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Taking the time to tune your suspension is one of the best ways to get the most out of
your bike.
You’re leaving performance on the table if you decide to avoid touching all those
brightly colored knobs.
Most modern air forks allow you to adjust almost every aspect of them on the trail.
For most changes, the only things you need are an air pump and an allen wrench.
Today we’re talking about the one thing on the fork that’s the hardest to change
on the trail, but is also what has the biggest impact on how the fork feels; progressiveness.
Normally, you'd adjust the forks progressiveness using tokens.
Adding or removing a token can dramatically change how your fork feels.
Too many tokens will rattle your teeth out while having none will make the fork so soft
you’ll likely bottom out on every drop.
Finding the sweet spot can take a lot of trial and error and be a total pain on the trail.
MRP decided to find a better way.
They came up with the Ramp Control Cartridge.
The cartridge basically replaces your forks tokens with a chamber that has a small port
at the bottom.
Adjusting the dial on the Ramp control will limit how quickly air can enter the chamber.
The slower air can enter the chamber, the more progressive the fork will be.
MRP used this system because it doesn’t require you to change air pressure everytime
you make an adjustment.
For around $130, it’s not cheap, but it promises to give you precise control over
your forks progressiveness at the flick of a wrist.
Installing the Ramp Control comes with varying degrees of difficulty.
While the kit for Fox 36 requires partially disassembling the fork, the install for the
Fox 34 and all RockShox forks is dead simple.
You start by removing all the air from your fork.
This can be done with a shock pump, or just by pressing down on the valve with an allen key.
Make sure to cycle the fork a few times and then vent the air again.
Do this three times to make sure all the air is out of the fork.
Once all the air is out, use a socket wrench to undo the top of the air chamber.
Make sure to push down while you do this, or you’ll round the crap out of the air
cap.
Once you have the air cap off, you can prep the Ramp Control for install.
Take off the valve cover to expose the bolt holding on the control dial.
Use a small socket wrench to remove the bolt.
Now you can slide off the control dial and set it aside.
The ramp cartridge comes with special grease for the O-ring.
A little goes a long way, and try your best to keep it from getting on the threads.
Clean up any extra grease, and you’re ready to install.
You’ll need to use a cassette tool for the cartridge, one that doesn’t have a spindle
sticking out.
Thread the cartridge in by hand until it's tight, then use a torque wrench to finish
tightening it.
Put the control dial back on, screw on the retaining bolt and re-pressurize the fork.
So, it’s easy to install, but how does it perform on the trails?
The MRP Ramp Control doesn’t so much add performance to your fork, it lets you better
tune what’s already there.
Where adding or removing tokens would cause big changes that you fined tuned with air
pressure, the Ramp Control gives you more granular tuning.
With 16 clicks of adjustment, I set mine to 8 and then dialed in the air pressure.
A few clicks to the right gave the support I needed in flow trails to keep the fork from
diving, without sacrificing small bump compliance.
When I got to a stretch of chundery downhill, I could dial in a nice plush profile to soak
all the gnar without bottoming out.
That’s really what this offers, the ability to let your fork do its job in any situation.
Without having to carry a small toolbox in your backpack.
If you’re already happy with how your fork performs, or have one that’s at the end
of its life, then that $130 is best spent elsewhere.
For the rest of the riders out there that either love to tinker, or are looking to get
the absolute most from their bike, this is definitely an upgrade worth looking into.
With how dialed my bike is now, I feel unstoppable!
*LOUD POP*
*Sound of air leaking*
*Air hissing from tire*
…Awww ffff-