Thx, so D2/E2 have OTT but internally adjusted only?
And yeah - lol, ergonomics apply everywhere. had a pinched nerve from a marathon coding session decades ago (like 72 hours no sleep), learned all about them since. Still somewhat tweaking my bike bar ergos but tons of changes since out of box.
Yep OTT internally only.
@kwseattle Northeast Seattle Tool Library has a bike shack with tools and all the fun stuff like spools of cable & housing, though I'm not sure if they've switched back to normal operation from covid precautions. There's another place that lets you rent out a 'bay' with all the tools and equipment and do all your own work, I don't recall what the name was though... Doing the service on my Mastodon Pro was pretty easy at home with the right tools but kind of scary when I was replacing the mid/rebound damper piston valve with a custom one from Shockcraft. Changing travel was cake though and can be done without dripping fluid anywhere! I have a Rockshox Gold 30 on my hub drive ebike and it was a big improvement over the Suntour coil sprung fork, but a higher end fork is that much more of an improvement! I've got a DVO Topaz T3 on the rear, both the guys at Manitou and DVO have been helpful when I messaged them for a good starting point for shim stack/volume spacers for tuning to my setup & preference. I never needed to do a deep dive into the DVO fork compatability or upgrades, but if they're like Manitou forks then you may be able to swap an OTT cartridge into them. With the Mastodon I could switch the IVA volume spacer in the air spring with the IRT second air chamber, and then I can switch the MC2 cartridge with interally adjustable hydraulic bottom out for an externally adjusted HBO - just unsure if they have a compatible part that would give me high & low speed rebound damping control, but honestly I don't think I need it with the 2 separate air chambers and HSC/LSC + rebound damping ajustment.
If you like doing your own service, Shockcraft has all the charts for correct fluids for different forks/brands and their OEM fluids - if DVO uses Motorex you can get the right stuff from Chaparral Motor Sports in larger quantities and cheaper than the DVO/Manitou/Rockshox branded stuff.
Yeah I actually looked into the Tool Library but they have odd hours that didn't line up with my impatience LOL. I don't think I'll be taking apart the DVO any time soon until I get some good riding time in and make some adjustments. I'll definitely check out Shockcraft when it comes down to it!
I was going to work on setting up the rebound today but ended up polishing some scratches off my bike (Meguiars M105 and M205 work incredibly well by hand, I also used some 2500 and 3000 grit sandpaper for some deep scratches from getting the bike into my car). I put some more paint protection film on my bike as well where the rear fender is mounted and where I scratched the chainstay.
On Thursday night last week I disassembled the headset on my bike just to see what I would be dealing with. To my surprise, the folks at WW graciously installed a split crown race and an expanding mandrel headset nut, which saved me a HUGE amount of hassle. I was able to cancel my orders for the star nut and star nut tool.
Here's a comparison shot between the DVO and the Suntour... you can tell how much beefier the DVO is which will suit this bike's weight and my riding style much better.
I decided to dive right in, I measured my old fork at almost exactly 200mm using some 12" Mitutoyo calipers that I semi-unintentionally permanently borrowed from my last job and marked the new fork. WW had cut the old fork a little bit long (basically no clearance at the top of the stem, all of the guides I've seen online say to cut 3-5mm shorter than the top of the stem), so I marked 2mm shorter to give myself some wiggle room. They also fitted a large stack of spacers so if I truly messed up, I could just remove a spacer.
I used some hose clamps to mark the cut line and clamped the hose clamp screws into my vise, with the fork still in its bag to avoid metal shavings getting on the stanchions. I used a brand new 32tpi hacksaw blade which went pretty quickly but unfortunately the blade drifted INTO the hose clamps so I flipped everything over and started from the other side.
I ended up having to file/sand about 1mm off of the end to get rid of the error from the drifting saw, which brought me to almost exactly 197mm which was perfect and gave me that 3mm recommended clearance from the top of the stem. The expanding headset nut does stick up about 5mm from the top, so the way they installed it from the factory was with another small spacer on top of the stem so that the topcap would fit. Before fitting everything back together I filed the edges of the steer tube and cleaned/greased all of the bearing surfaces with the same Unirex N2 I used in my motor. Here's the whole headset assembly:
And the new fork installed! Very happy with the color matching the rest of my color scheme with the green grips, pedals, and paint.
Another angle in the sun:
First impressions on the DVO (street only): WAY MORE COMFORTABLE. Since I've increased my travel by 60mm I can run much softer than the Suntour, which is awesome for comfort. I'll be taking it to my go to bike park on Tuesday to try it out on the trail.
Oh and since I cut my steer tube a bit shorter, I can fit my custom Cascadian flag topcap now
www.microshift.com
