Dave, an answer to why a bit too much OTT can be bad from my findings over the last year and a half, and others on the forum for RAF bike.
There's a transitional period between the relm of OTT "assistance" and the point in travel where it's no longer active. For the first year, I ran "too much" OTT, and that created a perceivable wall of resistance (felt like a compression spike) around half-way through the travel during high speed compressions or repeated smaller hits. This gets worse the more OTT you add, past the "perfect" amount. Obviously that perfect balance is going to be different for everyone, OTT gives a nice supple effect in the beginning stroke, so it is valuable. For my setup, it seems to start being a noticeable negative effect when the fork sags slightly on it's own, and others have echoed that. Your airspring pressure is set up for your weight and riding style, and as soon as you're overcoming that static situation, it can become a bit harsh in the middle. I'm talking only two clicks difference (18% of total range) in my case, and taking it from 10 down to 8 made that feeling disappear.
June 30, 2021, 9:12 a.m. - Mammal
Dave, an answer to why a bit too much OTT can be bad from my findings over the last year and a half, and others on the forum for RAF bike. There's a transitional period between the relm of OTT "assistance" and the point in travel where it's no longer active. For the first year, I ran "too much" OTT, and that created a perceivable wall of resistance (felt like a compression spike) around half-way through the travel during high speed compressions or repeated smaller hits. This gets worse the more OTT you add, past the "perfect" amount. Obviously that perfect balance is going to be different for everyone, OTT gives a nice supple effect in the beginning stroke, so it is valuable. For my setup, it seems to start being a noticeable negative effect when the fork sags slightly on it's own, and others have echoed that. Your airspring pressure is set up for your weight and riding style, and as soon as you're overcoming that static situation, it can become a bit harsh in the middle. I'm talking only two clicks difference (18% of total range) in my case, and taking it from 10 down to 8 made that feeling disappear.