Full suspension bike not very good?

Gareth2011

I have a trak bike :mad:. Got it in halfords cause I needed one and this seemed good at the time. I have no issues with the bike except the suspension. The centre suspension has no bounce in it at all no water where the turn wheel is. Same with the front suspension its rock solid now no bounce at all. Do I need to oil up the front suspension? The centre i took it apart and its still the same but the spring doesnt seem to move at all when the turn wheel is moved?

Crow92

I'm sorry but trax bikes are a heap of ****e, I work in a Halfords and try and get people not to buy one. Poor quality bikes. Which trax bike is it? is there a pre-load you can adjust the amount of travel in the front suspension?

Tonyandthewhale

Those cheap suspension units aren't designed to stand up to even normal road use and as far as I know they're not really adjustable or servicable, at least not to any meaningful degree sine they aren't designed to do anything in particular other than make the bike look sort of like a real mountain bike.
If there's no bounce you should be grateful that at least there's not too much bounce which is also a frequent problem and can make bikes like that completely unridable.

kona

You dont want "bounce" in the suspention anyways. You go faster without a bike oscillating all over the shop.

As has been said Trax bikes are rubbish, if you look at your spring on the bike its got a rating, usually cheap bikes require something stupid like a force of 2,000 pounds to compress it 1 inch.
The front forks have no adjustment of even a damping system fitted. If you want a proper full susser with full adjustment your looking at the guts of 1k.

Gareth2011

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

Those cheap suspension units aren't designed to stand up to even normal road use and as far as I know they're not really adjustable or servicable, at least not to any meaningful degree sine they aren't designed to do anything in particular other than make the bike look sort of like a real mountain bike.
If there's no bounce you should be grateful that at least there's not too much bounce which is also a frequent problem and can make bikes like that completely unridable.

Well if I come to the yellow bumps at end of hard shoulder i have to stand up cause the vibration goes right through me suspension isn't worth a sh*t. The wifes bike is an apollo bike and her suspension is great works front and centra but her bike hasnt been riden much (3 or 4 times max).

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Well if I come to the yellow bumps at end of hard shoulder i have to stand up cause the vibration goes right through me suspension isn't worth a sh*t. The wifes bike is an apollo bike and her suspension is great works front and centra but her bike hasnt been riden much (3 or 4 times max).

Then dont ride on the yellow bumps?

The suspension units for the apollo and trax are the same. Unless your wife has the more expensive apollos

Gareth2011

Crow92 wrote: »

I'm sorry but trax bikes are a heap of ****e, I work in a Halfords and try and get people not to buy one. Poor quality bikes. Which trax bike is it? is there a pre-load you can adjust the amount of travel in the front suspension?

Yours not the first person to say theu are sh*T so its alright the bike is a trax TFS.1 full suspension bike. 18"

Gareth2011

kona wrote: »

Then dont ride on the yellow bumps?

The suspension units for the apollo and trax are the same. Unless your wife has the more expensive apollos

Hers cost 189 mine cost 125. Looks and feels like the centra suspension are both made out of plastic but her spring seems to be slightly longer than mine :eek:

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Hers cost 189 mine cost 125. Looks and feels like the centra suspension are both made out of plastic but her spring seems to be slightly longer than mine :eek:

as I mentioned, read the spring ratings on them, then you will know if they are different.

But Back to your issue, only a new bike will fully solve your problems unfortunatley.

Gareth2011

kona wrote: »

You dont want "bounce" in the suspention anyways. You go faster without a bike oscillating all over the shop.

As has been said Trax bikes are rubbish, if you look at your spring on the bike its got a rating, usually cheap bikes require something stupid like a force of 2,000 pounds to compress it 1 inch.
The front forks have no adjustment of even a damping system fitted. If you want a proper full susser with full adjustment your looking at the guts of 1k.

Its has the same digits on both centra suspensions 258

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Its has the same digits on both centra suspensions 258

is your bike a Y shaped frame? Is the seat post raised sufficientley? By rock solid do you mean no movement? you could try some GT85 or 3in1 oil to free out the front fork, if its moving however I wouldnt bother, theres about 20mm travel on those forks when new.

Gareth2011

kona wrote: »

as I mentioned, read the spring ratings on them, then you will know if they are different.

