Technical FAQs Ok, so you probably have a few questions about the bikes. 1. SETTING UP YOUR RIG: Can I use any kind of shock in the 2Stage? We recommend that you stick with the shocks that are supplied with your frame. We have done over 4 years of testing with nearly every brand and model available, and we work closely with certain shock companies to come up with the best spring rate curves and damping rates to suit our system.  You can be confident that the shocks on our bikes are the best performing shocks for our system. As better shocks are developed or come available they will duly find their way on to our frames. Is the 2Stage hard to set-up, it seems complex? It’s been said that our design is actually a lot simpler than many bikes with a single rear shock.  Try not to think of it as one cosmic arrangement, but see it as two separate rear suspensions. The first one handles the small bumps; the second one handles the big hits. Set the first shock at 50% sag and set the second shock to whatever pressure you need to stop it from bottoming-out (this depends on your weight and how aggressively you ride). Adjust rebound to your liking (slightly faster for small bumps, slightly slower for big hits), then forget about it. If you can follow the instructions on the back of a 2-minute noodle pack, you can set-up a 2Stage suspension correctly... it should take about the same time too. (Download our 5min set-up guide) Do I need a chart or a table to set up the shock pressures? Nope!  If you can figure out what halfway looks like on a shock shaft, you can set up the first stage shock pressure to sag 50%, too easy.  Keep an eye on the o-ring situated on the shaft of your 2nd stage shock, and add or subtract 10psi at a time until you are almost using full travel on the biggest obstacle you are likely to encounter. Again too easy!  Now the first shock is set correctly for you the rider, and the second shock is set to the terrain you ride. 2. PERFORMANCE Are 2 shocks really that much better? Actually asking one shock to do all the work that these bikes experience is asking a lot! You want it supple on the small bumps, but still soak up big drops and landings, you want the rebound fast for high speed stutter bumps, but you also want it slow enough so you don’t get bucked after landing a big jump. Plus you still want pop for the take off on jumps right? And it can’t overheat or it will all turn to custard. All this plus you don’t want it to bob! A single shock can get overworked being asked to do everything well. With the 2Stage design these elements are divided up and the jobs given to two shocks to handle. One shock is always active but only asked to handle the smaller and more rapid stuff, and has a really low air pressure spring and (in the case of the Elite9) an oil reservoir, so it won’t overheat. It also has its own rebound adjuster to achieve the perfect setting for small, fast repetitive bumps. The second shock is only employed every so often, when a large obstacle or landing is encountered, so does very little work and wont overheat, it also has its own rebound adjuster to achieve the perfect setting for larger obstacles and landings. Because each shock shares the workload, neither is overworked and they both work well below the levels at which each shock was designed for. How come you can "downhill" standard air-shocks? Within the 2Stage system, two air-shocks share the same load so that neither of them gets overworked. The first stage unit moves frequently and rapidly, but is set to run on very low pressures, about half of what the units are designed to handle. The second stage unit engages only during big hits and landings. This unit is set to run on higher pressures to prevent bottom-out, but moves far less. Each individual unit has an O-ring/seal group and hydraulic damping circuit pumping through relatively short strokes. So although they combine to produce 8 or 9 inches of wheel travel, both shocks are working well below their design limitations.  The shock shafts heat-up only by 5 to 10 degrees Celsius after a 3 minute downhill run, depending on the severity of the course. The seal material can go up as high as 100 degrees and still be well within their theoretical operational limits. During testing (18 degrees C ambient temperature) the shafts cool down at a rate of 2 degrees per minute at rest. As much as we tried, we couldn't heat the shocks enough for it to be an issue. Does the first shock bottom-out before the second shock can work? Surely that can't be good? The 1st Stage shock can reach full stroke safely because there is an overlap/transition between the shocks, where the bump force is harmlessly and sequentially transferred to the 2nd Stage shock. The term "bottom-out" is a destructive term usually associated with single shock designs where any remaining bump force has nowhere else to go and directly stresses both the frame and shock. This is not the case with the 2Stage Suspension Design. Our 1st Stage air-shocks are selected based on this overlap criterion, so they reach full travel silently and the transition between the two shocks is seamless, fluid and unnoticeable. Two shocks have been done before in mountain bikes, what's all the fuss about? Comparing a 2Stage bike to another bike with two shocks is like comparing a pair of “locking vice grip” pliers to a pair of ordinary pliers.  Without the precise pivot location of the 2Stage Suspension System, it’s just another bike with two shocks. What happens if I am pedalling over a big size bump, will the second stage still activate? The 2Stage suspension system is designed to be totally active when you are not pedaling, and only locks out the second half of the travel when the rider pedals. Although you are unlikely to be pedaling whilst encountering a large enough bump to activate the second stage, here is what can happen if you do: 1. Your pedal force is pulling on the chain in a direction that is asking the second stage to stay in its extended state.  If the bump force is not strong enough to overwhelm your pedaling effort then pedaling wins, your second stage stays locked out, your chain length stays the same and you simply accelerate away.  Just what you want isn’t it? 2. If the bump force is enough to overwhelm your pedal force (i.e. you’re probably seated and pedaling rather lightly) then the second stage will activate and you may feel a slight tug at the pedals as the chain tries to get longer (this is minimized by the position of the idler cog).  A minor intrusion, but what were you doing pedaling lightly over big obstacles anyway? 3. If you have your full weight on the pedals or are in the middle of putting down some serious power, but the bump is intent on activating the second stage, then the chain has no option but to increase it’s length by accelerating the rear hub. Wahoo, what was that surge of speed you just felt?!  It’s called free speed that wasn’t caused by your pedaling but by the bump, bonus!! 3. MODELS & SPECS Some of your bikes come with a floating disc brake. Do I need it? It depends on your application. If you're mostly jammin’ around a jump park, or carving up a nicely groomed track, then probably not. If you're downhill racing and every split second counts, then yes. A floating disc brake does not influence rear suspension movement, so you can brake harder and later into corners, even over stutter bumps and the bike won't be hopping all over the place. It's easier to set-up corner-entry on a steady bike and hit your preferred racing line for quicker exits. You may also want a "floater" if you frequently land on rough patches where you need to slow down in a hurry. Our floating disk brake assembly is able to be removed or added just by replacing a left side hub spacer. The Zed8 swingarm looks identical to the Elite9. Is this true? Yes, the entire rear end is identical and interchangeable (including the 135mm rear hub, 12mm thru-axle, floating disc brake assembly, chain guide, and derailleur hanger). However the Zed8 uses two 165mm eye to eye air-shocks to produce 8 inches of travel, while the Elite9 uses a 190mm/165mm eye to eye air-shock combination to produce 9 inches of travel. The front triangles of each bike have been designed with different geometry to suit their respective travels.  Shock tuning and air pressure set-ups are virtually the same. The 2Stage bikes look pretty burly. Do you have a lighter all-mountain trail version for all-day rides? The Zed8 and Elite9 framesets are designed specifically for very extreme applications... built to better withstand the ever increasing demands in this type of riding.  6061-T6 tubing is utilized with drop-forged +CNC structural elements. An all-mountain model (the AM8) is currently in development looking to be released in 2009.

Reviews... “Certainly a key feature of this New Zealander is its speed across the ground” “it’s easy to see how the Elite9 could raise a few places on the score sheet” “The bike worked outstandingly well, the set–up was pretty much bang on”