- Most bikes these days have air suspension,
forks and rear shocks if they're full suspension
and the great thing about those is
they're really easily adjusted and also very tweakable.
So we often talk about bottomless tokens
so in this video with the help of GMBN tech
(host gargles)
we'll let you know what they are, how they work,
how to fit them and then I'll give you some demonstrations
out on the trail of how they affect the suspension
and how it feels on the trail.
(funky music)
(gravel skids)
I've often heard pro racers say that
they add more volume spacers to their suspension
and I sometimes wonder if it's just that macho thing to say.
I ride my bike so hard
that I need my suspension to ramp up loads,
or does it make the bike too harsh
and you're not using suspension as you should?
So I think I'll start today
with a bit of a drop-off test to see
how tokens can affect my fork
and how far in it goes.
So today I'm riding my Canyon Strive,
I got 170 mil RockShox lyric up front.
They come standard with one volume spacer there.
I've actually got two in there because I'm wellard.
So I'm going to send it off that drop.
It is quite a harsh landing
and we'll see by the magic of camera
how much travel I use.
(digital swooshes)
(gears crank)
Rubber ring is showing exactly that much.
So now I'll swap it out for four tokens
and see how it compares.
What I'm going to try and do is land
exactly the same for the drop, not an exact science, this,
but it might be interesting.
Right, back up the same pressure, 65 PSI,
because I think that's the idea.
If you start just making your fork harder
rather than putting volume spacers in,
you lose that small bump sensitivity, I believe.
Is that right, Doddy?
- Thanks Neil, right, let's talk volume spacers.
These little plastic things here.
Now firstly, why would you want to put these in a fork?
Quite simply, with an air suspension fork
you can tune the way the air spring feels.
When you compress air, it essentially gets more progressive
through your travel naturally, and you can make it
more progressive by adding in air volume spacers.
Now depending on what model of fork you have,
there will be a maximum amount of these you can fit,
and are very specific to each fork.
For example, these are for Fox 36, this one is for Fox 34,
and these ones are for RockShox Lyrik.
They're all slightly different out there, so you need
to make sure you have the correct ones for your fork.
And it tailors basically the way the fork feels.
With none in there, you get a slightly more linear feel.
That's the sort of ride that Henry likes, he likes
to use all his travel all the time, whereas Blake
puts the maximum amount of volume spacers
in his fork 'cause he wants it to feel
really really firm towards the end of the travel.
So if you're sort of rider that likes them big jumps
and huckin' off stuff to flat, then you're going to want
some air volume spacers inside your forks.
Now the great thing is they don't cost a lot of money,
it's really cool 'cause you can customize the way
your fork feels, and they're dead easy to fit.
Now all you need to fit them obviously is the correct
volume spacers for your forks, you need a shock pump
and you need a socket, but the socket
is the most important thing.
This one is actually a branded Fox socket,
but you don't need one of those, as long as the socket
is the correct size and it's got a flat edge on it.
You do not want one that's got chamfered edge
because you can round off the aluminum bolt
on the top of the fork there.
You got to make sure it's got a really good fit.
That is absolutely crucial.
Nice and easy to fit, remove the top cap,
deflate the air from the fork itself
and simply remove that top cap and you will see
where they sit in place.
The RockShox bottomless tokens actually screw together
directly into the top cap, whereas the fox ones
clip together nice and simple.
Take your time, make sure you don't cross thread
when you're actually putting the top back in,
and do it up nice and tight.
Don't over-tighten, it doesn't need to be
crazy tight, but remember that is the air leg,
so you don't want to have it loose and any air escaping.
(digital whooshes)
(belt cranks)
(bike thuds)
- Yeah, definitely used less travel on that,
and it didn't feel harsh, so I could see
why more volume spacers would be good
for doing bigger, gnarlier stuff.
Let's go down to zero spacers, try it again
before we go back to the trail.
(electronic whooshes)
(belt cranks)
(bike thuds)
There you go, proof's in the pudding.
I used more travel, not significantly more,
but the fork also felt really similar,
it's just on the big hit I've used more travel,
less spacers, less travel with more spacers
so it makes total sense.
It just then when I did land at the very end of it,
I did feel that weight start to go forward,
so that's where it feels to me adding a bit more
volume spacers, when you go on those big hits
and you don't want all your weight start going forward,
you probably do want your fork to stay a bit higher
in its travel, that might be a case of when you
need or want more volume spacers.
Okay, to the trail, I'm going to do three different runs.
I'm back to my stock setup now with two tokens in there.
Have a run, see how it feels, I've been session this
trail all morning so I know it really well,
know the conditions, then I'm going to put four volume spacers
in and then try another run with nothing in there,
see if harsh or comfort or somewhere in the middle
is best for me, right, catch you in a bit.