But Back to your issue, only a new bike will fully solve your problems unfortunatley.

Screw that il stick with the rough ride. What gets me tho is I could have got a rigid frame with front suspension for 100 quid instead of 125 for this and then I wouldn't have the hassle of trying to find pannier racks and bags with good load limit.:mad:

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Screw that il stick with the rough ride. What gets me tho is I could have got a rigid frame with front suspension for 100 quid instead of 125 for this and then I wouldn't have the hassle of trying to find pannier racks and bags with good load limit.:mad:

Unfortunatley thats why cheap full sussers are a waste of metal. The load limit on the carrier is due to it being a I beam, AFAIK its not too bad, I mean its more than half the weight of the bike, what would you want to put on it?

Tonyandthewhale

Gareth2011 wrote: »

What gets me tho is I could have got a rigid frame with front suspension for 100 quid instead of 125 for this and then I wouldn't have the hassle of trying to find pannier racks and bags with good load limit.

Amen to that, the simpler the bike the better when you're on a budget. Front suspension is a total waste at that price point as well though. Half decent forks cost at least 150e on their own.

Gareth2011

kona wrote: »

is your bike a Y shaped frame? Is the seat post raised sufficientley? By rock solid do you mean no movement? you could try some GT85 or 3in1 oil to free out the front fork, if its moving however I wouldnt bother, theres about 20mm travel on those forks when new.

Yes Y shaped frame. Yes seat post isnt even sticking out at bottom. There is a tiny bit of movement when I sit on it but thats it. The front fork il try the oil I have the wheels pumped up to the max and you can put all your weight on the front fork and get nothing.

Gareth2011

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

Amen to that, the simpler the bike the better when you're on a budget. Front suspension is a total waste at that price point as well though. Half decent forks cost at least 150e on their own.

Yeah but at least I could have got decent sturdy pannier racks with the rigid and screw the front suspension.

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Yes Y shaped frame. Yes seat post isnt even sticking out at bottom. There is a tiny bit of movement when I sit on it but thats it. The front fork il try the oil I have the wheels pumped up to the max and you can put all your weight on the front fork and get nothing.

what psi are the wheels? that wont be doing you any favours comfort wise either.

Gareth2011

The max 60 . They were at 40 but Id be pedaling like mad going to or back from bank and as soon as i try to free wheel i slow down fierce fast. So when I put them up to that I can go for longer. I know the comfort suffers because of it but I figure I can stand up and lean to the side for comfort I just want to get to where im going. I know the above sentence disagree's with my original post but I would like the suspension to work so I could sit down when cycling over bumps.

kona

Gareth2011 wrote: »

The max 60 . They were at 40 but Id be pedaling like mad going to or back from bank and as soon as i try to free wheel i slow down fierce fast. So when I put them up to that I can go for longer. I know the comfort suffers because of it but I figure I can stand up and lean to the side for comfort I just want to get to where im going. I know the above sentence disagree's with my original post but I would like the suspension to work so I could sit down when cycling over bumps.

I think you bought the totally wrong bike for what you wanted. Becareful if your tyres are 26x 1.95 and up, 60psi is over their ratings. All about finding a balance!

Gareth2011

I thought it was bit much but thats what the tyre says :eek:.

Icyseanfitz

125 euro trax full sus bike, yeah its going to be ****e unfortunately, at that price range i wouldnt touch a bike with suspension

kuro_man

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

125 euro trax full sus bike, yeah its going to be ****e unfortunately, at that price range i wouldnt touch any bike with suspension

fixed that for ya!

Tenzor07

Gareth2011 wrote: »

I would like the suspension to work so I could sit down when cycling over bumps.

The tyres will do that for you, as mentioned.

Go to your local petrol station and look at what it says on the air hose when your pumping the wheels up...stick about 30/35psi in them..

A bike like what you have is only designed to "look" like a full suspension bike when its not one at all...!

BostonB

Gareth2011 wrote: »

... I would like the suspension to work so I could sit down when cycling over bumps...

Personally I don't sit when there's bumps. I stand and bend the knees. I'm not sure why you'd want to sit.

two wheels good

Maybe there's a "lock" setting on the suspension for road use? Unlikely on a budget model I suppose.