attitude
Craig is your guy.
hopefully this explains why im always negative about craig.
on the positive side.
Learning to use restackor has been great
I've used it to re shim the Kings on my dads subaru powered baja bug to get it moving through the whoops a bit faster.
Ill relay my experience
I found my 2018 float x2 on my pivot to be a little mushy a little harsh.
now Ive got no problem working on ANY damper I was looking to see if anyone had ever reduced the valving on the main piston of the X2 so they could close down the adjusters to achieve a less digressive characteristic. Then I came across Craig's site and I saw he was changing the main piston to allow rebound shimming as well. So i figured well I can play with this thing and maybe get it where I want it or I can send it to Craig as hes already got this figured out. I sent it in and it does work better, its not perfect but its rideable.
Next on my Mondraker summum, I never got along with the DHX2 it came with the rear suspension was wooden with any spring rate/damper setting. I asked craig to do the dhx2 he wanted me to get rid of it and go to a van rc, or an RC4. I bought an rc4 and tried it stock which wasn't great. I started looking at EXT storias and the avalance chubie/woodie.
behold theirs a used chubie on craigs site in my size. I call and he tells me i have to buy it from its owner and its a pain in his ass and he doesn't want to configure it but he will and he would rather do a new one. Ok so why list it on your site dude? So I buy it and of course I'm going to have him configure it. He was just barley OK to deal with. He hadnt done a shock for this frame before so when it came to the hardware this thing has bearings in the link ends I told him I would make the bushings to accomodate he freaked out like nobody has the ability to do that.... (ive been making shit on mills/lathes since i was 15 I worked in production machine shops and repair machine shops). He reccomended a 500 or 550 spring, neither of which he had, when I asked about a 525 he flipped out about spring manufacturing. (if you want craig to flip out ask about 25lb increments).
The shock performed meh.
I had requested an "expert dh" setting
it was mushy, not really pumpable, and harsh.
this is the longest wheelbase bike ive ever had and its for SURE not my daily rider.
also throw a broken/plated collar bone (from the daily rider) into the middle of this whole thing somewhere.
I had also acquired the fox 40 pressurized cartridge, at some point just to add it to my fox 40 horde. Because i though they were neat. I installed it and No comp dampening whatsoever. (mind you I had tried to buy one from craig but he was missing like 1 part to be able to build one)
Back to the shock after recovering
one day I cranked the LSR all the way out playing round in the neighborhood and it wasn't too fast, and i've got some stairs at a local church. I realized that the LSR was WAY TOO SLOW, and that its been packing this whole time. I emailed craig to ask if i could send the cartridge to see its daddy and I never got a response. I ended up tearing down the damper and finding a buggered lsc needle. So I emailed him a picture and he calls and accuses me of doing that and im like whoa i just bought this dude. I ask him about the settings chart, and if he had a chart like he does for his open bath "No" its different" ok so can you reccomend me any settings to start? "No" can you sell me a new LSC needle? "OK" can you at least tell me what rebound stack to run with air? I did this to my fork https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/fox-40-fulfill-project-aka-moar-schraders.285303/
He went absolutely bezerk on me.
craig "we dont tune suspension like that 1 inch into the travel the spring force doubles"
me - "isnt that the defenition of linear"
craig -"screaming tantrum for some reason"
me - "craig its adjustable i could mimic stock I just need a rebound baseline"
craig - "rant, uninteligable, derogatory"
me - "ok jeezus man ill put it back to stock, i still need a rebound baseline do you want me to send you the cartridge ill pay you to rebuild it and put whatever stacks you want in and ill put the air back to stock just for you"
craig "im too busy"
me - "ok i need a stack then"
me - "Id also like to send you my shock the rebound is way too slow its packing"
Craig "there is no better second tune"
me - "Cant you pull a face shim or move your cross over or something?"
Craig "its not that simple"
me - "dude i have to ride this thing and the rebound is so slow its not enjoyable i would like to pay you to move the rebound to your next lightest stack"
craig "no i wont support your experiment"
me - "im trying to pay you"
craig "your gonna pay me to un do it too?"
me - "sure" thinking wtf?
craig "do you wanna get an engineering degree and come run my business for me"
me "what? no I just need faster rebound"
me - "I guess ill have to do it myself do you have a manual for this thing?"
craig " manuals make more questions"
me - "ok can you tell me ifp depth and what weight oil you used"
craig "rant rant rant"
me - trying to get off phone with him at this point
craig " your gonna go on mtbr and make bad posts about me"
me - naw dude i use ridemonkey and i wont
craig "you dont understand social media posts ruin my company"
me - still trying to get off phone
craig continues to rant and tells me im wasting his time and how busy he is
me still trying to get off phone
like 45 mins wasted
I decided I was 100% done with Craig
I decide to purchase Restackor to see what i could come up with without having to tear it down 20x
It had a 2 stage rebound stack in it but the crossover diameter was so large that it basically acted like a single stage stack,
13mm clamp
15 x 0.25
16 x 0.25
18 x 0.25
20 x 0.25
22 x 0.25
24 x 0.25
22 x 0.1
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.2
what i found with craigs stack....
the stack height was longer than the shaft length, so the 15mm shim was on the threaded portion not the shaft portion and the nut pinched the shim and deformed it. This is extremely unprofessional.
