The thing I have always had a hard time wrapping my head around with this is just how much friction exists between the lowers and stanchions in comparison to what they claim these do.
For Buttercups to do anything, these must move or be moving, but the amount of force it took (at least on the two I had) seems like a lot more than what it would take to compress the cups. It struck me as though it was possible it was negating some of the impact of friction in the airspring or damper when larger compressions were made, but getting them to move to absorb vibration alone seemed really unlikely. In other words, they damp existing compressions when hits are made, but otherwise can't do much on their own.
I guess I've always been skeptical of the claim, because my experiences with both the Lyrik and Zeb were so profoundly negative, the Zeb in particular, but there is also a lot more going on with that than just Buttercups. I suppose there is a possibility for there to be enough force to move the lowers across the stanchions, but not enough to compress the air spring and/or damper, which is where these might come in. Reading this makes me overall less skeptical that they aren't doing anything, but doesn't really resolve my skepticism that they are solving the problem they claim they are.
Either way, it's interesting you could notice a difference, I've always wanted to kindof try on my own by replacing them with an insert, but I ditched both forks. I'm really glad you did this experiment, because I've long wondered what it would feel like. I'm hyper sensitive to vibrations, as I have nerve problems in both arms and hands that make it obvious when things aren't working for me. I tried both of these forks and was left disappointed compared to forks like those offered by Manitou or Ohlins. Neither of them tracked as well and they both aggravated my issues profoundly, so even if they are working and doing something, I'm not sure in my experience they really fix issues I have with either of them, it just makes them slightly less worse.
Feb. 9, 2024, 8:58 a.m. - Shinook
The thing I have always had a hard time wrapping my head around with this is just how much friction exists between the lowers and stanchions in comparison to what they claim these do. For Buttercups to do anything, these must move or be moving, but the amount of force it took (at least on the two I had) seems like a lot more than what it would take to compress the cups. It struck me as though it was possible it was negating some of the impact of friction in the airspring or damper when larger compressions were made, but getting them to move to absorb vibration alone seemed really unlikely. In other words, they damp existing compressions when hits are made, but otherwise can't do much on their own. I guess I've always been skeptical of the claim, because my experiences with both the Lyrik and Zeb were so profoundly negative, the Zeb in particular, but there is also a lot more going on with that than just Buttercups. I suppose there is a possibility for there to be enough force to move the lowers across the stanchions, but not enough to compress the air spring and/or damper, which is where these might come in. Reading this makes me overall less skeptical that they aren't doing anything, but doesn't really resolve my skepticism that they are solving the problem they claim they are. Either way, it's interesting you could notice a difference, I've always wanted to kindof try on my own by replacing them with an insert, but I ditched both forks. I'm really glad you did this experiment, because I've long wondered what it would feel like. I'm hyper sensitive to vibrations, as I have nerve problems in both arms and hands that make it obvious when things aren't working for me. I tried both of these forks and was left disappointed compared to forks like those offered by Manitou or Ohlins. Neither of them tracked as well and they both aggravated my issues profoundly, so even if they are working and doing something, I'm not sure in my experience they really fix issues I have with either of them, it just makes them slightly less worse.