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Bottomless tokens?

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Old 01-09-15 | 11:45 PM
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Bottomless tokens?

Does anybody have any experience with these for modern Rockshox? I recently got a new FS 29er bike, whose suspension is certainly a fair sight better than what I had before on my 90's hard tail. This has left me tackling more and more aggressive terrain at more and more aggressive speeds. Which has resulted in me spending an unending amount of time adjusting my shocks. The forks are 2013 Reba RL solo air 100mm, and I just can't get them right. For my #160 riding weight, recommended PSI of 100+ might as well be locked out, and to get 25%-30% sag I need to let out to paltry 50 PSI. I settled on 70-80 PSI as good middle ground for 90% of my riding, but that's where the trouble starts. I still bottom out way too frequently, and adjusting my compression rate lower just makes all the rest of the ride more work. Trying to research this, I discovered a seemingly ignored tech feature of "bottomless tokens" that plug into the air chamber, reduce your air volume, and ramps up resistance at the end of the travel. Given my relatively short experience with modern, non-coil suspension, this SEEMS like the right solution for my problem, or maybe I'm just expecting the Reba's to do too much.
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Old 01-10-15 | 07:58 AM
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From: Cabot, Arkansas

Bikes: Lynskey Twisted Helix Di2 Ti, 1987 Orbea steel single speed/fixie, Orbea Avant M30, Trek Fuel EX9.8 29, Trek Madone 5 series, Specialized Epic Carbon Comp 29er, Trek 7.1F

I started off thinking that the shock was there to make the ride seem like a cadillac. It is not. The purpose of the shock is to smooth out small frequency vibrations from the trail and to cushion large impacts from rocks, landing, jumps ... Don't let the air pressure go to far below the chart or the shock can't do it's job. It will kill your pedaling efficiency and your ability to climb. Also if you have rebound adjustments be sure it is set to rebound fast enough that is is returning to full extension before the next set of bumps. To low of a rebound setting will cause it to sag lower and lower over a series of bumps and you will run out of travel.
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Old 01-13-15 | 11:32 AM
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Bikes: Santa Cruz Blur TR, Cannondale Quick CX dropbar conversion & others

Two good posts. In regards to the first:

bottomless tokens do exactly what you are looking for. it's a common problem to ride most of a trail at a particular sag / air spring rate that works well, and then bottom out if you hit that one jump or drop that lands flat. the solution is to decrease the air volume, which makes the air spring rate ramp up more progressively.

I haven't used the token, but I have put more into a fork or shock than I would have otherwise used to avoid bottoming out. I'm building up a new frame right now with a new Manitou Mattoc, which has adjustable hydraulic bottom-out. It should function a lot like your bottomless token.
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Old 01-13-15 | 11:41 AM
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Thanks for the inputs!
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