Ripcurrent S - No travel in air suspension fork

[330rcs]

Hello, I just got the Ripcurrent S delivered and setup today. I’m having issues with the air suspension fork. There’s no travel in the shocks when I push down on the handle bars or go over bumps, it just remains stiff. There is a red dial on the right side of the fork but, no matter where i turn the dial either fully clockwise, counter clockwise, in the middle etc. the fork remains stiff.

How can I adjust the fork settings so it’s not so stiff and rather softer and there is travel in the fork? I don’t have a shock air pump, I guess I need to get one? I’ve never had a bike with suspension.

Thanks

 

[Van de Graaff]

Hello 330RCS welcome to the EBR forums and hope you will enjoy your new RipCurrent S.

Now, on to your situation.

The first thing I would recommend to anyone with an air suspension fork is, "Buy a bike shock pump". The cost is about $25. Besides being able to fill and bleed the air shock, the included gauge will measure the amount of pressure "PSI" in the shock. Depending on the model fork, your style of riding, and your weight, pressures can be from 50 to 200 psi. I would check this first.

So, how much PSI ? As for the Mozo air shock on the RipCurrent S, I have not been able to get a guide or chart on the amounts from Mozo or Juiced Bikes. OK, this is not set in stone, but I generally go with a starting PSI that is 50% the rider weight for a soft ride to 75% for a more firm ride. Then adjust the PSI as needed for ride and for sag. I'm about 190 to 200 lbs. and run between 80 to 100 PSI.

It is possible that too much air was filled into the shock. The other possibility is that their is no air, no pressure in the air shock. Basically, the shock has bottomed out. You need to check that air pressure. I've also heard of the shocks sometimes getting stuck or frozen in place on new units. The remedy has been to release all the air from the shock, then refilling the shock.

Now , while the PSI might be the cause, it may be the compression lockout may be stuck.

Check that the red knob is actually engaging the lockout stem in the shock. Verify that the center screw is on tight and the knob is not slipping on the stem You should hear several clicks as you turn the knob. You can remove the knob, but be careful, there are ball bearings and springs under the knob. Check the underside and verify the knob is not broken or rounded out.

Next, inside the shock you will see the stem in the center that the screw and red knob sit on is the shaft for the compression lockout. You will notice it has a hexagonal head. Without placing any downward pressure on the shock, see if you can rotate it using a wrench. It should rotate smoothly.

I don't know if this helps, but maybe it gives you a starting point.

 

[330rcs]

Thanks! I believe there was air because I took off the cap on the left side and saw the air valve and released some air and the shocks starting going down. However I may have let out too much air because now the shocks go down and stay down, they don’t go back up. So I just locked the forklift with the red dial until I can get a shock pump.

It appears the red dial is working, I checked the tightness of the center screw. It clicks as I turn it and locks out the shocks if I turn it fully counter clockwise.

Hello 330RCS welcome to the EBR forums and hope you will enjoy your new RipCurrent S.

Now, on to your situation.

The first thing I would recommend to anyone with an air suspension fork is, "Buy a bike shock pump". The cost is about $25. Besides being able to fill and bleed the air shock, the included gauge will measure the amount of pressure "PSI" in the shock. Depending on the model fork, your style of riding, and your weight, pressures can be from 50 to 200 psi. I would check this first.

So, how much PSI ? As for the Mozo air shock on the RipCurrent S, I have not been able to get a guide or chart on the amounts from Mozo or Juiced Bikes. OK, this is not set in stone, but I generally go with a starting PSI that is 50% the rider weight for a soft ride to 75% for a more firm ride. Then adjust the PSI as needed for ride and for sag. I'm about 190 to 200 lbs. and run between 80 to 100 PSI.

It is possible that too much air was filled into the shock. The other possibility is that their is no air, no pressure in the air shock. Basically, the shock has bottomed out. You need to check that air pressure. I've also heard of the shocks sometimes getting stuck or frozen in place on new units. The remedy has been to release all the air from the shock, then refilling the shock.

Now , while the PSI might be the cause, it may be the compression lockout may be stuck.

Check that the red knob is actually engaging the lockout stem in the shock. Verify that the center screw is on tight and the knob is not slipping on the stem You should hear several clicks as you turn the knob. You can remove the knob, but be careful, there are ball bearings and springs under the knob. Check the underside and verify the knob is not broken or rounded out.

