Well, technically I get paid a VERY small amount from advertising. 😂 So somebody's paying!

Glad it helped!

Happy to help! Best part of this KZfaq adventure.

You're welcome!

Happy to spread the knowledge!

No shame in that, Manitou makes a rad fork! I had a Mezzer for a while, it was awesome.

More on the way!

Thank you!

Thanks Erik!

I think I have one. Those are tricky to rebuild properly these days since the original seals are hard to find. There are modern replacement options, but they don't work as well as they may be the same size but they don't hold air.

I think the difference between SRAM butter and the dynamic grease is minimal; if I didn't have the green stuff it would just be SRAM butter. The oil on top just keeps things a little slicker. But any chance I can make it just a little better, might as well!

Yes. The fork travel is only determined by what air spring you use since the legs and damper are all designed for the max travel or lower.

Yes.

Not really, the cups are attached to the bottom of the shaft so it's basically the same procedure.

That happens when the air in the negative chamber doesn't bleed off through the equalization dimple at the main air piston. If you let the air out too fast (or if the negative chamber became over pressurized) the air in the negative chamber gets "stuck" and it pushes the piston into the upper leg.

Not without some super fancy custom machining. Rockshox limits travel based on chassis size, so they assuming if you need less than 150 you should be on a Lyrik or Pike.

All Zebs are interchangeable in regards to air springs and dampers, as well as lowers. And even though the air springs are interchangeable, they are not the same since the newer models have buttercup.

Great question! It has to do with how the positive and negative air chambers equalize. On older forks, the pressure equalization would happen in the air shaft itself, so you could add or remove spacers to change the travel. On almost all modern forks, the equalization happens at a dimple machined into the inner wall of the upper leg. Since that dimple is fixed, the air piston always has to be at the same spot to equalize properly, so the only way to change travel is to change shaft length.

Hey Olaf- without seeing your fork it's hard to say what's up. The best way to really know if the compression is working properly is to pull the damper out of the fork to test; the adjustments can be subtle and are much easier to feel when the damper is out of the fork.

​@@ButterSuspension Yes of course. But it's just out of the box and I don't want to open it before I decide to keep the fork. So I will wait for the answer of the dealer. I hope they have a good offer to me, because I bought a CSU with a 1.8 inch shaft on it. This oversize shaft normally is a OEM fork for FOCUS bikes. I want to converse the fork, because the bearing on my bike has these big 1.8" bearing. And on the market the fork with a 1.8" shaft is not available. And it's not clear to me that the 2021 CSU version also would fit to a 2013 ZEB. If the CSU is the same, there is the option to switch to the 2023 ZEB. But I need a good price because I need the 150 mm air shaft and have to pay for it. It’s expensive to modify the 1.5 shaft fork to a 1.8 shaft fork. So I have to have an eye to my budget.

Well, technically Rockshox doesn't sell bladders for these... But I believe they're all the same length. I'd have to pull two dampers out to compare.

Yep, Zeb can go up to 190mm.

Yup!

www.sram.com/en/service/models/fs-zeb-ult-a1 Definitely goes to 190.

I did! Two things; this video was made before Rockshox changed over to the "new" oils, and technically speaking, bath oil isn't THAT critical in terms of makeup. Using 0W-30 will not affect performance.

The main difference between the entry level Zeb and the Ultimate is the damper. There are a few other small improvements that make the Ultimate "best" but the damper will provide the biggest difference. The neat thing about these forks is you can swap dampers and air springs to make them what you want. The Charger 3 damper is usually around $360US and it's a 5 minute job to swap out.

Thanks for getting back to me mate. I'm still thinking about testing out those nicer internals. I think in a few months when I get my first fork and shock service at me LBS I'll ask them to do the upgrade. My previous forks were Fox 36 performance but I was never really that happy with them, they always felt a bit harsh no matter what I played with on the clickers. For the money I think the internal upgrade to the Rockshox might be a nice little addition. Definitely not necessary for my speed/skill level but what's a few hundred $ on a $10k bike in the scheme of things haha@@ButterSuspension

Looks like the Domain can only go up to 180mm.

Yes. All Zebs share the same "chassis" so you can swap parts between them, including air shafts.

I use the digital pumps; Rockshox, Fox and Cane Creek are literally all the same pump, just different branding.

Restrictions on the fork or the new frame? The fork can go up to 190mm. You can contact the manufacturer of your frame to see if they have any limits on fork travel.

@@ButterSuspension was just about the forks, my old frame was maxed at 160, and my new frame is minimum 170 to 180. thanks.

Maybe the longer "red spacer" 🤔

Technically you can make a custom air shaft to go that low, but the overall design of this air spring is for longer travel. The Pike DJ is more appropriate for that travel size. You can't change travel by moving the air piston into the chamber as the positive/negative chamber equalization has to happen at the air dimple that's machined into the upper leg. This is why different length shafts are needed to change travel, not spacers.

Too many Legos needed!🤣