The air spring is essentially a column of air contained inside a compressible container, such as a bellow or sleeve. An air spring can be used either as a primary suspension spring, or as a secondary component inside a coil.
A style of bicycle riding that melds the stamina and conditioning required for cross-country riding with the technical abilities of freeriding.
The AVA (Air Volume Adjuster) system manipulates the compression ratio used to compare the starting air volume of the air spring (at full extension) to the ending air volume (the shock at full bottom out). This ratio between the two volumes determines the rate at which the air spring builds or, as it's sometimes referred to, the “slope of the spring curve”. With typical air shocks on the market today, the compression ratio of the air spring is fixed, thus predetermining the characteristic of the spring curve. The consumer can adjust the air pressure of the shock; however, that adjustment only moves the spring curve up and down in spring rate. The AVA system is a feature that gives the user the ability to fine-tune the slope of the spring curve, in conjunction with the air pressure adjustment, to best optimize suspension performance for a specific set of circumstances. The AVA system is not intended as an "on the fly" adjustment, but rather as an initial set-up tool for the consumer.
So, how does all this translate to something practical that's useful to you? For example, if you feel that your spring rate is not ramping up enough deep into the travel, turn the AVA adjuster in to make the air chamber smaller, which will heighten the spring rate. If your bike acts like a rolling pogo stick after a big bump, bring the AVA adjuster out to flatten the spring rate.
Chrome silicon steel is the primary alloy steel wire used for the manufacturing of coil springs, commonly referred to as ASTM A 401. The material derives its name from the fact that it has high levels of Chromium and Silicon, as well as Carbon. In most applications and spring wire diameters, the tensile strength will exceed 235,000 psi. Chrome silicon steel is ideal for cyclic compression spring applications, and it has a better fatigue life than chrome vanadium.
Internal oil lubrication is key for creating the most active and lowest friction suspension fork. Bushings, main seals, and coil springs need to be constantly lubricated for optimum low-friction performance. All coil springs inside suspension forks buckle during compression, and create friction against the inside of the upper tube. CLS (Coil Lubrication System) goes one step beyond by automatically lubricating all key parts during every compression stroke of the fork. CLS consists of creating passageways on many of the internal parts, and pumping oil to the key parts where friction is always present.
The coil spring is the concept of a metal wire formed into a coil that can store energy when it’s compressed, and release energy as the load is relieved.
This is the damping circuit that absorbs the compression energy force on the damper. Compression damping is used to adjust how quickly a fork or rear shock compresses when hitting a bump, and is fully adjustable on most FOX products.
When compression damping is too soft, this condition allows most of the available travel to be used without attaining control of the wheel. When it's adjusted too firmly, the wheel will jump or "dance" about when hitting small bumps, again failing to gain control of the wheel.
Bicycle industry vernacular describing a switch control mounted on a suspension product that limits suspension travel to minimize bicycle bobbing effects of certain pedaling styles (such as acceleration, sprinting, standing on the pedals to hillclimb, etc.).
A style of bicycle riding that is defined by longer rides, lightweight bicycles, and big stamina.
This is a fluid chamber, with a means of regulating its fluid flow for restraining the speed of the moving end of a damper piston during its compression or rebound travel movements. Your FOX fork has a damper in the right-side leg. Your FOX rear shock is essentially a damper, by itself.
The relative speed of the moving end of a damper when it compresses or rebounds. When referring to "high speed" or "low speed" hits, this means the speed of the damper, not the speed of the bicycle.
The process of absorbing the energy of impacts transmitted through the forks or rear shock during the compression stroke, and absorbing the energy of the spring during the rebound stroke.
There are normally four damping circuits that affect damper speed; a low and high speed circuit for the compression, and the same configuration is used for rebound strokes.
A spring-loaded ball bearing that provides a crisp click-to-click feel for adjuster knobs in FOX products.
A style of bike riding defined by descents down insanely steep mountains, hills or even in some cases, buildings. Downhill bicycles and their components are generally the strongest available.
FOX Integrated Technology
Fox Load Optimum Air Technology: delivers the performance of a coil spring with the adjustability and light weight of an air shock.
