I have a Trek Slash 8, and the rear shock was eating through its travel. I had the shop throw in a spacer when I had the shock rebuilt, and it made the shock feel SOOO much better.

Great explanation of how it all works! The only thing I’ve ever used tokens on is the arcade at my local mall. Now I gotta give THIS a shot.

This is probably the best explanation of what volume spacers are, and what they do that I've seen. It goes into one thing other videos miss: the effect of volume spacers on air pressure (spring rate) and your compression and rebound settings.

Great video thanks brother. I just added a token to my 36 and add some HSC and dropped the air 10 PSI I really like it.🔥🔥

Great video! I'm new to the channel and definitely think you deserve more views! Also thanks for recommending N+1! I've got a Ripley AF heading my way within the next 1 to 2 weeks!

Very good explanation, thanks!

Just a word of warning, especially on an already small volume shock like the superdeluxe, going for the maximum amount of tokens can lead to very harsh and uncontrollable suspension. There’s this ‘wall’ of progression deep in the stroke, even worse, the bike rebounds very quick from deep in the stroke which makes it a bit like a bucking horse. Using a ton of compression damping is an alternative to stiffen up the rear but this also makes the bike harsh on small hits and feeling ‘dead’. I learned this the hard way but when your riding style/weight demands very progressive suspension I would pick a frame that’s already quite progressive, unless cascade offers a link for your frame of choice.

Great video. Answered my questions! Subscribed. Thank you!!a

When equalizing pressure between positive and negative air chamber, I believe that Rock Shox recommends doing this without the shock pump connected

Awsome video! A very underrated KZfaqr indeed...

Phenomenal explanation

Great video Rich. Simple and to the point!💪🏻

Damn much understandable and informative and simple way to discuss this! Thanks!

Excellent video - that definitely helped!

Great video again rich!

Good breakdown.

wow. glad I watched this

Oh, liked and subscribed :)

I have a Fox factory 36 170mm and was running 0 tokens for a few years. I was never able to fully bottom out, but, I like having that last bit when it may be needed. I re-watched a great set-up video on the Fox Grip 2 damper by The Lost Co. (Mike). He explained that he could never get the fork dialed in with no tokens, so he recommended using 2 tokens no matter what. Said all his settings, (HSR,LSR,HSC,LSC) just work better now. I figured what the heck, if I don’t try it I’ll never know. I added 2 tokens, 5psi less air, (to achieve proper sag), and rode at my favorite trail that I know well. I was actually blown away at how much better the fork felt. Super supple over rough sections, my hands didn’t get beat up, and I was able to dial in a bit of LSC whereas with no tokens I had to run all compression wide open to prevent it from feeling harsh. I use the same amount of travel as before, but the fork feels amazing now. I say give it a try with 0 tokens, then try it with 2 tokens. You may actually be surprised. You won’t know until you try it both ways.

Use a regular ratchet, not a torque wrench to remove the topcap, then install with the torque wrench. Other than that, great video and thanks for the explanation.

Air added/subtracted = Spring rate Volume spacers added/subtracted = Preload When compared to coil.

After I bought my used bike I thought something was wrong with the fork! Turns out, it had a volume spacer in it.. I was always looking forward to adding spacers, but turns out I don't like them!

Its funny... ive seen the best of riders! Thinkn the more spacers... the cooler! Good video! Hope it helps the ding-dongs understand mtb suspension

First time using volume spacers since getting a new 120mm air fork for my xc/trail hardtail. Im 6'5" and 230lbs. I've settled on running no volume spacers as forks feel best for me with quite high air pressure and I dont seem to bottom them out.

I should have watched this before using a standard socket, luckily I did very little damage. :(

Great breakdown Rich, thanks but what happened to the links in the upper right hand corner?

You should have more subscribers

I miss your traveling and trail riding videos.

Thank you for the video. It was useful. As a relative newcomer to both suspension and physics...I was wondering whether or not there is a felt-effect at the beginning of the stroke too? ie does the addition of spacers diminish the small bump compliance? Or is the effect restricted to that which is desired: the elimination or delay of bottoming out? Cheers.

Maybe I missed something. If I add tokens, do I have to go through rebound/compression path again or no?