Next, inside the shock you will see the stem in the center that the screw and red knob sit on is the shaft for the compression lockout. You will notice it has a hexagonal head. Without placing any downward pressure on the shock, see if you can rotate it using a wrench. It should rotate smoothly.

I don't know if this helps, but maybe it gives you a starting point.

 

[Nova Haibike]

However I may have let out too much air because now the shocks go down and stay down, they don’t go back up.

Yes. Your fork has no travel because you let all the air out.

 

[Van de Graaff]

Now we know what's going on. You let the air out of the shock. Despite the air shocks appearance, the reservoir is actually small, a low volume high pressure container. What seems like a small short burst of air probably emptied it. OK . . .no big deal, not the end of the world!

Get that shock pump! Don't be tempted to use a bike tire pump. It will cause you more grief than you want. I think before you re-inflate the shock, be sure to turn the lockout knob to the unlocked or open position.

 

[330rcs]

I ordered the shock pump but, in the meantime my bike mechanic who assembled it, came by with his pump and filled air in, which fixed the issue. However I’m still not sure if I like the feel of it, as it’s still kinda stiff, it does go down if I push on the handlebars and bounces back like it’s supposed to. Takes quite a bit of a push.

When I ride the bike I don’t see or feel the fork “springing” down. When I saw some YouTube videos maybe this bike is different but, some of their forks were going down just with braking.

All I did was go over speed bumps and bumpy road. Though it’s possible I’m not noticing it working? The ride itself wasn’t bad, I definitely felt the rear, seat area way more than the front there was a clear difference. I’m about to purchase the kinetic bodyfloat seat suspension post.

When my shock pump arrives I’m going to play with the air pressure. Normally I mostly ride on the roads only but, they can be pretty bumpy around here. I do want to start trail riding, there are many trails out here. Just want to try to get the suspension dialed in.

 

[Van de Graaff]

Great! At least the suspension issue is fixed.

Many videos that showcase the shock suspension on a bike are of true mountain bikes ridden by pros who bomb downhill trails all the time. You will see them highlighting the suspension, often in slow motion. It looks really cool, but the event is over in a second. If you are selling your downhill mountain bike, rider, or shock, I'm going to overwhelm you with images like that again and again. If your looking to climb boulders, jump over rocks the size of footballs, and sail over raised bumps for 20 or 30 feet, I don't think the RipCurrent is quite up to the challenge.

Now, the bike has a suspension fork with a compression travel of 80 mm, that's a little over 3 inches. and considered a general or light trail bike. A shock with 150 mm to 200 mm of travel has 6 to almost 8 inches of travel, and considered a downhill bike. You would probably notice the travel much more. Many mountain bikes use shocks of this size

Your statement of, "some of their forks were going down just with braking" is true and called brake dive. This is dependent on how the shock is set up. If the shock is set very soft or the sag is incorrect for the riders weight, you'll probably get brake dive. If the brake dive is huge and very noticeable, I would say the sag is incorrect. For myself, if I want a very firm suspension, my sag is about 1/3 inch. A moderate suspension, the sag would be about 3/4 inch. A really soft Cadillac or Town Car suspension would be about 1 to 1 1/4 inch. Do realize that's almost half, 50% of the shocks travel just sitting on the bike. If you hit a speed bump or good pothole at speed, the shock may bottom out. A suspension fork will always exhibit some amount of dive, unless it is locked out.

You hit the nail on the head! You mentioned the key point here, "get the suspension dialed in." We are all different with different needs and desires. No one setting is perfect for everyone. Set the sag of your shock to your weight, then play with it, tweak it to what your looking for. And don't forget, that lockout knob is actually variable between fully closed or locked to fully open, unlocked. The clicks you hear as you rotate the knob are the degrees of compression. Think of it like the valve on your faucet, it can be completely closed, no water, partially open, a dribble of water, or wide open.

Don't get me wrong, I think the RipCurrent is a very good and capable bike. I wouldn't subject it to extreme downhill trail runs however. It's kinda like this . . . it looks like a Monster truck, but really it's just a souped up Ranger. It's a bike you can commute with, go to the supermarket or mall, ride lite trails with, take on an adventure occasionally and park in the driveway or garage. Try doing that with BIGFOOT or GRAVEDIGGER . . . Ahhhh . . . I don't think so

 

[330rcs]

I thought I posted this last night but, I guess not: After googling soft/stiff suspension difference. I found “If you're riding faster you'll be hitting things harder and flying higher, so you need firmer suspension”. I ride faster so maybe I should just keep it like this but, with the pump coming I can mess with it.

