[Jm_]

I've had SPV / CV/T shocks for over a year now, and I'm curious what you guys think about this, especially those of you that have tried a good deal of other non-spv shocks.

It seems that I have to run a lot of rebound...when I mean a lot I mean like just a few turns from "full-closed" on the rebound adjustment. This seems more pronounced with my curnutt, but it seems to hold true for my 5th as well.

It seems that since it takes more energy to get this shock "moving" past the pedaling plaform, this means a harsher initial movement that seems to require a slower rebound setting...it's like supposed you are running a good platform on the bike, and you have to "push" down on it quite hard to get it to move...to dampen such a force you obviously need slower rebound than you would with less force required to move the suspension.

It seems that running little rebound damping (something that I do in my forks) just makes it feel like crap overall and it seems impossible to get the shock to feel good in this situation because of that harsher platform.

I just tested my curnutt with a "lot" of rebound damping, and it felt pretty good. I don't know about the 5th so much, but I seem to use more rebound on that as well...although I am suspicious if everything is working right in my 5th.

So, does anybody have similer findings? Maybe completely different? It'd be nice to hear from 5th and cutnutt owners. I am just curious overall how you have your rebound, how you think it makes the suspension feel, and if you run less rebound do you feel that it is overly-harsh?

 

[MisterMental]

one of the guys i was riding in france with had to run a hellova lot of rebound on his Ti curnutt on his dhs mono

 

[Curb Hucker]

umm, ya i really dont feel like typing alot, so ill try to make it short. I had 2 5ths and blew up both of them, they both felt like $hit and never really worked right, i had to run rebound allmost at the max. My friend has a curnut on his fly and his sounds alot like yours, hes selling it he hates it so much.

Ive been on a 5th, romic, fox, propedal fox, and a push. Out of all of em, the Push and propedal are the best, they pedal good, but still feel great, unlike the 5ths

 

[Jm_]

my curnutt doesn't feel half as bad as my 5th, so I may get the DHX sometime in the future...

 

[biker3]

umm, ya i really dont feel like typing alot, so ill try to make it short. I had 2 5ths and blew up both of them, they both felt like $hit and never really worked right, i had to run rebound allmost at the max. My friend has a curnut on his fly and his sounds alot like yours, hes selling it he hates it so much.

Ive been on a 5th, romic, fox, propedal fox, and a push. Out of all of em, the Push and propedal are the best, they pedal good, but still feel great, unlike the 5ths

I really liked my RC when i had it before it blew up but it really seemed to get bounced around a lot. Once I got my 5th it sucked at first i was like WTF i paid 300 bucks for this it feels like ass. But after a lot of tuning and stuff and completaly opening high and low compression and bumping the rebound and backing the progression off it feels a lot better. I really think people are getting too caught up in the "progressive" adjustments on their spv forks and shocks. I think it can really jack up the performance if one can't find the right balance of rebound and progressiveness.

 

[dexterq20]

I think it can really jack up the performance if one can't find the right balance of rebound and progressiveness.

Oooooh... bonus points for correct grammar!

I recently acquired a new bike that has Manitou SPV damping in the fork and in the shock, and all I can say is that I'm still going thru the trial and error of tuning my suspension. There are so many freakin' adjustments, it takes days to figure out what works and what feels like poop. The 5th Element/Curnutt/SPV shocks are all meant to be run with lots of rebound damping though. Even with the rebound damping turned all the way down on my Swinger shock, it still feels less lively than your standard Fox Vanilla. It's just the nature of the beast. The slow rebound also helps to reduce the effect of pedal bobbing, because it won't spring back as fast. This helps keep the bike from feeling like a pogo stick.

 

[crashing_sux]

My Swinger 6-Way feels great after spending some time tuning it. Maybe it's because I spend all of my time riding at Whistler where we have a lot of high speed stutter bumps but I run my rebound fairly fast and the shock feels great.

I haven't found the situation you mentioned with the amount of rebound required being affected by the pedaling platform and it doesn't even make any sense to me.

Unless there is something I am missing the two aren't related. Let me know if my logic is flawed but here is how I see it. You have a 500lb spring on your shock, you compress it one inch, now you have to have enough rebound to control a 500lb spring rebounding. It shouldn't matter if you compressed the shock one inch with no compression damping, or with a ton of compression damping, the rebound is just slowing down the energy stored in the spring which isnt' at all related to a pedaling platform.

