Quarq Shockwiz

[Tats]

Figured I’d start a thread given there’s not much in the forum about this device-I’m guessing everyone’s got a good handle on suspension setup or they’re like me and never heard of it.

Basically it’s a device to help tune your air shocks - not coils. It screws onto your schrader valve. You download an app and then calibrate to your shock with no air in it to work out your compression ratio. You then stick air in your shock, decide what sort of shock tune you want, go for a ride and the act on its suggestions.

Lots of info online so I won’t repeat it, it’s pretty expensive but a lot less than a new fork, and some places rent them out.

I’ve a downhill bike with an hs3540 I use on rough, not steep, no bumps, concrete. It has a 2010 Rockshox Boxxer with 200mm travel so you’d think in this scenario it’d be really comfy. But it hasn’t been and I’ve been chasing around for months to reduce the impact on my hands. Air, hsc, lsc, hsr, lsr, bottom out - basically it’s been confusing.

So after a couple of days with the shockwiz things are much improved, almost all by reducing air pressure to a level way below the official sram tuning guide. Instead of being in the 70-85 psi range, which I’ve steadily dropped to what my shock pump told me was 55psi, the SW wanted even less air. Turns out my pump is not well calibrated and 55 was actually closer to 65psi. Now, well the device is telling me I’m about there with 51psi in the fork - a value recommended for someone 20 kilos lighter than I am and what my pump is registering as closer to 43.... I’d never have dropped this low. So now I have the air pressure close enough it’s time to setup the other bits....I’ll update this once I have something to add, but at at the moment it’s made a huge difference. YMMV.

 

[HK12K]

Sorry the OP never got a reply.

Sounds like a nifty device but from what I understand air suspension just doesn't smooth out the road vibrations as well as a coil shock. Or so I can recall reading anyway, I am far from a suspension expert.

 

[neptronix]

You can do this manually for free very easily.
Carry an air shock pump with you, ride, inspect, adjust. After a couple of rounds, you'll have it dialed in well.

Now this device would make more sense if you were a bicycle shop and wanted to quickly tune a suspension for a customer. I can see the use.


HK, air suspension is very good. Far better than a coil spring at controlling motion. Very tuneable.
A coil only shock will instantly leave you wanting on a high power bike. And in a way, at high speeds, is not very safe.

For your application you'd want a pretty low amount of air in that big fork - it was designed for taking large bumps, no smoothing out road riding. It may have serious stiction due to age or needing maintenance and therefore be uncapable of doing anything for small bumps.

A cheap low-duty air fork such as a suntour might actually be better for road riding. I used one in my 6000w super hiryuu for road riding and it did an amazing job of improving ride quality on the road since it lacked stiction and could be set to a fairly wimpy air pressure.

 

[Chalo]

HK, air suspension is very good. Far better than a coil spring at controlling motion. Very tuneable.
A coil only shock will instantly leave you wanting on a high power bike. And in a way, at high speeds, is not very safe.

Pretty sure he's talking about coil-sprung hydraulically damped shocks, as opposed to coil-only department store junk.

Air-sprung shocks have tighter seals with more stiction than the equivalent coil-sprung shock. So they're initially a little more resistant to movement and more likely to pass low-amplitude vibrations to the rider.

 

[HK12K]

HK, air suspension is very good. Far better than a coil spring at controlling motion. Very tuneable.
A coil only shock will instantly leave you wanting on a high power bike. And in a way, at high speeds, is not very safe.

Pretty sure he's talking about coil-sprung hydraulically damped shocks, as opposed to coil-only department store junk.

Air-sprung shocks have tighter seals with more stiction than the equivalent coil-sprung shock. So they're initially a little more resistant to movement and more likely to pass low-amplitude vibrations to the rider.

Yessir, that was what I was referring to, despite not knowing how to properly articulate as such.

 

[neptronix]

Ah okay a combination shock, i imagine, would have lesser stiction and be nicer on you for sure.

Air shocks can get sticky, that's why on front ones i tend to have them set on wimpy air so that they are always a bit compressed the second i sit on the bike. This makes for weak suspension capabilities but improves ride quality a lot on the street. Be prepared to occasionally hit the bump stops doing this when going off curbs, lol.

 

[Tats]

Finished up at 46 psi in the durolux and everything open.