Volume Spacers, what are they and when should you use them?
Many riders obsess over volume spacers, for some the more they can have the better a rider they seem to think it makes them, for others, it’s a dark art which they dare not discuss for fear of ridicule.
Well let us give you a whistle stop tour of what Volume Spacers are, how you can use them and the changes you can expect to see to your riding, if implemented correctly.
Volume spacers are basically pieces of plastic which literally take up space in the positive air chamber of your fork or rear shock.
As the chamber becomes smaller (by adding spacers) or larger (by removing spacers), you are changing the force required to compress the fork/shock for that last bit of travel
For forks, the feeling and forces required are fairly standard by manufacturer as the bikes design has less influence on the way the fork deals with the compression. However for a shock the frame design can have some quite varying impacts on how shocks compress. So in effect you should be able to tinker with Fork tokens based on some standard guidelines whereas the shock will react differently dependent on your frame, so we would strongly advise talking to an expert (such as ourselves) to ensure you get the set up right for your riding style and frame
In essence, changing volume spacers will adjust the amount of bottom out resistance.
Presuming your sag is set correctly, if you are using full travel, ie bottoming out, you could install a larger spacer(or more spacers, depending on design) to increase your suspensions resistance to bottom out
Conversely if you are not getting anywhere near full travel try using a smaller spacer to decrease your suspensions resistance to bottom out.
As always with these things, we’re happy to discuss your requirements and help out as we can. It may be that we can advise on the best next steps for some home fettling or whether you want to send it in to us here for a full strip, service and volume adjustment, done to match your frame and riding style.
You can shop the full range of Volume Spacers for Rockshox, Fox, MRP and Cane Creek right here..