So has anyone changed their suspension sag percentage with Flight Attendant? I heard Jonathon mention in the podcast that he is running lower air pressures with Flight Attendant. Curious what sag numbers are being ran especially on XC bikes.
Yeah I also cannot get launch control on my flight attendant supercaliber, curious if you guys know anything
Launch mode and the ability to disable pedal mode arent available till August. Its weird they even announced it since its not available to public yet
I didn’t change when upgrading to FA, but I already ran pretty soft since the bike had a lockout. For me, running softer has always been a big advantage of having a 3-way lockout, whether controlled manually or with FA. I was a long time Scott RC rider, switched to Epic 8 last year when they finally added a 3-way lock, and then couldn’t resist the FA upgrade.
Hi everyone,
I’m reaching out to see if anyone else uses FA with ESI grips. I’m experiencing tingling in my fingers after 20-30 minutes on my local cross-country loop, and I’m trying to figure out whether this is a setup issue with FA or if my hands simply can’t handle the ESI grips.
I’m currently running 90 psi in the fork, based on my race-ready weight of 90 kg. RS recommends 87 psi for riders weighing 81 kg. The trail is twisty and rooty, and I’m considering whether adjusting the BIAS setup might help, or if I should just switch to different grips. Although the grips are fairly new and not worn out, they feel somewhat unsupportive.
Does anyone have any suggestions or experiences to share? Thanks!
I do and they are good for me. But I’ve run ESI’s on my XC bikes for many years prior to FA. I wouldn’t expect FA contributing much one way or the other. FA might put the bike in firmer setup more or less often than a manual lockout (depending on the settings and how you used the manual lockout), but you are still ultimately going to be affected by the setup of the fork/shock. FA is just switching modes, not dynamically affecting the rebound and dampening settings in each mode. But I’d go back to looking at general bike setup (fit and suspension), not so much to FA to deal with hand comfort. Or maybe the ESI grips just don’t agree with you.
Thanks for the fast reply
As for the grips, I’m coming from Ergon GE1 slim grips, which don’t provide much dampening either. Thought the ESI can’t be worse and since I’m running a bigger fork on this bike than my previous I didn’t think this could potentially be an issue.
Maybe I need to get the Fork dialed in a bit more. I feel like the front end could be a bit less firm at times. I’ll play with rebound settings and compare that to BIAS adjustments. But you’re right, I think FA closes the system much more on the course where I’d be in open or trail mode previously.
Fork and Shock setup is and was always so foreign to me. Was hoping FA would solve this but alas, you still need to know what you’re doing setting it up
I have my FA set up to never lock out the fork unless I hit the override button (which I only use on smooth-ish climbs out of the saddle or riding on the road). Easy config through the app. If the fork is locking more than you like, you use the same approach and/or change the bias setting a bit to lock out less.
I’m running mechanical Eagle and a wired dropper so I don’t have that override button but’ve been thinking about that setting regardless. I’ll try to set up the fork first, then play with BIAS adjustments and as a last resort would keep the fork from locking out completely. Thanks for your thoughts and inputs
So, you only have to charge 2 batteries for your XC bike? Crazy talk… Good luck with the setup.
For flight attendant, is there any difference with running the pedal sensor or an axs power meter? Basically, does the system make adjustments per watts or just crank movement?
Thanks
Definitely makes decisions based on power if you have it. Basically, you set zones (or it can auto-sense them) and that helps to determine when to switch modes. Generally, the harder you are pedaling, the more it will bias toward pedal and locked modes. But things like grade and bumpiness play in as well.
Gotcha… so it looks like I need an AXS PM to enjoy the full features of FA. Unfortunate because I already have a different crank based power setup.
I used FA for a couple of months before putting a power meter on the bike and while it does respond differently with the PM, you’d be pretty hard pressed to notice the differences if you’re not really looking for it.
interesting conclusion. Can FA distinguish if the pressure comes from the bars (e.g. from a sprint or a bunny hop) or the ground without the data from the powermeter? To calibrate the system you need to lean the bike on it’s side(s) so I assume there are accelerometers and gyroscopes in the SRAM PM that play a role beyond just powerdelivery that influence the state of dampening. That’s all just a guess on my part and I’d assume the experience with a SRAM PM is much improved over the spindle sensor - especially for XC.
I haven’t seen anything to indicate that SRAM is feeding accelerometer data from the power meter to FA. I think its just sending cadence+power data, so they know how hard you’re working, not just how fast you’re pedaling.
If they were getting acceleromter data from power meter, there’s really no reason they couldn’t also do that from the cadence sensor.
I’ve never ridden my FA without a powermeter, but I have played with the power zones and it makes a very noticeable difference when I change the ranges. Most noticeable is the threshold between open and pedal modes. Maybe it uses a different algorithm when power isn’t present and somehow figures out how hard you are going with accelerometers or something, but in my experience it seems like the wattage plays a significant role in mode selection when using a PM.
Guys how much do you actually use manual override?
I have ordered Epic 8 Pro which has mechanic Bike Yoke dropper. I have hard time justifying spending extra 600 bucks for Reverb AXS + AXS pod, that will also add 250g over BikeYoke Divine SL.
I could live with extra cable if that also means a significantly lighter bike, but I’m worried that I will really miss the ability to override the auto setting. Especially during races.
I’ve heard that most of the people have the fork lock disabled to stay in pedal mode and only lock it with manual override. E.g Kate Courtney:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKBFIwatLOZ/?img_index=3
Depends on the course. Sometimes very little, sometimes frequently. The only 3 situations I use it - Climbing out the saddle on smooth/steep grades, sprinting, and on smooth roads. On smooth roads, you could just reach down and do the override with the button on the crown. The big place I’d miss it is climbing out of the saddle. The bike is still OK, I just prefer the feeling of being locked.
I’m not saying you are wrong, but just make sure you are including all the factors. When I swapped out my stock dropper for my AXS, it was less than 100g difference by the time I eliminated the cable and remote. Maybe I just had a much heavier mechanical dropper than yours, but just my observation. And if you really want to split hairs, you need to consider the wattage loss of the extra cable exposed. A single watt in aero savings more than offsets 250g on most courses (although not necessarily on a climb).
And even at 250g difference, I’d still rather have an AXS, but I’ve been running them since they came out and I just like how they work and I don’t worry too much about weight. My Epic is pushing 26 lbs, so not exactly a lightweight, but neither am I. My priority is having the bike operate how I want it to, not what it weighs.