A style of riding that is basically defined by short course technical acrobatics and athletes that defy gravity. Generally, the bikes and components required for freeriding are stronger and heavier than their lightweight cross-country cousins. Combine the aerial pyrotechnics of freeriding with some longer trails and courses, as is typical of cross-country riding, and now you're looking at the style of "all-mountain" riding.
A dense wear-resistant anodic-processed surface coating on aluminum parts that has 50% buildup on the outside and 50% penetration into the material. In general, hard anodizing is applied following the military specification MIL-A-8625 Type III, Class 1 for non-dyed, or Class 2 for dyed applications. All hard-anodized FOX products have the proprietary post surface treatment that provides ultra low friction and high wear resistance to the mating components.
The damping circuit in the shock absorber or suspension fork that is tuned to provide suspension travel control at high shaft speeds ("high speed" or "low speed" means the speed of the damper, not the speed of the bicycle). All FOX products are HSC-tuned by extensive lab and field testing. HSC damping that’s set too low will cause excessive bottoming out in rough terrain; set too high will minimize suspension travel in rough terrain, causing a loss of traction.
The force required to move the fork or rear shock when it is in compression lockout mode.
Low Speed Compression damping is the damping circuit in the shock absorber or suspension fork that is tuned to provide suspension travel control at low damper speed conditions ("high speed" or "low speed" pertains to the speed of the damper, not the speed of the bicycle).
All FOX products are LSC tuned by extensive lab and field testing. LSC damping that’s set too low will cause the excessive travel use, brake dive and wallowing of the bike on small bump terrain. LSC damping that’s set too high will cause loss of traction on small bump terrain.
An excellent lightweight input material that can be machined from billet or die-cast. A magnesium die-cast lower leg is the best manufacturing method and material to satisfy the structural and precision machine requirements on a suspension fork. Magnesium has excellent vibration damping characteristics and is 34% lighter than aluminum and 77% lighter than steel.
A negative spring is oriented in such a way that it tends to compress, rather than extend a suspension shock or fork. A properly tuned negative spring provides an opposing force equal to the seal drag which eliminates the feeling of friction in an air spring system. Negative springs can be a separate air chamber or a small coil spring.
At FOX Racing Shox we have a unique way of charging the negative air chamber in the FLOAT rear shocks and the FOX FORX TALAS system. A transfer port allows air to pass from the positive air chamber to the negative chamber at the beginning of each movement of the shaft stroke. This Patented transfer port system automatically balances the pressure for the perfect negative spring for any pressure setting.
An inert gas used to pressurize the Internal Floating Piston (IFP) or Bladder system in a gas charge shock damper. Note: the air we breathe comprises about 78% nitrogen (along with about 21% oxygen and other trace gases, and water vapor).
Oil viscosity is the flow rate characteristic, that is, the measure of the "reluctance to flow" of an oil over a range of temperatures. FOX has made exhaustive tests with many different weights and viscosities, to determine what works the best for all of our suspension products.
Preload is applied to the fork and shock springs, to properly configure your bike to its most optimal sag adjustment. Adjusting preload to the proper sag dimension ensures better traction. Read your owners manual to discover our specific instructions about preload, in regards to your product. Basically, it's all too easy to overkill the preload, implying that changing to a heavier spring is perhaps the wiser way to go.
This patented rear shock FOX technology offers a rider the ability to quickly adjust between firm pedaling efficiency and reduced pedaling-induced suspension bob, and greater plushness for sudden small or large impacts.
A fork chassis design created and developed by FOX, the geometry and engineering design of which offers the best 'stiffness to weight' ratio of any suspension fork on the market.
Rebound damping is the damping circuit that controls the release of the stored energy in a compressed spring, to reduce the rebound speed of the damper. So, which rebound damper setting is the "best" one for you? Start with this approach, courtesy of MikeV: "Your setting should be slow enough so that your bike doesn't launch you out of your saddle if you hit a large squared-edge bump (like a curb), and fast enough so that your shock doesn't "pack down" near the end of a long, bumpy run (like descending a flight of stairs)."