I appreciate your detailed reply. Yes, you’re correct I was watching mountain bike videos and they were doing some pretty crazy stuff, which is nothing like I would be doing. That’s pretty much all that came up on YouTube when searching for “bike air suspension setup”.

You explained it really well, the travel isn’t supposed to be that much for my purpose. In my mind I was just thinking “more travel = more comfortable, more bump absorbing” but, it seems I have it incorrect. Anyhow no harm in just playing with it and doing some test rides when the pump comes in. Just so I can get a feel for the different pressure.

I just went and tested the dial and see what you’re referring to, I will just start with testing this on different settings as I’m riding around rather than messing with the pressure itself to start. I notice how at fully open there’s more travel and as I slowly turn the dial it starts to get stiffer but, at about half way it starts to feel like it’s totally locked. What would be the reason for that? Is it normal or there’s too much air/pressure? should it only feel totally locked out once it’s turned to fully counter clock wise position? Or no? Is it normal to feel it has totally locked out at 4-5 clicks from the unlocked position?

Thanks for your help!

 

[J.R.]

I thought I posted this last night but, I guess not: After googling soft/stiff suspension difference. I found “If you're riding faster you'll be hitting things harder and flying higher, so you need firmer suspension”. I ride faster so maybe I should just keep it like this but, with the pump coming I can mess with it.

I appreciate your detailed reply. Yes, you’re correct I was watching mountain bike videos and they were doing some pretty crazy stuff, which is nothing like I would be doing. That’s pretty much all that came up on YouTube when searching for “bike air suspension setup”.

You explained it really well, the travel isn’t supposed to be that much for my purpose. In my mind I was just thinking “more travel = more comfortable, more bump absorbing” but, it seems I have it incorrect. Anyhow no harm in just playing with it and doing some test rides when the pump comes in. Just so I can get a feel for the different pressure.

I just went and tested the dial and see what you’re referring to, I will just start with testing this on different settings as I’m riding around rather than messing with the pressure itself to start. I notice how at fully open there’s more travel and as I slowly turn the dial it starts to get stiffer but, at about half way it starts to feel like it’s totally locked. What would be the reason for that? Is it normal or there’s too much air/pressure? should it only feel totally locked out once it’s turned to fully counter clock wise position? Or no? Is it normal to feel it has totally locked out at 4-5 clicks from the unlocked position?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Van de Graaff]

Hey J.R. that;s a great find on Youtube. When you can provide good visuals and explanations it's fantastic. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

330rcs checkout the video J.R. posted it explains a lot.

Keep in mind it's a new bike, give it a little break in. I would say what your experiencing is normal. Play around with the different dial settings and pressures. We don't know the actual PSI in your shock yet. Remember, dial it in for YOU!

ENJOY and HAVE FUN with your new bike!

 

[Guitartec]

Hello, I just got the Ripcurrent S delivered and setup today. I’m having issues with the air suspension fork. There’s no travel in the shocks when I push down on the handle bars or go over bumps, it just remains stiff. There is a red dial on the right side of the fork but, no matter where i turn the dial either fully clockwise, counter clockwise, in the middle etc. the fork remains stiff.

How can I adjust the fork settings so it’s not so stiff and rather softer and there is travel in the fork? I don’t have a shock air pump, I guess I need to get one? I’ve never had a bike with suspension.

Thanks

One of the things to know about the Mozo fat bike Air fork is that the red knob you use to dial in the compression is screwed onto a valve that physically moves down away from the red knob when you turn it clockwise. The red knob does not go up and down, so due to this poor design, the red knob must be screwed on to the valve fitting in exactly the right place that allows for Full travel from complete lock up (in complete counter clockwise position) all the way to the least amount of resistance available within the knob’s full range of motion.

