Disclaimer: Average rider, been mountain biking for 10 years or so. No affiliation to Trutune.
I bought a new bike a few months ago which came with Fox 38 Factory forks with Grip 2 damper. Initially I was really disappointed by the small bump compliance on the forks. I asked on here and a few guys mentioned to have the fork serviced to remove the excess grease. I also mentioned I was interested in the Trutune cartridge, and I had one person mentiom it made no difference to them. I dug as far as I could and decided to take the plunge anyway and promised a review, so here it is.
After the service was completed the fork was transformed and i was much happier with the small bump compliance, so I didn’t really have high hopes of seeing much of a difference once the Trutune was installed. I was wrong. I increased the air pressure an extra 15% off the bat and decided to run it without any volume spacers. I have a shockwiz so I used that to confirm pressures and settings, and eventually dropped psi down to a 10% increase from original pressures.
While I’m not going to claim it’s life changing, I have noticed a measurable improvement in the small bump compliance (I’d say around 15-20% improvement) which is what I purchased it for, but also the way it feels now throughout the complete stroke is much nicer. There’s no significant ramp up OM big compressions, and the fork really does feel more like a coil fork. I’m not saying it feels the same as a coil fork, but it feels more linear like a coil form. It’s kind of an in-between of an air fork and a coil fork, without any weight penalty of a coil conversion.
My final thoughts are that it’s quite pricey for what it is (Being in New Zealand, i also have a decent freight charge to add to the cost), but when you consider the development time that’s gone in to it, I think it’s justified. For those that say it’s snake oil (I’ve seen plenty on various platforms), I really must disagree. However, don’t expect the same results as an actual coil conversion.
Specs:
Trutune short insert Fox 36/38
Fox 38 Factory Grip 2 170mm
I’m 95kg +/-1kg with gear
Original PSI=103, post Trutune is 116psi (dialled with a shockwiz)
I was running 2 spacers, but removed both for the Trutune. While some people that ride bigger drops and jumps may need a volume spacer with the trutune insert, for riding my normal trails and hitting my normal drops and jumps I found the 13psi increase in air pressure was perfect and I wasn’t bottoming out.
by Revolutionary_Good18
2 Comments
Have you tried adding psi & lsr clicks for small bump sensitivity before adding the tru tune? I’m at 84 kg using 95 psi 1 token 4 clicks lsr for enduro riding. But had problems with brake bumps on jumplines, so for this specific bikepark i add around 10 psi & 4 clicks lsr and the sensitivity is better. But could still be better.
Like volume spacers, the trutune cartridge affects the progressivity of the airspring and doesn’t affect the forces at the top of travel.