Is the Quest 2 front shock adjustable?
- Thread starter billyk
- Start date
Same problem
Interesting that I was going to post this similar situation a few weeks ago, as I was adjusting the rear shock on my Quest that was bottoming out mostly because of my 240 lbs I realized that I never had noticed any movement on my front suspension, so I tried to force it to move and got nothing.
Interesting that I was going to post this similar situation a few weeks ago, as I was adjusting the rear shock on my Quest that was bottoming out mostly because of my 240 lbs I realized that I never had noticed any movement on my front suspension, so I tried to force it to move and got nothing.
Hugh Mitenko
New Member
Front suspension
Im also keen on this- I bottom out a few times ont he way to work. I've noticed it happens less when I lean WAY back, but I'd love to make it stiffer.
Im also keen on this- I bottom out a few times ont he way to work. I've noticed it happens less when I lean WAY back, but I'd love to make it stiffer.
Doug Burton
Zen MBB Master
Quest fork
The Quest fork is not adjustable per se.
If you remove the steering column and look down into the fork, there is a round plug with an allen head hole in it. If you remove this plug you'll find a suspension fork spring underneath.
I suspect this spring could be replaced with a stiffer one, but I'm not sure how to spec out a viable alternative.
I think John Zabriskie at Intermountain Cruzbike (one of our dealers) has done this with a Sofrider fork, whch uses the same suspension design. Perhaps he will weigh in with some suggestions.
Best,
Doug
The Quest fork is not adjustable per se.
If you remove the steering column and look down into the fork, there is a round plug with an allen head hole in it. If you remove this plug you'll find a suspension fork spring underneath.
I suspect this spring could be replaced with a stiffer one, but I'm not sure how to spec out a viable alternative.
I think John Zabriskie at Intermountain Cruzbike (one of our dealers) has done this with a Sofrider fork, whch uses the same suspension design. Perhaps he will weigh in with some suggestions.
Best,
Doug
billyk
Guru
Mystery solved
Thank, Doug. That solves the mystery. When I first got the bike it was making all these pinging/clicking noises. (It turned out to be loose spokes). After doing everything I could think of, I took it to my LBS, who told me that the headset was very loose and tightened it down. A couple of their guys peered down there and couldn't figure out what that round plug was about. But presumably that tightening compressed the spring and effectively disabled the shock.
So ... how tight should that thing be? I can loosen it but how much? How do I know what the right tightness is?
As I remember it took a very long allen wrench to reach it that they had to look around for. Can you tell me what size so I can get it before taking the headset apart?
Thanks ... Billy K
Thank, Doug. That solves the mystery. When I first got the bike it was making all these pinging/clicking noises. (It turned out to be loose spokes). After doing everything I could think of, I took it to my LBS, who told me that the headset was very loose and tightened it down. A couple of their guys peered down there and couldn't figure out what that round plug was about. But presumably that tightening compressed the spring and effectively disabled the shock.
So ... how tight should that thing be? I can loosen it but how much? How do I know what the right tightness is?
As I remember it took a very long allen wrench to reach it that they had to look around for. Can you tell me what size so I can get it before taking the headset apart?
Thanks ... Billy K
Hugh Mitenko
New Member
quest suspension
Hmmm. That makes it a bit of a problem, then. I find that either on a real bump or even on a smaller one at speed, that front suspension bottoms out with a real clank. Can you tell me, then, Doug, or maybe John T, would I be better off trying to disable it? I'd rather get the stiffer spring in there, but that seems like it will take some time to sort.
Can you give a step-by-step detailed guide of HOW to disable the front suspension? I think I might prefer that. I am a taller rider (I ride with the BB all the way out) and when I crank hard on the pedals the BB moves noticeably. I had thought maybe that energy I transfer into the bike then gets released in a dead part of the crank cycle, but that's probably just wishful thinking. With the suspension locked I wouldn't have that problem, but I might run the risk of more flats or even a bent rim... do you agree?
Thanks
Hmmm. That makes it a bit of a problem, then. I find that either on a real bump or even on a smaller one at speed, that front suspension bottoms out with a real clank. Can you tell me, then, Doug, or maybe John T, would I be better off trying to disable it? I'd rather get the stiffer spring in there, but that seems like it will take some time to sort.
