Fox Float SL. What am I doing wrong?

Purl

Purl

Well-Known Member
I have a fox float sl on my Transition Spur and I have had to send it back to Fox for warranty issues twice thus far. Once cause the 3 position switch stopped allowing me to move it, and another cause the rebound knob stopped working. They repaired it both times no questions asked.

I’m now having a problem, which I will be emailing them about, where if I have it in the middle pedalling position and I hit a little side hit or rocky undulating terrain and land a little hard, the lever will pop into lockout and now my rear is locked.

I feel like this shouldn’t be happening. Tell me how to bike better.
 
If it’s causing that many headaches just bite the bullet and get a different shock entirely. Stop wasting your energy and time..
 
Oey12 said:
If it’s causing that many headaches just bite the bullet and get a different shock entirely. Stop wasting your energy and time..
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That’s what I think I’m going to do. Just trying to see if I’m an idiot on this front too.
 
Not an idiot at all. Sometimes we just have to walk away from things in life. It’s definitely sounds to me like you took the proper steps to remedy the situation (..sending it to Fox).
 
Cassinonorth said:
I'd push them to replace it. It's clearly a faulty shock.
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Agreed. Question is, is it not ok to ride a bit of downhill-ish in that pedal position? Do shock manufactures expect you to constantly play with the 3 way switch (not remote) throughout your ride.

This was happening at Slate Valley today and was honestly thinking of you racing there in 2 weeks. Good luck mang.
 
Purl said:
Agreed. Question is, is it not ok to ride a bit of downhill-ish in that pedal position? Do shock manufactures expect you to constantly play with the 3 way switch (not remote) throughout your ride.

This was happening at Slate Valley today and was honestly thinking of you racing there in 2 weeks. Good luck mang.
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You'll be totally fine running it that way, most people do that...may be a bit more firm off the top but no real harm in running pedal.

Thanks! Looking forward to it...parlaying it into a 3 day camping weekend up there with a couple DH days at Killington and Stratton as well.
 
May I suggest you give transition a call, they have been awesome with my sentinel. I had a pivot bolt work loose and was damaged, one call was all it took, even though it was my poor maintenance habits that caused the damage, they had a bolt in the mail the next day.
 
scott62 said:
May I suggest you give transition a call, they have been awesome with my sentinel. I had a pivot bolt work loose and was damaged, one call was all it took, even though it was my poor maintenance habits that caused the damage, they had a bolt in the mail the next day.
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that will be a step if Fox gives up on me. As of right now I have no qualms Fox. The fork on my spur as well as suspension on my other two bikes are all Fox and I like those products and their customer service has been great. But this is awesome to hear that transition has good customer service. I love my spur, I just hate the rear shock issues I have.
 
I had a float that would fall into locked out from the middle setting. I mentioned this to the guy I sent it to (the shock lab) and he was familiar with the issue and fixed it when he serviced it. So it must be a common issue that they can resolve. But given your history so far, I’d ask for a new shock to.
 
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As was stated, try and get a new shock. A simple piece of duct or gorilla tape could be a temporary “fix” to keep the lever in the middle position.
 
Down the line if I can fix to make good on this, would it maybe be a smarter idea to put a 3 position remote lockout lever on the shock?
 
Emailed Fox and they responded that they will be changing the eyelet to a Fox factory eyelet and this will solve the problem. I had to ensure eyelet was the top piece of the shock.

The current shock is a performance elite. I guess I assumed incorrectly. I always thought PE and Factory were the same aside from Kashima.
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Scoured the internet and Fox’s website searching through drawings that they publish to the public and couldn’t find any information on the difference. I did lose sleep over this cause I can’t let my mind go. I did cave and ask the service writer, who has been helpful this whole time, the difference.

“The Factory series adjuster has a different cam and more external tuneability. The factory series adjuster have better detents. These are very complex shocks, depending on the tune of the shock the performance series, and larger amount of plate lift, which causes more play in the lever and can cause the shock to switch modes under heavy compressions.”
 
Sounds like a shitty design TBH. We all assumed rightfully that they just made the same parts for Performance Elite and Factory with the exception of Kashima coating. Turns out they screwed up cheapening out the Performance Elite small parts?

They seem to promote non-detents in lower end shocks like the Marzocci shocks (sweep adjust) and having to upgrade to higher end to get detents. Grip dampers are similar with no detents on Grip dampers in a Rhythm fork but detents in a Performance fork.

This is the first time I have heard they did detents but poorly. Especially weirder if Fox doesn't show different part #s for the lever/detent parts as they tend to have the best diagrams of inner parts.
 
I almost pulled the trigger on an ohlins txc but it took a lot of internet digging to get past the paid reviews. On MTBR forum was showing those has hard failure reliability issues. It was enough to steer me away whether how much that covers the mass of the market. I understand negativity rises to the top on the internet.
 
Purl said:
I almost pulled the trigger on an ohlins txc but it took a lot of internet digging to get past the paid reviews. On MTBR forum was showing those has hard failure reliability issues. It was enough to steer me away whether how much that covers the mass of the market. I understand negativity rises to the top on the internet.
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Friend of mine in the industry was going to give me a brand new one for free/cheap, the lack of info on rebuilding/tuning it yourself turned me off.

I like Fox/Rockshox as they are great with that info and also publishing their shim stacks.
 
Purl said:
I have a fox float sl on my Transition Spur and I have had to send it back to Fox for warranty issues twice thus far. Once cause the 3 position switch stopped allowing me to move it, and another cause the rebound knob stopped working. They repaired it both times no questions asked.

I’m now having a problem, which I will be emailing them about, where if I have it in the middle pedalling position and I hit a little side hit or rocky undulating terrain and land a little hard, the lever will pop into lockout and now my rear is locked.

I feel like this shouldn’t be happening. Tell me how to bike better.
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The lockout issue under impact suggests a faulty internal detent; contact support for a warranty check.
 
Well all, I’m a sucker. I was sold on the thought by Fox that this new eyelet would fix the issue. I install the shock, go outside, do a bunny hop from the center position and boom. Lever thrown right back into lockout.

Sooooooo, what other rear shocks should I look at? I was thinking a cane creek?
 
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