Austin-worthy fork for hardtail

[AntonioGG]

With that 140 and 4 spacers, I'd set the sag higher, maybe 30% or 33%.   That's an easy change.  Then just play with your bump and rebound before you go make more drastic changes.

 

In fact, on my 100mm fork I plan on adding spacers just so I can start with more sag and not worry about bottoming out.

[rockshins]

1 hour ago, mack_turtle said:

Do I like a progressive fork? Not sure yet. Maybe someone can tell me what I am shooting for based on the following:

I set it up with at least 25% sag at the beginning but didn't use all my travel ever.

I set the three-position dial in the middle and ended up riding with it full open by the end of my ride. Compression damping was intensionally set right in the middle and I ended the ride with it fully open.

Started the Fit4 rebound in the middle and knocked it up two clicks mid-ride for more damping, if that makes sense.

I agree with AntonioGG, just my opinion, but easiest thing to do would be to let out some air and go to about 30-35% sag.  See how that feels.  Leave the compression damping open, unless you grab a handful of brake and you suck up half your travel.  Can dial in the rebound to how you like it, but do think slightly more damping around here works best. If that still doesn't feel just right and not getting closer to full travel on big hits, then I would move on to removing a spacer.

[notyal]

Taking out spacers is a super easy 5-min job, and 4 is a lot. 

I've found that I like a less progressive fork. I could be wrong here, but my thought is that my favorite fork that I ever had was a Fox Vanilla coil. Coils are known for being plush and more linear. Less volume spacers should make an air fork feel plusher and more linear, right?

Also, I'm about your same weight. To me, it's always seemed like the guys who like super progressive setup with lots of spacers are either bigger, ride more aggressively, or both. 

[AntonioGG]

Yes, good point @notyal.  I'm at 210lbs or so.  At 160lbs I do think 4 spacers is too much.

[mack_turtle]

Sounds good. thanks for all the insight, folks! I'll play around with spacers. This is handy:

Borrowed from

 https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=551

 

[mack_turtle]

Tightwad tip: I needed a flat, 26mm, 6-point socket. I bought one for under $10, mounted it to my drill, then went to town on a flat stone block in the yard. Five minutes later, I had removed the chamfer from inside the socket, making a nice flat one for accessing the caps on my new fork.

[throet]

47 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

Sounds good. thanks for all the insight, folks! I'll play around with spacers. This is handy:

Borrowed from

 https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=551

 

I have the Fox Factory 130mm and found the sweet spot to be 2 spacers. Wasn't getting the level of travel I needed initially while still maintaining adequate air pressure. Working out really well now though, at least for my go-to trails here at Brushy Creek. I'm on a FS though vs HT. Oh and I ride at about 195lbs with gear.  

Edited August 22, 2019 by throet

[ATXZJ]

9 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

I

Also, the bike felt high up and sketchy in turns. The BB is very high, the front wheel much further in front of me, and I can't do much to get the handlebar lower, although I like my grips to be low. I felt very comfortable zipping around SATN tight, twisty trails (much to the horror of @ATXZJ) with a smaller fork, so this will require some tuning and adjustment as the front wheel would not stay planted enough to give me confidence. 

 

I actually enjoyed riding the SATN trails with the 70* HTA on my cross bike. IMHO, 140mm on a 29 HT is a bit much for here. I'd do 120mm and never touch it again.

Edited August 22, 2019 by ATXZJ