Levo Gen 3 Fox 38 Setup question

[bowser]

I come in at 103kg naked at the moment and just fitted some fox 38's to my comp alloy.

Spec/fox say to go 2 out from closed on LSR and 1 out on HSR and 115 PSI, 10LSC and 5HSC

that seems like a lot of rebound damping, seems very slow. Does that sound correct?

 

[steve_sordy]

Your naked weight is of no use, how much do you weigh in your normal riding gear?

I do not have the settings that Fox recommend, but I went with their recco to start with and then adjusted until it gave me what I wanted.

Also, Fox recommended 20% sag on the fork and 30% sag on the Fox shock, which left the bike unbalanced in my view, but I guess it depends upon how you set up the fork.

Despite my misgivings, I went with the Fox recco to start with (fork and shock) and swiftly made adjustments during the first couple of rides. Further fine tuning followed in later rides. For the fork, I ended up with 30% sag, one more click of damping in LSR and HSR, and about a third less compression damping on LSC and HSC. Which is quite a lot of change!

I copied this note from a Forum member. It seemed to me to capture the main opinions from other Fox 38 owners on here.

"Fox forks are notorious for being shipped with too much fluid and grease, and not achieving full travel is a common side effect. Also, take all of the air out of the air spring and add it back in 10-15 psi at a time, cycle the fork a few times, then add another 10-15 psi until you reach your target pressure. That will ensure that the negative air spring is equalized. Lastly, I've found that the Grip 2 dampers run best with minimal compression damping, so start with both fully open (counter clockwise) or 1-2 clicks in. Start from there".​

I have not felt it necessary to change the volume spacers. For additional information and videos, see ridefox.com/38setup

 

[Mikerb]

I set my 38s at 25% SAG ( 180 travel).......... if yours a re 160 I would use less SAG than that. I copied the Fox recomendations for initial set up. After a number of rides I increased both ( by 1) and HSR ( by 2) , leaving LSC/LSR as per the original. My rider weight was 82kg so less rebound than you need. The only thing that varied from the Fox recommendations was air pressure. To set at 25% SAG the air pressure was c 5psi less than Fox recommended but that may be due to variations in how different people set fork SAG. I set mine standing on the pedals in the "ready" position......... so weight pretty centred. So in short I found Fox recommendations pretty good and the fork is an ace performer.

 

[ebikerider]

I come in at 103kg naked at the moment and just fitted some fox 38's to my comp alloy.

Spec/fox say to go 2 out from closed on LSR and 1 out on HSR and 115 PSI, 10LSC and 5HSC

that seems like a lot of rebound damping, seems very slow. Does that sound correct?

Have you ridden it yet on those settings? Look for about 22% sag to start with then forget about sag, tune by how much appropriate travel you use on trail.
You don't mention tokens, has the fork got any in there? I would start off with no tokens and if you are bottoming either up the pressure or add tokens one at a time.
The rebound on these forks takes a while to dial in as everyone's adjustment is different due to manufacturing tolerances but if it is too slow at those settings you'll know quickly as it'll feel harsh. Hard to know exactly as your terrain is an unknown and also how aggressively you ride.

 

[bowser]

Have you ridden it yet on those settings? Look for about 22% sag to start with then forget about sag, tune by how much appropriate travel you use on trail.
You don't mention tokens, has the fork got any in there? I would start off with no tokens and if you are bottoming either up the pressure or add tokens one at a time.
The rebound on these forks takes a while to dial in as everyone's adjustment is different due to manufacturing tolerances but if it is too slow at those settings you'll know quickly as it'll feel harsh. Hard to know exactly as your terrain is an unknown and also how aggressively you ride.

no heaven't ridden yet, only fitted the fork last night.
It has 2 tokens fitted

 

[ebikerider]

no heaven't ridden yet, only fitted the fork last night.
It has 2 tokens fitted

I would remove the tokens and start from there.

 

[Dmaguirenz]

I am the same weight 102kg so add 3kg of riding gear for me, Fox 38 levo gen 3 expert) I used the stock pressure that specailzed suggested, in the end I sped up the rebound abit, HS 1 to 3 and LS, 2 to 6.
I opened up the HSC a touch as well. Seemed to make it much smoother to ride,
Bumpy flow trials. That's my 2cs anyway

 

[militantmandy]

I have a 38 Performance and a 38 Factory. I found on both that the Fox recommended pressures were around 5psi too high, but that the recommendations for rebound and compression were pretty good. As above, I would start with just 1 or no tokens and the recommended settings, then ride and see if you are using an appropriate amount of travel.

 

[bowser]

thanks guys, will give them a good try over the weekend

 

[militantmandy]

thanks guys, will give them a good try over the weekend

If it's of any interest to anyone, I got a new Factory 38 for my Privateer. At 82kg riding weight, Fox recommended:

97psi
5LSR
4HSR
5HSC
10LSC

The fork came with 3 tokens. In this setup it felt extremely firm, with a lot of feedback and I struggled to use full travel. Now running:

91psi
7LSR
5HSR
6HSC
13LSC
1 Token

So far this feels waaaayyy better. Very supple but supportive and not blowing through travel too easily.