22
Fork Setup Information
Read this first for a general understand-
ing of fork set-up or skip straight to the
air pressure charts (p. 26) if you just
want to go ride.
The following info was written prior to
the Fox CTD's introduction, so some of
the info is slightly dated. Still, it's a good
general guide for many of your suspen-
sion features and for the older forks and
shocks.
Important Note About Ripley Forks:
For the best possible performance, be
sure you are using a 51mm offset fork
on the Ripley. All the Ripley forks we
supply have 51mm offsets, so if you (or
your retailer) got the from from Ibis,
it's got the right offset.
Positive Pressure
This is the main air spring that supports
your weight. Adjust the air pressure
so that you come close to using all the
travel on a typical ride. Usually you can
mimic your maximum impacts by grab-
bing the front brake and pushing down
HARD on the bars. If you are getting
80–90% of the fork’s travel doing this,
your positive air spring is in the right
range. Actual riding will often push the
fork a little further than this test.
Low Speed Compression Damping
Low speed compression damping is
used to reduced unwanted movement
and over travel due to low speed
changes like out of the saddle pedal-
ing and subtle variations in the trail
that can cause wallowing etc. Adjust
to your preference.
Lockout
As the name implies this turns the fork
rigid (or close to it) for out of the sad-
dle efforts or riding on the road. Most
forks have a “blowoff” so that the fork
will move if a large enough impact is
felt. The threshold or “blowoff” when
the lockout lets the fork start to move
is often adjustable. It’s called Gate
in Rock Shox parlance and Blowoff
Threshold in Fox’s language. Usually
the goal is to have the lockout at the
minimum setting needed to stop the
fork movement while pedaling out of
the saddle, but allowing it to still move
fairly easily when an impact is felt.
High Speed Compression Damping
If your fork has a high speed com-
pression damping control, this would
usually be used to slow things down
during big hits to avoid bottoming.
It would usually be set at the lowest
level needed to avoid bottoming out.
Rebound
Adjust the rebound so that the front end
does not bounce off the ground after a
drop off or large bump. If adjusted too
slow, the fork may “pack down” and
feel sluggish. In order to conserve mo-
mentum and remain compliant the sus-
pension needs to recover fairly quickly
and push off the back side of bumps
and holes. If the rebound is adjusted too
slow, rolling energy is lost to damping
and vibration. If it is adjusted too fast
the bike will bounce after bumps and
drops. Adjust to your preference.
Fox Float CTD
For 2013 (and continuing in 2014) Fox
Fork Setup
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