Can you give a step-by-step detailed guide of HOW to disable the front suspension? I think I might prefer that. I am a taller rider (I ride with the BB all the way out) and when I crank hard on the pedals the BB moves noticeably. I had thought maybe that energy I transfer into the bike then gets released in a dead part of the crank cycle, but that's probably just wishful thinking. With the suspension locked I wouldn't have that problem, but I might run the risk of more flats or even a bent rim... do you agree?
Thanks
John Tolhurst
Zen MBB Master
Which fork are we talking about?
Quest 2.0 has shipped with a white logo, or with a blue/white shaded logo. There is a difference in the forks installed on these. The blue/white Quest has the fork as shipped with Sofrider, Freerider and Quest for the past few years. That fork can no longer be procured.
Riders who have comments on the fork need to clarify if they are talking about the blue logo Quert or the white logo Quest.
It is by suble changes to colour or design that we can quckly and easily trace which production run each person's bike comes from, even when it is based on the same frame edition, i.e. 2.0.
John
Quest 2.0 has shipped with a white logo, or with a blue/white shaded logo. There is a difference in the forks installed on these. The blue/white Quest has the fork as shipped with Sofrider, Freerider and Quest for the past few years. That fork can no longer be procured.
Riders who have comments on the fork need to clarify if they are talking about the blue logo Quert or the white logo Quest.
It is by suble changes to colour or design that we can quckly and easily trace which production run each person's bike comes from, even when it is based on the same frame edition, i.e. 2.0.
John
billyk
Guru
Re: which fork are we talking about?
Thanks for that information. Since I've only seen my own Quest 2.0, I had no idea there were different models. Mine has the blue-shading-to-white logo. (And it's a very beautiful logo, I might add).
Specifically, since it appears that my front shock was disabled by being tightened too much (see comment above), I would loosen the vertical bolt through the plug in the steering column. But how much? Is there a standard for this? Instructions would be much appreciated before I go about loosening such a key piece of the bike.
BK
Thanks for that information. Since I've only seen my own Quest 2.0, I had no idea there were different models. Mine has the blue-shading-to-white logo. (And it's a very beautiful logo, I might add).
Specifically, since it appears that my front shock was disabled by being tightened too much (see comment above), I would loosen the vertical bolt through the plug in the steering column. But how much? Is there a standard for this? Instructions would be much appreciated before I go about loosening such a key piece of the bike.
BK
John Tolhurst
Zen MBB Master
fatall, billyk,
please be
fatall, billyk,
please be more specific. If the fork bottoms out, yet has only 2mm travel, that means it must compress a lot when you sit on it. What happens when you stand up and press down on the bars, can you generate the full travel?
please be
fatall, billyk,
please be more specific. If the fork bottoms out, yet has only 2mm travel, that means it must compress a lot when you sit on it. What happens when you stand up and press down on the bars, can you generate the full travel?
billyk
Guru
Being specific
The fork has zero or near-zero compression, when I sit on it or go over a bump. I cannot generate any noticeable travel at all by any means. I was probably being charitable or hopeful when I said 2mm. It's closer to zero.
When I said "bottoms out", I meant comes to the end of whatever small travel it has, then has a hard stop. Sorry, that was misleading.
As I said above, I'm pretty sure this is due to my LBS tightening the bolt through the shock, after telling me that it was "much too loose". I had gone to them to help track down a clicking noise that turned out to be loose spokes. They thought it was the "loose" bolt, and tightened it.
I will loosen it, but would like to know how much, before I start loosening such a critical part. Also, what size/length allen wrench I need (as I recall it was quite long). I'd like to have the tool on hand before I do the disassembly.
Thanks ... BK
The fork has zero or near-zero compression, when I sit on it or go over a bump. I cannot generate any noticeable travel at all by any means. I was probably being charitable or hopeful when I said 2mm. It's closer to zero.
When I said "bottoms out", I meant comes to the end of whatever small travel it has, then has a hard stop. Sorry, that was misleading.
As I said above, I'm pretty sure this is due to my LBS tightening the bolt through the shock, after telling me that it was "much too loose". I had gone to them to help track down a clicking noise that turned out to be loose spokes. They thought it was the "loose" bolt, and tightened it.