I can see you having to run more rebound as you pump up your pedaling platform because that pressure also increases your spring rate (doesn't it? I think it extends the shock as well as increasing the compression, not sure about that though). But overall, I don't run any slower rebound on my Swinger than I do on my Romic or Fox. I've tried running it slower but it just packs up on the high speed stutters as I would expect any shock too if you run too much rebound.

 

[preppie]

I tried a lot of different settings (on my Swinger) and the setting I like the most for the general stuff:
- 85psi (I'm 175lbs)
- 400lbs spring with just enough preload to keep the spring on its place.
- and the rebound as fast as possible.

The slower rebound settings feels good for pedaling but feels like crap for everything else, it feels dead and sluggish.
I prefer the fastest rebound setting on my Swinger because it feels more like
my Fox RC but with better pedal efficiency and you have small bump sensitivity and a little lively/active feel. Even the fastest rebound setting is not 'fast' enough to bump me off my line or to kick me over the bars, so I keep it this way.

 

[J5ive]

I'm a recent 5th owner. So far I like it. Dialed it in according to the progressive site and then cranked the rebound up. I might end up going a softer spring. I'm 85kg and the bike came with a 450?

Forks wise. I'm not a fan. Mainly because TPC+ in my shermans feel so good. I've tried spv shermans and they just felt sluggish(seams to be a comon term here ). On the dh bike I'm running an 888r, so far I prefer the feel of the TPC+ shermans, I'm going to try the high speed compression mod and see how that goes.

 

[Rockland]

I've got a Curnutt on an FXR. About half a season's time. I'm not really thrilled so far. I weigh in around 200 lb. 500 lb/in spring, 4 turns preload, 75 psi, ramping 2-3 turns out from firm (depending on trail).
Pedaling is the best aspect of my Curnutt's performance so far. Oh, and big hits a pretty good too. Everything else is just ho hum. The spring is supposed to be the correct rate for my fatness, but with 4 turns pre, I still sag in close to half the stroke. My main use for this bike is trail riding, so most of the time it's seated pedaling, with few huge hits. Already sagging in so far I've got to back off the ramping to keep it from feeling harsh on even medium bumps.
The reb is my biggest beef with the shock though. Reb is way too fast. There is barely any range of adjustment with the reb dial. I'm not looking for molasses slow, I know what packing up under sucessive bumps feels like. I really think the range of rebound is tuned around much lighter riders and spring rates.

 

[neversummersnow]

I'll chime in too as suspension interests me--

I've Run---
Swinger 6 Way/4 Way
5th Element
Avy DHS w/comp adjust
Romic
Fox Vanilla RC (non pro-pedal)

I really think you can be fast on just about any of the shocks coming out now-adays but for my riding style, something that really tracks well over smaller/medium sized stuff is key. I have long enough legs/a bike that allows me (makes me) deal with the bigger stuff using mostly my body. Although a 5th/Swinger would be preferred on some courses, (where I just pedal/corner) I'd rather have something non-SPV at some races.

This changes for a variety of reasons, such as frame design, leverage ratio (commonly overlooked). The Gemini I ride DOES work best with a Swinger run at very low PSI (55-60). This allows for a "smaller" platform but still ramps up beautifully. I think something with linkage works far better with an Avy/Push (haven't tried extensivly).

JM_ I am on a borrowed bike right now as some kinks are being worked out of my Gemini at Cannondale. The bike is a V10 with a 5th and I have noticably slowed up the rebound on it. Mostly just because I feel my front end dive whenever it goes airborne. (I don't like the V10 at all)

 

[OGRipper]

Compression and rebound characteristics also depend on shock rate, so it's hard to figure out what's going on without knowing what frame we're talking about (or more importantly, what the rate curve looks like). This is probably an oversimplification, but I've found that bikes with rising compression rates have falling rebound rates, in which case I prefer relatively open (fast) rebound damping to keep the rear end more active and allow it to extend more easily. Bikes with falling compression rates have rising rebound rates, in which case I like slow rebound damping to provide more control and avoid the rear end kicking me into and endo. Because I have almost no engineering knowledge I'm not sure if the rates are exactly inversely proportional but it seems like they would be...???

So, the preferred amount of rebound damping for the same rider with the same shock can change depending on the frame.

And what you think is front end dive might be rear end kick from frame with a rising rebound rate and not enough rebound damping.