Springs in future shock on turbo Vado SL 5.0

[Howie7]

Hi,
is it possible to tell whether a spring is installed into the future shock without actually looking inside? The reason I ask this is that my bike, which I bought by mail order, came with three springs in the spares box and I’ve seen from some of the posts on here that people have received their bikes with two spare springs and one already inserted. The future shock seems to be functioning in that when I bounce the front of the bike up and down it does spring back.

 

[kahn]

Hi,
is it possible to tell whether a spring is installed into the future shock without actually looking inside? The reason I ask this is that my bike, which I bought by mail order, came with three springs in the spares box and I’ve seen from some of the posts on here that people have received their bikes with two spare springs and one already inserted. The future shock seems to be functioning in that when I bounce the front of the bike up and down it does spring back.

Push down on the handlebars near the stem. You should get a bit of up/down movement with some resistance. I don't think just "air" would provide much bounce in that chamber.

There are a variety of youtube videos on accessing and changing the springs although, your shop should be responsible.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I don't want to sound malicious or irritated @Howie7 but please tell me which of the tools of your toolbox could undo the saddle rails' bolts on your Vado SL 5.0?
It seems that you managed to replace the Original Post (including its title) with new & totally different contents while I was away.

You shan't do such things in any Forums.

 

[Howie7]

My apologies Stefan, I found that the bevelled bolt actually has a 5mmm Allen key fitting in the centre, so I didn’t want to waste peoples time. I changed the post to the other question I had.

 

[PennyFarthing]

is it possible to tell whether a spring is installed into the future shock without actually looking inside? The reason I ask this is that my bike, which I bought by mail order, came with three springs in the spares box

No, you can't tell if there's a spring fitted. My bike came from a LBS and I assumed they would have put it together properly. Only today (a mere 18 months / 4k+ miles later) did I get around to checking and guess what: No spring fitted! Funnily enough the future shock mechanism seems to work remarkably well without a spring being fitted. So if you have 3 springs in the spares kit like I did then you should definitely check - it's really easy!

 

[Howie7]

No, you can't tell if there's a spring fitted. My bike came from a LBS and I assumed they would have put it together properly. Only today (a mere 18 months / 4k+ miles later) did I get around to checking and guess what: No spring fitted! Funnily enough the future shock mechanism seems to work remarkably well without a spring being fitted. So if you have 3 springs in the spares kit like I did then you should definitely check - it's really easy!

Thanks, I am very suspicious that they haven’t fitted a spring inside. What a nuisance!

 

[Howie7]

No, you can't tell if there's a spring fitted. My bike came from a LBS and I assumed they would have put it together properly. Only today (a mere 18 months / 4k+ miles later) did I get around to checking and guess what: No spring fitted! Funnily enough the future shock mechanism seems to work remarkably well without a spring being fitted. So if you have 3 springs in the spares kit like I did then you should definitely check - it's really easy!

Has fitting a spring made any noticeable difference?

 

[kahn]

Has fitting a spring made any noticeable difference?

On my Creo, I have not changed/adjusted the springs. I have added the included spacers under the stem to raise the handlebars. Then I got a stem with even more rise. My neck just does not like drop handlebars anymore!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

There are two s

Thanks, I am very suspicious that they haven’t fitted a spring inside. What a nuisance!

There are actually as many springs as two of them inside the FutureShock 1.5:

• The main spring is inside a cartridge. Therefore the FS1.5 always works
• The colour-coded spring is called a helper spring and it is optional

Good video. How to avoid mistakes.

 

[PennyFarthing]

The colour-coded spring is called a helper spring and it is optional

Ah, good video. Explains everything. No wonder it seemed just fine without 'any' spring. Not ridden yet with the additional soft helper fitted, but with a casual bounce it doesn't seem too different from previously.

 

[ronaan]

Hate to bump an old thread but it's sort of relevant:

does the helper spring need to be in lube of any sort? There was no spring pre-installed (got the three blue black yellow with the bike), I put the black one in for now and on one video where a guy shows how to change the springs there is lube/grease on the one he pulls out.

 

[Allan47.7339]

It's not mentioned in the Future Shock 2.0/1.5 manual. The manual link is on the Specialized support page for the Vado SL. Sometimes the info you need is on one of the other model pages too.

Manuals & Tech Content

support.specialized.com

There wasn't any lube on the video linked above in the earlier post. He has a lot of good bike nerd videos on his "The Bike Sauce" channel. His recent video is comparing the Future Shock to the RedShift Shock Pro.

 

[ronaan]

Thanks, the lack of mention in the manuals didn‘t really help. Yeah the other video had no lube. Guess it‘s ok then.