I will loosen it, but would like to know how much, before I start loosening such a critical part. Also, what size/length allen wrench I need (as I recall it was quite long). I'd like to have the tool on hand before I do the disassembly.
Thanks ... BK
John Tolhurst
Zen MBB Master
billyk,
hmm, lets see if we
billyk,
hmm, lets see if we can undo your hamfisted LBS's 'intervention'.
I think it s a 6mm hex head you need. Try and see. Pop the cap out of the top and measure with a stick or something to know the length.
Loosen three turns, measure the suspension travel. Stop when travel is 25mm.
If you need to take the front wheel and apply a sash clamp from top of steerer to under the fork crown, in order to measure the travel, then do so.
And, don't rely on my words as a failsafe approach, I have only outlined the basic idea of it. In the end, I can only guess and assume.
hmm, lets see if we
billyk,
hmm, lets see if we can undo your hamfisted LBS's 'intervention'.
I think it s a 6mm hex head you need. Try and see. Pop the cap out of the top and measure with a stick or something to know the length.
Loosen three turns, measure the suspension travel. Stop when travel is 25mm.
If you need to take the front wheel and apply a sash clamp from top of steerer to under the fork crown, in order to measure the travel, then do so.
And, don't rely on my words as a failsafe approach, I have only outlined the basic idea of it. In the end, I can only guess and assume.
Hugh Mitenko
New Member
loose front suspension
My Quest has white logos on it with a black outline around the lettering (like Fatall's- hello!).
I am quite tall (6'5", or about 195cm), and find that I set the BB adjustment to '12,' ie, as far as it says I can put it out. When I crank hard going up hills, even with the e-ring (which I like, I guess: I don't notice it anyway and I LOVE the SRAM shifters with their intuitive shifting) distributing my cranking power better, the 'bottom bracket' noticeably bounces back and forth as the suspension 'gives.'
I think what happens here is that by changing the geometry of the front triangle, I put a lot of stress on the frame as I mash the pedals. Also, I am big and can mash pretty hard (100kg). I am sure that I lose some power when I mash up a hill as some of my cranking energy goes into squishing that front suspension. I can't imagine that the suspension delivers that power back to me in any meaningful way.
The other thing I notice is that the front suspension is easy to load to very near end of its 25mm of travel just by leaning hard on the handlebars before I get on. The worst, to me, though, is that as I go over even a small bump in the road (for some reason, it's worse at speed), then CLANK the front suspension bottoms out, if you want to call it that: in fact, the suspension can't go any further and I can hear and feel it hit the end if its travel, hard.
I have glanced through the posts above but I'll wait to see what I can do with this (or what the LBS can do, I guess, but I haven't gone there so far for any problem more major than picking up a spare tube).
So, pretty please, is there any way I can 'tighten up' the front suspension? Alternately, i guess I'd be OK to lock it in place; but I do like the suspension feature. For instructions, please be patient, type slow, and use small words. I am relatively mechanically inclined but don't know the terms for the parts. : )
Thank you for all you help with the troubleshooting!
My Quest has white logos on it with a black outline around the lettering (like Fatall's- hello!).
I am quite tall (6'5", or about 195cm), and find that I set the BB adjustment to '12,' ie, as far as it says I can put it out. When I crank hard going up hills, even with the e-ring (which I like, I guess: I don't notice it anyway and I LOVE the SRAM shifters with their intuitive shifting) distributing my cranking power better, the 'bottom bracket' noticeably bounces back and forth as the suspension 'gives.'
I think what happens here is that by changing the geometry of the front triangle, I put a lot of stress on the frame as I mash the pedals. Also, I am big and can mash pretty hard (100kg). I am sure that I lose some power when I mash up a hill as some of my cranking energy goes into squishing that front suspension. I can't imagine that the suspension delivers that power back to me in any meaningful way.
The other thing I notice is that the front suspension is easy to load to very near end of its 25mm of travel just by leaning hard on the handlebars before I get on. The worst, to me, though, is that as I go over even a small bump in the road (for some reason, it's worse at speed), then CLANK the front suspension bottoms out, if you want to call it that: in fact, the suspension can't go any further and I can hear and feel it hit the end if its travel, hard.
I have glanced through the posts above but I'll wait to see what I can do with this (or what the LBS can do, I guess, but I haven't gone there so far for any problem more major than picking up a spare tube).