The 'sag' term refers to the measured distance in millimeters that forks and shocks settle with a rider sitting full weight on the bike in full riding gear, in level riding position on level ground. This setting is essential to properly adjust the suspension.
The setting of sag is the fundamental starting point for all FOX products. If this mission-critical initial adjustment is made incorrectly or poorly, its negative effects will permeate through the other possible adjustments, resulting in a poorly performing suspension product. MikeV sez: "Be sure to actually measure the sag; just eyeballing it is enough to throw it off. Take the time to get this one right, and your suspension product will work flawlessly. The difference is profound!"
SDC is the damper system used in all FOX Forx models. Both compression and rebound oil flows through independent multistage blended circuits, to maximize suspension control. The sophisticated circuits automatically give you the correct amount of damping for any given shaft speed.
Shot peening is a manufacturing process. Small steel balls are blown with compressed air against a metallic part, to stress-relieve the external surface of that part. Shot peening dramatically increases the fatigue life of parts highly stressed by normal usage. FOX rear shock and fork springs are shot-peened, to ensure longer product life.
Patented scraper lip technology excludes outside dirt and retains internal fork oil. The rubber in the seal is specially compounded for extremely low friction and wear.
A spring curve is a graph of Force [y-axis] versus Travel [x-axis] measured during compression of a spring system.
Spring rate is described as the force that is needed to compress a spring one inch or centimeter, expressed in pounds or kilograms.
A combination of the words “static” and “friction”, this industry vernacular describes the tension exerted on the moving damper parts by the stationary parts, such as bushings, seals and wipers. Low stiction is desirable, because it means less drag effect on the damping.
Industry vernacular that describes the ride characteristics of a rear shock or fork that has a rebound damper setting adjusted to operate too slowly. A damper so adjusted will stay too compressed after hitting one bump, and cannot extend quickly and fully enough to absorb the impact of the second or third bump. The solution is to simply adjust the rebound control to a faster setting.
Which setting is the best one for you? Start with this approach, courtesy of MikeV: "Your setting should be slow enough so that your bike doesn't launch you out of your saddle if you hit a large squared-edge bump (like a curb), and fast enough so that your shock doesn't "pack down" near the end of a long, bumpy run, like a flight of stairs."
The TALAS system (Travel Adjust Linear Air Spring) optimizes bike performance through geometry changes, and maintains a consistent bump performance through the different settings. This external travel adjustment system offers a user more versatility from a single bike design. TALAS gives you the ability to choose different travel lengths for a shock or fork, making significant changes to the overall bike geometry. These changes can be used to optimize the bike's performance for the requirements of specific terrain. Shocks and forks equipped with the TALAS system can be adjusted "on the fly" by simply adjusting the travel knob, then cycling the shock through a half inch of its travel. Done! The shock/fork is now set at the new length but also, just as importantly, the TALAS system has adjusted the spring rate for the new length and travel. This automatic adjustment to the spring system ensures a consistent ride performance from the bike in all suspension settings and riding conditions.
A fabrication material with a high strength to weight ratio that can, when alloyed or combined with other elements, provide the functional properties to specification for such parts as springs, shafts, and fasteners. Titanium is one of the most abundant material elements on earth, but due to the stringent manufacturing standards and high processing costs, the raw material is quite expensive. Unlike steel and similarly to aluminum, titanium has a finite fatigue life (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit). Density: .162 lb/cu. in., melting point 3100 degrees F.
The total amount of compression distance for either a shock or fork suspension product.
The un-sprung weight of the bicycle are parts like the wheels, brakes, swingarm, and suspension linkage, and the lower front fork legs. The sprung weight is all the parts of the bicycle that are supported by the suspension.
A thin, spring steel flat washer used to exert resistance on the oil flow through a piston. A series of valve shims (valve stack or valving) with varying outer diameters and thicknesses are arranged in sequence to provide a damping effect.
Industry vernacular derived from "wallow", which is "to flounder about; move along or proceed clumsily or with difficulty". In the damper industry, wallowy basically means an unfocused or imprecise feel in the suspension when you're moving. Imagine an old Chevy right after hitting a speed bump; the suspension bobs on and on, like that bobble-head doll in the rear window.