Hi friends,
I have a Specialized Demo Race w/ the out of the box Rockshox Super Deluxe. https://www.specialized.com/us/en/demo-race/p/175245?color=281621-175245
OEM spring rate is 400#. I'm just a bit too light for this and the closest Sprindex rate I can come up with is 340-370 which is too light. I'd ideally try something around 385, 390.
Ohlins has a 388# which would be a spot on to test but feedback from MTBR users only provided the below feedback and no possible workarounds.
"The Ohlins springs will fit over the RS shock body but the top locking collar that holds the spring tension is the thing that stops them from fitting. The collar isn’t flat and has a portion that goes inside the spring, this OD is too large for the Ohlins ID."
Coming to you guys with the hope of finding a solution. The bike is "rideable" just not that comfortable. Thanks for any helps or tips in advance.
Don't force something like a Coil Spring from one maker's specs into another. It will not be something which can be relied upon.
Coming from Dave Weagle F7-era of DW*Link, I'd had some great exchanges w/ Scout from what was Ti-Springs in the UK. Now defunct, his business rode the wave of finding traction and keeping it w/ all things mountain bike - while air canisters were also being held in development...
Doing a search for his former-business, there was this scaled manufacturing outfit at the top of search results: https://www.hosnti.com/titanium-springs/
Reach out to them since they seem to invite a pre-specified rate and, who knows it also may have been the company Scout had negotiated his own product line out of.
Had pushed out on a custom 425 in.lb spring for 5 years on a RS Vivid R2C and, it made the bike. Check it out.
Have you tried a 350 Rockshox spring yet? If not, I wouldn't rule out the 340-370 Sprindex, because all you know for sure right now is the wrong spring rate, not the right spring rate. Your bike might be a little oversprung or a lot oversprung with the 400, and you don't know your goldilocks spring rate until you've tried one that's too stiff and one that's too soft.
This is such a great question because I think it hits on the worst part of coil suspension. I'm pretty confident that most riders running a coil shock are on the wrong spring rate and don't know it, because the process of testing springs is so long, arduous, and expensive that most riders are going to settle for "okay-ish" when they're most of the way there. It took me 5 different springs (including TWO Sprindex springs) before I settled on the one I'm running now, and that's a lot to ask of the average rider who just wants to go out and have fun on their bike.
The variance from spring to spring is likely more than the 10-15 lb difference you're targeting.
I had 3 springs tested by my suspension tuner.
Fox Steel 500lb measured 480lb
Fox SLS 475 measured 435lb
Fox SLS 450 measured 452lb
So with that said, I don’t trust any label on a spring unless it’s verified.
Hit up Ryan at Fluid Focus in Temecula CA. You can prob get a spring that is tested at the rate you are looking for.
Rock Shox is making a 75x375 spring now (I made a bunch of 25lb increment springs last year):
Now where it's available I have no idea. It is in production status so it should be orderable by someone.
for the google
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