Birds aren't real!

Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
beeb said:
Is that final shot with the bike hard bottomed out? Doesn't look like the linkage is going to 'overcentre' and bind or anything. Tyres clearance also looks okay. Hows the clearance of the linkage to the seat-tube at full extension?

Realistically, bottom out should only see a couple mm short eye-to-eye length with the shock compressed so if nothing is touching at full extension it should work fine (though undoubtably not recommended by Bird, lol).

210-55 = 155mm eye-to-eye compressed length
216-63 = 153mm eye-to-eye compressed length

There is the possibility the leverage ratio will be more regressive at the beginning of the stroke (think 5010 V2) which can be a bit fiddly for setup, but from memory many of the Intense bikes were similar so it might be a feel more familiar to you anyway.
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Yeah, final shot is the 216x63 bottomed out. I didn't have the foresight to do the same with the topaz before swapping it. I should have labelled those pics, they've uploaded in a mess

I think I think the same, it all seems safe, and on a 10 year old frame I bought for shits and giggles I wouldn't have given it this much thought, but this is my first new new frame in a decade so I'm thinking things through like a regular person for once.

See what cascades thinks about it tomorrow?


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Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
komdotkom said:
You are in Melbourne right? You can borrow my Kitsuma if you want while my Bird is out of action
Gives you a few more tuning options
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Appreciate the offer mate, but I don't think the tuning is an issue, the topaz seems to have plenty to play with. The constant pedal strikes I was getting on buller epic yesterday was a nightmare and the BB seems to sit a good 15-20mm lower than my spider did. I think this RRR linkage is almost entirely to blame, but I refuse to let go of something I lashed out $100 extra for

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K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Plankosaurus said:
Appreciate the offer mate, but I don't think the tuning is an issue, the topaz seems to have plenty to play with. The constant pedal strikes I was getting on buller epic yesterday was a nightmare and the BB seems to sit a good 15-20mm lower than my spider did. I think this RRR linkage is almost entirely to blame, but I refuse to let go of something I lashed out $100 extra for

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I find it hard to get a Topaz to feel good in the mid stroke, in my experience they tend to wallow deep in the travel. While this feels good on the down hills it's not so much fun in the other direction.
FWIW I have 165mm cranks on my Bird and no pedal strikes but I don't have this fancy linkage you speak of.
Cascades is good at the moment but a few braking bumps are starting below the lunch room.
 
Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Stoked and bummed out

I rode Cascades today with daughter (she did a ripper job of it!), 216x63 monarch in the bird. It was heaps better - no more pedal strikes and felt much better in general trail mode than the 210x55 topaz did. To be fair to the topaz, I think it has more potential than the monarch but is hamstrung by the shorter length and my attempts to tune it to deal with that.

I'm bummed that I spent $400 on a topaz in the "correct" size when I had this monarch sitting around.

I'm stoked that I had this monarch sitting around to try out and work out that the sizing is far superior.


I'll keep running the monarch for now, it's not perfect but I'll never get the topaz this good. I think it would be close to bang on if I ran a volume spacer and dropped the pressure a little, it's just a little stiffer than I'd like at the start of it's travel. Reckon I might keep an eye out for a 216x63 topaz now, I'm a big fan of the easy adjustability of it and I want to give it a proper chance with a better size.

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M

madstace

Likes Dirt
Sorry if I missed it, but did you check the bladder pressure on the Topaz? One thing that it's both good and bad at is it will operate "ok" when well outside the sweet spot. I normally find once I feel like the rear suspension is off, pedal strikes/wallowy etc, the bladder needs checking. You can also use it to tune as it moves the operating band as you play with the pressure. It also needs a good amount of bands if you've got a progressive linkage. I wouldn't worry about the trail mode which on either shock. I'm convinced for both shocks that "firm" is just open with a higher threshold, whereas "trail" is a firmer mode that makes both shocks feel wooden/dead.
 
Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
madstace said:
Sorry if I missed it, but did you check the bladder pressure on the Topaz? One thing that it's both good and bad at is it will operate "ok" when well outside the sweet spot. I normally find once I feel like the rear suspension is off, pedal strikes/wallowy etc, the bladder needs checking. You can also use it to tune as it moves the operating band as you play with the pressure. It also needs a good amount of bands if you've got a progressive linkage. I wouldn't worry about the trail mode which on either shock. I'm convinced for both shocks that "firm" is just open with a higher threshold, whereas "trail" is a firmer mode that makes both shocks feel wooden/dead.
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Yeah I think I didn't mention it properly, but I have messed with the bladder too. The pedal strikes I think are a direct result of the ride height that the magic linkage gives it, I've had it firm enough that trail mode feels like climb mode on the monarch but I'll still clip those pedals.

I'm actually pretty impressed with the adjustability of the topaz, and I'm super keen to try one in the slightly longer form. But I just don't think I'll get the shorter shock to work for me without switching to the stock linkage, and that's just not acceptable because I bought the special linkage and by Christ I'm going to use it



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