also, the port to port distance was around 15mm and its a genral consensus among suspension professionals is that generally the clamp shim should be nearer in size to the port to port distance. This small clamp was requiring a taller stack to achieve desired stiffness which was using all of the avaliable shaft.
what i wanted was for sure not to have so much bleed (adjuster not fully open)
more LOW LOW SPEED REBOUND
Less LSR/MSR
same or more HSR for safety
so i designed this stack with restackor
15mm clamp
18 x .25
20 x .25
22 x .25
24 x .25
24 x .25
18 x0.05 (theres actually a whole story about how to get a 0.05mm crossover)
24 x 0.1
24 x .01
24 x 0.15
you can see here Orange is the stock tune at like 15 clicks or something like that
blue is the retune at 7 clicks
it was an immediate improvement. Rode higher, didn't pack
my friends took some high speed videos of me and some other people hitting jumps
i noticed with a nice match of landing angle and no overshoot that i was using tons of shock travel
so looking at craigs compression stack
big time two stager, with two shims acting as a LARGE crossover
26x.15
26x.15
22x.1(this here means the 26 mm shims have a LONG ways to go before they contact the 25 and which means Very little LSC)
16x.1
25x.15
24x.15
22x.15
18x.15
16x.15
14x.15
14x.3
I figured
he was so far out to lunch on the rebound that ID turn this two stage into a single stage and get some LSC/MSC
I went
26x.1
26x.1
24x.1
24x.15
22x.15
18x.15
16x.15
14x.15
14x.15
you can see the orange is the original two stage stack, and blue is the single stage stack
more LS/MSC
much better hold up
but kind of bad small bump,
ive been back in to increace LSR by changing one of the 0.1mm face shims to 0.15, and another time to reduce the HSC by changing all the High speed shims after the clamp shim to 0.2mm
15mm clamp
18 x .2
20 x .2
22 x .2
24 x .2
24 x .2
18 x0.05 (theres actually a whole story about how to get a 0.05mm crossover)
24 x 0.1
24 x 0.15
24 x 0.15
rebound is fantastic
but i think im going to go back in and add a thin crossover to the compression stack to soften the transition from bleed to damping and add a tiny bit of HSC
also
the system does NOT feature a hydraulic topout and the bumper system clunks HARD on a High leverage ratio frame
pulling the sealhead to the stop by hand creates a loud audible noise
so i made a few pieces
im sure craig would flip out if he saw this
it tops out on the spring first, and eventually the means of the standard system
all in all
FK craig seekins, He is an arrogant punk ass demeaning egocentric prick who probably cant even ride.
If hes not riding his tunes and he is opposed to feedback the how the fuck does he know whats working? A tuner should take all feedback, but for sure with a grain of salt but it should be welcomed, instead Craig is outright offended.
He thinks he knows everything to the point that YOU HAVE TO BE the one who is WRONG even if he has to contradict himself to prove YOU wrong.
He is so offended by anyone else doing anything or any product anyone else sells
the ultimate combination of boomer and snowflake
If you want a whack tune and a bunch of attitude
Craig is your guy.
hopefully this explains why im always negative about craig.
on the positive side.
Learning to use restackor has been great
I've used it to re shim the Kings on my dads subaru powered baja bug to get it moving through the whoops a bit faster.
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this is a far more sophisticated device than craigs FART systemdude. i want both those AND this on my fork. ALL THE STRAPONS
Yes. Have it. Love it.
I dealt with Craig many years ago and he was a little prickly then, but it sounds like he has gone South since. Would say the Avy cart in my Lyrik was awesome (sold off with my 26er), but the mod he did to the DHX Air was a waste of time.
@englertracing , would live to see pics of the baka bug. One of my dream cars, and I would really like to build one as an electric.
@englertracing , would live to see pics of the baka bug. One of my dream cars, and I would really like to build one as an electric.
It was a wrecked baja in 1980 when my dad and his friend cut the roof off and built it. They both built sand rails and gave this car to a friend. 30 years later the friend returned it my dad cut every tube out of it and started over. Went with a Subaru ej25 mated to a bus trans. Then later on went coil over. It's got 15" travel front and rear.
Attachments
At the end of the day, if the Canexican dollar was still on par with the USD and the borders weren't closed, I'd still send stuff to Craig. Luckily Vorsprung is on my side of the border (as long as I stick with RS shocks) and the new fork dampers aren't bad.
Steve is a smart and forthcoming guy.
I'm sure if you asked for something other than he delivered to you he would try to accommodate you rather than attacking you.
He actually did build a new website, seems to be a work in progress.
Big improvement on the old one though:
http://www.avalanche-suspension.com
This thread makes me like the guy!
I don't want to talk to him on the phone myself, but I'd like to hear more stories!
My 2010 Avy'd Boxxer was amazing at the time. It was the first fork I'd ever experienced with actual mid-stroke support.
I don't want to talk to him on the phone myself, but I'd like to hear more stories!
My 2010 Avy'd Boxxer was amazing at the time. It was the first fork I'd ever experienced with actual mid-stroke support.
I like how a post about a long frustrating conversation has turned into a long thread discussing frustrations.
I still didn't quite know what I was getting into when I went into the Slayer pit. I mean, I had an idea, but I still wasn't prepared...
"I was fucking hardcore"
(That summer I took an "off year" to tour Europe and find my inner-self)
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it was only a semester, dammit. only inner self i found was the sepultura tape i brought.