If your Mozo fork is like mine was when you got it, you’ll notice the red knob is often very loose. My advice would be to not take it off and accidentally re-position it before knowing if it is working properly, from full lock up to too spongy. Underneath the knob is some springs and some BB size bearings that will roll away and be lost forever. The springs are supposed to keep tension on the knob so it doesn’t wobble/vibrate, but it doesn’t seem to work very well. Due to this, you may not be able to tighten the red knob to keep it from shaking unless you take note of its exact position, remove the knob carefully and maybe put some thin foam that won’t inhibit it from turning from lock to lock, then reinstalling the knob in exactly the same position, or where ever you feel it needs to go in order to get the amount of fork travel and feel that works for you. I do not know about other fat bike shocks, but I can tell you that the Mozo engineers should be slapped. Surely there could’ve easily been a better designed valve/knob configuration, but they were obviously drunk and had to come in well within the 8¢ per unit limit. OK now I’m just venting!

 

[Guitartec]

Oh, I contacted Juiced' to ask what pressure the MOZO is supposed to at. They responded with 100psi. That's a joke in MHO. I'm 250lbs, and the fork is almost unusable with 100psi.

I have two riding buddies both with much newer 2020 RCSs. Their forks don't even say MOZO on them and they lockout when the red knob is fully clockwise. My 2018 MOZO locks out when fully counterclockwise. Not sure what the deal is there.

LASTLY, The Juiced Bikes Club on Google Groups is now called JUICED RIPCURRENT RIDERS. The group's focus is soley on Juiced Ripcurrents. You must have a Google account to be a member.

Redirecting to Google Groups

 

[Explorer-1]

Unfortunately a lot of RCS came with some no name air shocks that are crap. If I was a lawyer I would sue them. I'm not sure if they are still shipping them with this POS fork, but they are still not owning up to their bate-n-switch. My shock came with 100PSI and it was useless, my cheaper DJ spring shock fork works 10 times as good. I adjusted the RCS to 50 PSI last week and I'm not sure it is any better, but it might be, as it seem no worse. the shock is too slow to recover and I don't believe the recovery is adjustable. Since they have no documentation on it I'm hesitant to loosen/play with the hex-nut and the bottom of the fork; just does not look like an intended adjustment to me. My eventual review will call out the POS fork that others have mentioned. I'd say the first issue is that 100 PSI is way too much pressure for this shock.

So far the best expansion on the RCS seems to be to run the tires at about 10 PSI, but I'm currently using 20 for best range. I'll likely try 15 PSI in a couple weeks, if I don't play with the shock anymore.

Does anyone have a recommended drop-in replacement fork?

ps.. my no-name shock is locked with full clockwise rotation, and fully open in the counter clockwise position. I have not found the settings in between to be very responsive at 100PSI, but I have tested the control at 50PSI and found it to be much more responsive, I've been running it almost open, but will probably close it acouple more clicks. On the adjustment dial it says ABS+, so the fork could be a Manitou ABS+ not sure.

 

[Guitartec]

Unfortunately a lot of RCS came with some no name air shocks that are crap. If I was a lawyer I would sue them. I'm not sure if they are still shipping them with this POS fork, but they are still now owning up to their bate-n-switch. My shock came with 100PSI and it was useless, my cheaper DJ spring shock fork works 10 times as good. I adjusted the RCS to 50 PSI last week and I'm not sure it is any better, but it might be, as it seem no worse. the shock is too slow to recover and I don't believe the recovery is adjustable. Sin ce they have no documentation on it I'm hesitant to loosen play with the hex-nut and the bottom of the fork; just doe snot look like an intended adjustment to me. My eventual review will call out the POS fork that others have mentioned.

So far the best expansion on the RCS seems to be to run the tires at about 10 PSI, but I'm currently using 20 for best range. I'll likely try 15 PSI in a couple weeks, if I don't play with the shock anymore.

Does anyone have a recommended drop-in replacement fork?

Not sure about drop-in, but Bolton has one that Kyle the owner swears by;

Area 13

boltonebikes.com

Luna has a sub $100 FB fork but those guys are nut jobs;

Suspension Front Fat Bike Fork (for Sondors and other Fat Ebikes)

Distributors and builders of life changing high power electric bikes.

lunacycle.com

I'd buy a Bluto if Trump would send me another $1200.

 

[Nova Haibike]

Does anyone have a recommended drop-in replacement fork?

I don't think you have a choice other than to stick with a no-name fork. There are fat bike suspension forks by Rock Shox, Manitou, and RST, but they almost all have tapered steerers and thru axles.

my no-name shock...on the adjustment dial it says ABS+, so the fork could be a Manitou ABS+ not sure.

Unless Manitou made an OEM fork for Juiced, I doubt it. Mastodon forks are $600 and they only come with thru axles.