Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

TLDR - it it feels good then worry not

When the bottom out bumper can’t compress any further you will certainly feel the thud that is a hard bottom out. It’s unmistakable.
But the fact that you’re not getting there is a good thing, you’re not really supposed to. You should only feel a hard bottom out on big drops charging at speed etc

If your static sag is 24% then that’s a strong suggestion that you’re in the right ball park.
Are you concerned that your dynamic sag is sitting too low? Concerned that it’s too low while climbing or too low while riding in general? I think it’s normal to sit deeper in the travel while climbing seated. It helps the rear tire grip.
If you want to be riding higher in the travel then a higher rate spring will have your static sag somewhere say around 18-20% and in turn the dynamic sag will sit higher too.
But there’s lots of variable that affect the dynamic sag. Adding compression damping can help ride higher in the travel but it can end up feeling harsh.
The higher spring rate could also lead to a harshness. Sub 20% sag is pretty firm.

My guess is that if you have 24% static sag and it doesn’t feel harsh and you don’t feel hard bottom outs often then your suspension is likely set up pretty well.
Not using full travel is what supposed to happen! But while riding even through fairly tame stuff it wouldn’t be surprising to see the shock use 85% of the stroke.

What is it that you would like to achieve? Or what do you feel isn’t right?

More importantly, what are you going to do about the POC dungarees? Shirley you’re returning them?

I'm going to try to return them - but problems abound.

I bought them from Bergzeit, who are an EU retailer. For them to accept them back I need to prove that they are faulty, given they're very obviously used.

I have written an email to POC Customer services, but I don't know what they'll be willing to do.

I'll update this thread, but if POC say "well, when we say waterproof what we mean, and what we think anyone else would take us to mean, is not really waterproof, but sort of waterproof", then I'm unsure what I can really do about it.

But while riding even through fairly tame stuff it wouldn’t be surprising to see the shock use 85% of the stroke.

85% of the stroke is 46.75mm, which is bang on what this shows:

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It would be interesting to know how much further the bottom out bumper would compress - I guess it's possible that it could go down to a couple of mm.

Whoa! You are Mark 'Elvis' Priestley AICMFP

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That's the second time this week someone has said that.

85% of the stroke is 46.75mm, which is bang on what this shows

Ha!

The bumpers really do squish down to practically nothing.
They are wear parts and need replaced every now and then as they eventually start to split.
If you can be bothered, mount the shock without a coil and sit on the bike, you’ll see it squish to nothing.

TF Tuned were a bit bemused though - one coil is 110lbs stiffer than the other, but they both showed max travel of the same amount. The only thing they could come up with was the bumper compressing to it's max and arresting the shock at the same place in its stroke.

Unless I rode that much harder with the CC progressive coil and it's a huge coincidence.

Bear in mind that the reverse components sag-o-meter is primarily designed to measure static sag.
The little rubber o-ring indicator might be getting blown down further than expected if you catch my drift?

Hmm, not sure - feels pretty tight on the ahem shaft.

but if POC say "well, when we say waterproof what we mean, and what we think anyone else would take us to mean, is not really waterproof, but sort of waterproof", then I'm unsure what I can really do about it.

I suspect POC will rely on some given number for hydrostatic head (being able to withstand the pressure of a column of water X mm high without leaking). The MoD apparently accept 800mm, most outdoor clothing manufacturers will say at least 1000mm.
This is all well and good, until you increase the pressure on the fabric by e.g. walking on a groundsheet, or sitting on a saddle.

If you don't have any joy with POC, you could try adding extra waterproofing to the fabric in the arse area, maybe clear silicon thinned down with white spirit? This will compromise any breathability of the fabric, but I guess that's not the key function in this case.

They say:

"Fully waterproof

3-layer waterproof material with a 15 000mm water column, plus a fluorocarbon free DWR treatment."

I await POC’s response “Dear Dammit, you’re a massive column” etc etc

Talking to Vorsprung Suspension via email and their view is that trying a linear 550lbs spring would be what they'd do.

a linear 550lbs spring

Can you get those ones in yellow?

Or titanium

Thanks to Brexit my size M dungarees are stuck in customs trying to get into the Netherlands, with no indication of how long clearance is going to take, and any hope of getting my money back stuck with them.

They’ve been there since the 10th so far.

I just called and spoke to Dutch customs, then the special customs dept within Post NL, both times getting through to a pleasant, English speaking person who was very helpful - customs have my parcel and have 30 days to process it, which means that I need to call again on the 10th if it's not been delivered by then to find out why it's still stuck. Handy.

Back to springs - I have placed the order for a linear 550lbs CC Valt.

If anyone would like to try a linear 502, or a progressive 500-610 then let me know.

Can we safely assume the Secus is just doing its' job then?

Yes, that seems to be working fine. Not entirely sure it's any better than a stock Helm though.

I await the imminent arrival of your coil sprung fork then

The air Helm did already seem very supple though, especially when I removed a touch of positive air pressure after the pos/neg chambers had been equalised

It's a great fork, I'm very impressed with it and it's "just gets on with it" appeal is strong.