'Kay, right, I'm going to ride down this trail over here.
It's fairly short, so I'm not as fast (speaks quickly)
that you can press into quite hard
and some fast rooted sections where you want
a comfortable bike and then some steeper rough stuff
at the end where you're going to want the bike
to stay fairly high in its travel, but soak those up,
so I'm going to time these on my garment as well
just to have some comparison between feel and time.
Right, first run on what is my stock setup.
Let's see how it feels.
(electronic music)
(Neil grunts)
Super muddy at the moment.
And then some jumps.
Got a little bit there, some big ol' breaking bumps.
Felt quite good.
Now over the roots.
Bomb section, a bit rough down here.
(bike jostles)
The weight goes really far forward there.
I want it to stay up.
I want the bike to stay slack.
Pretty steep through there.
Oh!
I'm not quite (mumbles),
quite hard hit on the fork, I'll mess that up.
(tires skid)
There you go, so first run on my base settings,
two volume spacers, you can see that there's not much left
there, I've almost bottomed out, so now I'll go up
to the four, I'm thinking that on zero volume spacers
there's a good chance I'm going to bottom that out.
'Kay, round two, now with four volume spacers.
But I forgot to wear my glasses on, try again.
(screen beeps)
Round two, four tokens, maximum volume spacers.
Right, this will be fast.
That's it, does feel like it's higher in its travel there.
I felt like I could sort of get
around those corners quicker.
Good, it's maintaining the jumps in my bike a little better.
(bike skids)
That's good as well, landed right in the middle (mutters)
that time, and it felt quite good.
(camera jostles)
You know what, so far so good.
All right, that felt good.
That also felt good.
It's steeper and rougher, I can just stay behind the bike,
not diving in so much, and the question is
is how much would it tire you out
and along the track, 'cause this is only sure.
(electronic music)
Definitely used less travel with four spacers.
Which leaves me with, now it's like 25 mil of travel left.
Feels pretty good, there's no really big hits
on that track, so you know, maybe that is worth saving
for those gnarlier tracks, bigger, rougher, harder hits.
So that felt actually really good, and the clock says
two seconds faster, hm, right.
Now to zero spacers.
Zero spacers in the fork, is it going to be more comfortable?
Is it going to be slower?
Let's find out, onto the roots.
Felt good.
(bike squeaks)
Down the really rough stuff.
(dirt crunches)
Does feel like I'm a bit further forward on the bike
through there then, which isn't the most comfortable.
One there, it's got a big (mutters) I don't like
the way it's going really far forward.
(electronic music)
All right, last time I show the fork.
That is with zero spacers, so you can see I've used
almost all my travel.
I don't think I've bottomed out, to be fair,
but two or three mil left.
So I think after those runs, actually got exactly
the same time, so same as my fastest run,
surprisingly enough, so times, dunno, it's hard to tell.
It's been a long day, I reckon I've done eight runs
on that track, so feeling pretty tired,
but I still put a good run in.
But I think for me it's the actually feel, right?
The geometry of the bike stay the same,
so I'm going to put more spacers back in.
Oh, here he is, Jack, you've had a good time
in the cafe whilst I've been doing all the work?
Right, I think after all that I've decided
to go for three, so put one more than normal
into my fork, because I really liked actually running it
on four, so I thought a compromise, so easy to do,
I'm going to try three.
I'm also thinking I might drop the pressure slightly
so down somewhere like 62 PSI from 65, so hopefully
keep some of that small bump sensitivity but ramp
up a bit more of the end.
Doddy, whatcha think?
- Okay Neil, yeah that's quite a good point actually.
So there's two ways of doing this.
You could either remain with the same air pressure
in your fork, and then by adding volume spacers
it just means you're never really going to use that end
of the stroke, that's kind of good, like, save it for
do it or die sort of moments when you're jumping off
something big and you need it in reserve,
but you could also take advantage of having a fork
that naturally ramps up like that and being a bit more
supportive and release some pressure, maybe like five PSI
to even 10 PSI out of the fork.
You'll find it's going to be a lot more subtle initially,
but it will still hold itself up enough,
and you won't be going through all of the travel all
of the time like you would with less volume spacers.
- Okay, well I think I've decided that I'll just try it.
I can always go up a bit more pressure or take
a volume spacer out again if I wanted to.
I guess that's the good thing about it,
it's a bit like I would never run the same tires
all year round, you can always change the suspension
and play around with it dead easily, so quite happy
with what I've done today.
Don't forget to check out GMBN Tech, completely separate
YouTube channel, loads of helpful things over there,
Doddy and Henry doing loads of great stuff, and don't forget
to follow us on social media, Instagram of course.
Right, get pumping.
(pump squeaks)