So, pretty please, is there any way I can 'tighten up' the front suspension? Alternately, i guess I'd be OK to lock it in place; but I do like the suspension feature. For instructions, please be patient, type slow, and use small words. I am relatively mechanically inclined but don't know the terms for the parts. : )
Thank you for all you help with the troubleshooting!
fatall
Member
Hugh,
as you know I was
Hugh,
as you know I was having a similar problem, in another post on this forum, I was having issues with the back breaks loosing traction, so I adjusted the seat back :
alt=\"\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/forum/data/sites/default/ckfinder/images/ModCruzbike_1(1)(1).JPG\[/IMG]
The green circle is what I adjusted, I moved the seat back to the middle hole, thinking that this would put more weight over the rear wheel, and making it harder to loose traction in the rear wheel(I think it worked)
But one added benefit that I didn't expect was that the front suspension appears to be better, I can still bottom out on some bigger pot holes, but I noticed on some of the rolled gutter/driveways where it used to bottom out, it doesn't do it now. So moving the seat back has taken some weight of the front alt=\"yes\" height=\"20\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/sites/all/modules/ckeditor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.gif\" title=\"yes\" width=\"20\[/IMG]
I am going to leave the seat back on the middle hole for a couple of weeks and I think I will try going to the lower hole and see how that works. My only concerns will be if I loose traction going up hill, but this hasn't happen yet, so I could be worried about nothing.
as you know I was
Hugh,
as you know I was having a similar problem, in another post on this forum, I was having issues with the back breaks loosing traction, so I adjusted the seat back :
alt=\"\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/forum/data/sites/default/ckfinder/images/ModCruzbike_1(1)(1).JPG\[/IMG]
The green circle is what I adjusted, I moved the seat back to the middle hole, thinking that this would put more weight over the rear wheel, and making it harder to loose traction in the rear wheel(I think it worked)
But one added benefit that I didn't expect was that the front suspension appears to be better, I can still bottom out on some bigger pot holes, but I noticed on some of the rolled gutter/driveways where it used to bottom out, it doesn't do it now. So moving the seat back has taken some weight of the front alt=\"yes\" height=\"20\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/sites/all/modules/ckeditor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.gif\" title=\"yes\" width=\"20\[/IMG]
I am going to leave the seat back on the middle hole for a couple of weeks and I think I will try going to the lower hole and see how that works. My only concerns will be if I loose traction going up hill, but this hasn't happen yet, so I could be worried about nothing.
fatall
Member
It looks like the image
It looks like the image didn't get attached to my last response, will try again:
alt=\"\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/forum/data/sites/default/ckfinder/images/AlanQuest_small311.jpeg\" style=\"; \[/IMG]
Hopfefully this worked and hopefully this explains what I did. Any question just ask.
It looks like the image didn't get attached to my last response, will try again:
alt=\"\" src=\"http://cruzbike.com/forum/data/sites/default/ckfinder/images/AlanQuest_small311.jpeg\" style=\"; \[/IMG]
Hopfefully this worked and hopefully this explains what I did. Any question just ask.
billyk
Guru
That was interesting! Loosening the shock bolt.
Back from Oz, I tried to follow John T's instructions (above) to adjust my front shock.
Using his remove-front-wheel, measure-travel-with-sash-clamp method, I found that the existing travel was 7mm.
With a 6mm hex wrench (no long one needed), I started loosening the longitudinal bolt inside the headset. As I did even a couple of turns, the whole headset became very loose and floppy, with the ball bearing races exposed.
==>> That was the symptom that my LBS was "correcting" by tightening the longitudinal bolt.
The actual problem was that the ring holding down the conical collar at the top of the headset (upper of 2 black rings labelled "Diatech") was only barely hand-tightened, so without another source of tension (i.e., the shock bolt) the headset became floppy. This must have been the case when the bike was originally assembled, since I never touched or adjusted that ring.
So ... I awkwardly pressed the two black headset rings together as well as I could, and tightened the top one down onto its conical collar ring. Not sure how well I did this, but the headset feels nice and snug now.
==>> How tightly are these two rings supposed to compress the headset (in the along-stem direction)? What is the best way to hold them in place while tightening the top one down onto the conical collar?
