Levo Gen 3 Harsh feeling Fox 38?

[Renton]

Ive got a Fox 38 performance elite on my Levo and have set the sage and then followed the fox recommendations for rebound and compression.

It feels very harsh and occasionally on a big hit I’ve had my hands jolted off the bars?

Which setting do I need to look at to prevent that happening HSC, LSC or HR, LSR?

The fork feels very different to the 38 I had on my last bike but that was a cheaper model?

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Zimmerframe]

Covered in here quite extensively :

Fox 38 Harshness?

Back in the 90's and early 2000's I used to mostly run Fox forks and didn't particularly care for Rockshox. One day I bought an all-singing all-dancing 120mm fork with Fox's best damper at the time and no matter what I tried, the ride was harsh and travel I was getting out of the fork was...

www.emtbforums.com

And some talk in here about it :

Levo Gen 3 - Suspension and Coil shocks for Gen 3 - Fox 38 vs Zeb

So the stock Fox X2 on my Levo is already suffering from cavitation, sounded awful and erratic rebound. So that’s going off to Fox under warranty. Decided that I’d treat it to a coil, but seems there are only a few options that are deemed suitable for the Levos due to the side stress on a coil...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[maramouse]

Hi,
first of all, remove a couple of tokens and then do the sag of 25% or if you prefer 30%, without considering too much attention to the recommended psi, because, hardly, the pumps we use are accurate.

 

[maramouse]

I have the TL expert carbon 2022 and I found perfect, the adjustment of the fox x2, as suggested by the suspension calculator on the Specialized website, for the fork, on the other hand, I put 10 psi less, but I don't know the accuracy of my fox pump .
I also suggest doing at least a couple of exits to allow for minimal suspension settling, before going crazy with adjustments and psi.

 

[Darkyhs]

When I first got my S-Works Levo Gen 3. I followed the suspension calculator on the Specialized website. With these settings, the bike felt very odd and very different from anything I have ridden before.
I have since then started messing around with the settings, the HSC, LSC, LSR, and HSR. As with the recommendations from Specialized, it was much more of a climbing bike with constant trail mode on. I never felt a pair of SPDs would help.
Now with backing down HSC and HSR it feels way more planted and downhill like . Not sure if my description makes sense for you, but go to your local trail, pick a small portion you can ride easily up without encountering too many downhill freaks . And do it back 2 back while changing the settings both on the shock and the forks.
As in my case, both the settings were identical regarding the compression. Now my bike finally feels like the beast it should be.

My settings are, the exact air pressure as Specialized put on the calculator, with 3 clicks of LSC, 5 clicks of HSC(both shock and forks). Not sure about the rebound currently as I have been messing with it constantly.

 

[maramouse]

When I first got my S-Works Levo Gen 3. I followed the suspension calculator on the Specialized website. With these settings, the bike felt very odd and very different from anything I have ridden before.
I have since then started messing around with the settings, the HSC, LSC, LSR, and HSR. As with the recommendations from Specialized, it was much more of a climbing bike with constant trail mode on. I never felt a pair of SPDs would help.
Now with backing down HSC and HSR it feels way more planted and downhill like . Not sure if my description makes sense for you, but go to your local trail, pick a small portion you can ride easily up without encountering too many downhill freaks . And do it back 2 back while changing the settings both on the shock and the forks.
As in my case, both the settings were identical regarding the compression. Now my bike finally feels like the beast it should be.

My settings are, the exact air pressure as Specialized put on the calculator, with 3 clicks of LSC, 5 clicks of HSC(both shock and forks). Not sure about the rebound currently as I have been messing with it constantly.

excuse me, click from all closed or all open?

 

[Darkyhs]

excuse me, click from all closed or all open?

To be honest, no clue mate. I just followed the instruction on the website. I would say, from everything with 0, so no LCS and no HSC. I think this would be open, or at least that would make sense in my brain See my settings below, I have 92KG

I would say that I am now on the rear shock with :
LSC - 5
HSC - 3
LSR - 4
HSR - 3

Fork
LSC -4
HSC - 2
LSR - 5
HSR - 4

 

[Mcharza]

I think all the instructions mean that the settings are fully closed.

 

[Pyr0]

As far as I've read, number of clicks are from fully closed (clockwise)

 

[Darkyhs]

 

[spongebob]

Having similar issues with my fox 38, given it an air side service, grease was OK.
Just wondered, can you guys confirm that volume spacers are making a decent size difference to sag/pressure? I find with no spacers I am around the fox recommended around 110psi ish. But with the stock 3 spacers I achieve the same 20% sag with 85psi, anything above is crazy hard, obviously my shock pump may not be accurate but the difference is clear. On other forks I've not noticed this as much before.
As expected, without spacers it will go through the travel easier too.

 

[Geas]

I have three Fox 38s and all feel different. From very harsh to super sensitive. It seems that performance varies largely between batches.

 

[Bones]

I was struggling with my 38s so I sent them off for a service. I would normally do that myself but the warranty was almost up. It turns out that the grip 2 damper was broken, so I got a new one under warranty.
I don't use any spacers in my forks because I don't ride it hard enough to blow through the travel. It should work softer at the top and get progressively harder.
Your 3 spacers will make the forks hit the firmer part of the stroke quicker, that's how they work.

 

[Cb750stu]

I fitted a smashpot that made the harshness go away immediately

 

[spongebob]

I might get a pro to check it out then, damper seems to be doing what it's meant to though, adjustments definitely working.

Haha yes Smashpot would fix I bet. Just wanted to get this already uber expensive fork doing what it's meant to before I move on to that if you know what I mean.

 

[Bones]

A lot of people wind the compression off to make the forks softer, but this means the air spring is doing the job instead and it's not supposed to. If you watch the video, they are saying that for the forks to work correctly then each adjustment needs to be doing something.
Video gets to the point eventually.

 

[j.e.]

Its funny because since i set the rebound and compression settings to default (HSC 5, LSC 10) it felt supple and soft again. Did this with 2 of 3 volume spacers and 20 % sag.

 

[Bones]

I bet if you asked AI how to set up fox 38 forks it would blow the internet up trying to get the answer