What I cant quite wrap my head around is less available volume due to spacers so that also means less air. How does that help anything? Also do spacers affect travel? I guess not, tokens just physically sit where there once was air. Wait never mind, less air in a smaller container means it compresses faster as per your ball example. light bulb moment, lol

@semi-sendy if you remove a 2cm spacer on a 120mm fork, doesn't this effectively reduce the fork travel to 100mm?

Would it be a reasonable generalisation to say that spacers are needed for light weight riders on longer travel shocks?

Can you please help. My fox kashima 40 downhill fork i can't turn to + or - the high speed compression..

mine has some in it and its spring so its not for spring forks????

Can you run no tokens?

I did not want to faff with all that on the trail, I have Ext Era, two adjustable air chambers, so easily to set up and test on the trail. Only need a shock pump. So I won't go back to Fox. But I was few up with the creaking so that is another reason. Rockshox had dual air before but they abandoned the idea to make it "more user friendly" not for me. But one advantage is once you have it setup perfectly you have only one chamber to adjust, but you can't tune it for each rider quickly, so not optimal for rental bikes.

*laughs in ohlins*

I've got to find a flat ground and check what's inside the fork. I need to do my best to make my fork feel like the factory I have. I think you can get the internals to upgrade a performance level?

How come I prefer 0 tokens on ZEB'21 ultimate 29" 170mm. ~70 PSI (I weight 73kg, Levo 23kg). I prefer a bit higher ride (especially that often I ride quite steep technical stuff) ? (better mid support)? and I use almost all travel (in heavy hit situations). If I put tokens, I almost never use whole travel, thus I could lower the pressure? but then, I feel mid support will be worse.

semi can you vouch that N+ bikes exists? about to make a purchase

For adding volume reducer which i will keep same the air psi or the sag??

You should remove the pump before you pull down the fork

Racers be like „less spacers - more air“ - there is a lot of truth in that statement

SHeesh

All good, but what's the difference between adding a token/spacer vs adding pressure? It's not quite as spring rate vs preload for a spring, as springs are mostly linear. With progressive characteristic of air suspension, I can't see a difference between spacer and extra pressure. With both you just shift the graph to the left.

just curious, did you get a Ripmo to replace your sentinel?

What torque wrench is that? And whats the torque spec for the cap on fox shocks?

I still don’t understand how volume spacers work. It seems like they will shorten your travel by the amount of space taken up by the volume spacer or spacers?

Great video! I still didn't see the links in the video I watched though.... Can you respond with them, please and thank you?!

For normal average rider, with a correct sag on the fork that still doesn’t bottom out but use the right amount of travel….. Is the token useless? Because it change only the last part of the travel… so does the token make sense only if, with correct sag, you are too often on the end of travel/bottom out?

Why aren’t there charts that suggest how many bottomless tokens to start with based on weight and aggressiveness of riding?

What I'd like to know is how are these new stocks able to hold up against say 18 to 20st men I was a DH and street trail rider 15 or so years ago I want to get back into mountain biking but want to loose bit weight cycling first only thing is I'm scared incase I go spend a fortune on a good bike and it turns out to be like designer gear. No fatties allowed 😂 like I said it was my life back in the day now I've got the time to do it again family all settled etc but after covid I blew up with water retention and apparently have this long covid hospital said but got saved up now for an mtb ready to get one I've seen a couple bigger guys riding and jumping trails no bother but seem to only be able to use 170mm travel forks

Do you think it's better to run slightly lower pressure and a token or mor air and no tokens if you were using the same amount of travel?

But do Tokens reduce the travel of your fork, meaning your 160mm fork with 4cm of Tokens is now a 120mm fork, and you just got scammed buying an expensive downhill bike when you should have just got a crosscountry bike to begin with? Or is there "dead space" in the shock where air compresses but never is used as travel for the piston in the shock, and thats the gap you fill with the Tokens to reduce that final compression space to near zero? This would make sense since forks have different maximum Tokens in their specs. Too many Tokens and they would hit the piston and thats bad?

Is it better to use the hsc circuit to help increase ramp up or spacers?

You never use a torque wrench to loosen a fastener. Only for tightening a fastener!

Never ever cycle your suspension with the pump hooked up, the pressure spikes will ruin the accuracy. This is basic gauge care.

Fox forks look crap nowadays .