Suspension - forks, shocks, stems and so forth (but not seat posts, they have their own thread)

Are suspension mounting bushings for shocks made to a standard, or are they specific to the shock/frame that they're going in?

I'm wondering if I can swap the mounting hardware (that includes and offset bushing) from my Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate into a Fox DHX (I previously swapped the same hardware from a different Rockshox Shock into the current one, but is changing brands different?)

According to the frame manufacturer they should be the same. A universal standard in cycling?!

I’d go to one of the offset bushing shops online, chuck a load the shopping basket then see if they ask if they are for RS or Fox kit. If they don’t then it’s probably safe to assume they are universal.

pretty sure i did a shock swap at an event and just swapped the bushes across from a fox to a rockshox that some dude lent me

Suspension, you say? Somebody tell the UCI to let beam bikes back into the fold.

I always thought the Softride bikes were cool, so I would support this initiative.

On a different note, has anyone got any familiarity with the Vorsprung Smashpot coil conversion for air forks?

Left the smashpot for now but I’m going to try a Fox DHX in place of my Rockshox SDU air-shock, 490-560lb Sprindex coil with the DHX.

Seb Stott reviews the Vorsprung Secus here, he likes it but notes that to maintain dynamic ride height he goes up in travel (by 20mm!) as the fork sits further into it's travel (sags more, basically I think) as it's a lot softer a spring right off the top.

I think the Secus sounds interesting, but because I'm an enormous Chicken I'll likely get someone who knows what they're doing to fit it. Should I, based on reading a single review, get the suspension tech to fit a longer air-spring at the same time? It would be somewhat annoying to fit the Secus and then make my head angle a degree sharper and drop to 130mm travel on the front.

I exchanged emails with Steve, chap who runs Vorsprung - he says that the fork will run lower in the early phase of it's travel, but as the Secus changes the spring-rate from one with a digressive curve (hard-soft-hard) to a linear-then-progressive (soft-hard) one it will ride higher in the mid-stroke, so those situations where you are cornering/descending/pumping for speed the bars will be higher than before. So, to leave the fork at 150 and see how I get on with it - and maybe raise the bars 5-10mm if I don't like the increase in sag for bumbling along.

DHX/Sprindex/Secus ordered now and my fork and shock sent off to TF Tuned for them to match the hardware on the shock and fit the Secus.

There's a thread for suspension seatposts: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/269736/

I’ll remove seat posts from the title.

Vorsprung Secus

Why that and not the Smashpot coil conversion kit?

I looked at that, and did some Googling - found lots of people who were on their third spring as they hunted out the correct spring rate. The Sprindex is my hedge against that happening for the rear, but there's no equivalent (as far as I am aware) for the fork, so the promise of the Secus (to make an air-spring behave like a coil in the beginning and mid-stroke) and it's adjustability with a shock pump seemed more sensible.

I did also consider the weight a little.

Interestingly Vorsprung recommend reverting from the C1 to the B1 air-spring in a Rockshox product as it performs better (in their view).

Where is best to get my lefty serviced, how do I know if it needs servicing??

Fin at Full Factory Suspension will service a Lefty, and from the Cannondale site:

Service Item Frequency**
Check Fastener Torque First Ride/Every 4-5
Manual Reset 50 Hours
100-Hour Service (Telescope Lubrication, Air Spring Service, Damper Inspection) Every 100 Hours/Annually
Full Service (Telescope Rebuild, Air Spring Service, Damper Service) Every 200 Hours/Bi-annually

Which, I suspect, means "now".

Where is best to get my lefty serviced, how do I know if it needs servicing??

TF tuned

If you are feeling brave, open the top up (you'll need a special tool) then pour out the oil. If there is no oil, or the oil is 'horrible, it needs a service (or is fucked).

Have you considered a Helm fork ;-)

I don't think they can be converted from air to coil, (very) happy to be wrong though.

You can swap Cane Creek's air spring out with their own coil conversion kit for about £150 + spring, as long as you don't want less than 130mm travel

You are of course then at the risk of finding yourself between spring rates again

Having ridden the air version, It's as close to a coil feel that I've ever noticed in an air fork

Yeah, I'm just curious. Also, the more reading I did about suspension the clearer it was that a huge amount of the development effort that goes into air-springs is dedicated to making them behave more like a coil, whereas the reverse (for e.g. hydraulic bottom-out on the Smashpot) is a "yeah we got this" in comparison.

a huge amount of the development effort that goes into air-springs is dedicated to making them behave more like a coil

Luckily for you, you skipped the era of mtb suspension feeling absolutely awful. My first air forks took so much force to get them moving that they didn't sag when I sat on the bike

That’s impressive