That done, I proceeded to the shock. I found that by loosening the internal bolt 2 turns, the travel increased to about 13mm. Any more loosening let the fork down more, but beyond about 13mm there was no further spring tension on it; namely it went up and down easily over the extra distance without giving any shock absorption.
The bike now seems to respond somewhat better to bumps, but I have not given it a thorough workout yet.
But ... I would appreciate advice on the headset-ring tightening mentioned above. This is a crucial safety element that I do not want to get wrong. And I'd comment that this should be checked in the initial assembly, since it's not mentioned in the instructions given to the user.
And is the fact that I only get 13mm of useful shock travel (John T said to expect about 25mm) an indication that something is wrong? (perhaps the spring ruined by being held compressed for months and 100s of km riding)
That was interesting!
Back from Oz, I tried to follow John T's instructions (above) to adjust my front shock.
Using his remove-front-wheel, measure-travel-with-sash-clamp method, I found that the existing travel was 7mm.
With a 6mm hex wrench (no long one needed), I started loosening the longitudinal bolt inside the headset. As I did even a couple of turns, the whole headset became very loose and floppy, with the ball bearing races exposed.
==>> That was the symptom that my LBS was "correcting" by tightening the longitudinal bolt.
The actual problem was that the ring holding down the conical collar at the top of the headset (upper of 2 black rings labelled "Diatech") was only barely hand-tightened, so without another source of tension (i.e., the shock bolt) the headset became floppy. This must have been the case when the bike was originally assembled, since I never touched or adjusted that ring.
So ... I awkwardly pressed the two black headset rings together as well as I could, and tightened the top one down onto its conical collar ring. Not sure how well I did this, but the headset feels nice and snug now.
==>> How tightly are these two rings supposed to compress the headset (in the along-stem direction)? What is the best way to hold them in place while tightening the top one down onto the conical collar?
That done, I proceeded to the shock. I found that by loosening the internal bolt 2 turns, the travel increased to about 13mm. Any more loosening let the fork down more, but beyond about 13mm there was no further spring tension on it; namely it went up and down easily over the extra distance without giving any shock absorption.
The bike now seems to respond somewhat better to bumps, but I have not given it a thorough workout yet.
But ... I would appreciate advice on the headset-ring tightening mentioned above. This is a crucial safety element that I do not want to get wrong. And I'd comment that this should be checked in the initial assembly, since it's not mentioned in the instructions given to the user.
And is the fact that I only get 13mm of useful shock travel (John T said to expect about 25mm) an indication that something is wrong? (perhaps the spring ruined by being held compressed for months and 100s of km riding)
That was interesting!
Doug Burton
Zen MBB Master
From Sheldon's website...
http://sheldonbrown.com/headsets.html
"Diatech" headsets from Dia Compe use a special pair of collars, usually mounted just below the stem and above the top race. The lower collar has a beveled, conical top surface, which fits inside of a matching bevel on the inner circumference of the upper collar.
The upper collar has a gap at one point, with a binder bolt to squeeze the gap together. (This upper collar may also include a cable stop for the front brake, if the bicycle has a rigid fork and conventional cantilever or centerpull brakes.)
The handlebar stem is clamped tightly to the steerer, preventing the upper collar from moving upward. As the upper collar is compressed by the binder bolt, it squeezes the lower collar downward, taking up any slack in the headset bearings."
We used this headset for 2 reasons:
Cheers,
Doug
http://sheldonbrown.com/headsets.html
"Diatech" headsets from Dia Compe use a special pair of collars, usually mounted just below the stem and above the top race. The lower collar has a beveled, conical top surface, which fits inside of a matching bevel on the inner circumference of the upper collar.
The upper collar has a gap at one point, with a binder bolt to squeeze the gap together. (This upper collar may also include a cable stop for the front brake, if the bicycle has a rigid fork and conventional cantilever or centerpull brakes.)
The handlebar stem is clamped tightly to the steerer, preventing the upper collar from moving upward. As the upper collar is compressed by the binder bolt, it squeezes the lower collar downward, taking up any slack in the headset bearings."
We used this headset for 2 reasons:
To allow headset tension adjustment without a 12" long stem cap bolt
To retain the headset to the fork when the bike is disassembled for packing.
Cheers,
Doug
