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Formula's Selva R forks have the following settings:

  • Silver (positive) air pressure
  • Bronze (negative) air pressure
  • Rebound damping (21 clicks)
  • Compression damping (12 clicks)
  • Number of "neopos" (0 to 3)
  • CTS valve colour (gold, orange, green, silver, blue, red, electric blue)

The forks have recommended air pressure settings listed on a sticker and in the manual:

Rider weight (kg) Rider weight (lbs) Silver pressure Bronze pressure
60 132 60 80
70 154 70 90
80 176 80 100
90 198 90 110
100 220 100 120

Assuming the default "Gold" CTS valve, what are suitable compression and rebound settings for the different rider weights?

Darren Hague
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  • On what type of terrain will you primarily use it. Hard tail or full suspension? How would you characterize your riding style? – Paul H Dec 27 '22 at 03:08
  • Are “neopos”, spacers to reduce air volume? What rockshox / fox call tokens. – Warren Burton Dec 27 '22 at 09:23
  • @WarrenBurton They’re tokens, yes, but made of foam, so they actually reduce in volume as the fork’s internal pressure increases. Essentially variable/dynamic volume spacers—very cool! – MaplePanda Dec 27 '22 at 11:07
  • This is a full-suspension trail bike (Bird Aether 9c) with a Formula Mod coil shock (I'll be posting a very similar question related to that soon!). As the manuals from Formula are very light on detail, I am hoping these questions can provide owners with good starting points. – Darren Hague Dec 28 '22 at 19:56

1 Answers1

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A good baseline setup is 20-30% sag on the fork when you are in an active riding position.

  • Pump up the positive and negative chambers to the specification for your weight.
  • Slide the travel ring down the leg next to the lowers.
  • Add any significant external weights that you use like a full camelback/hipbag to your body.
  • On a level surface mount the bike, balance a bar end against a wall/tree or get a helper friend to help balance.
  • Place yourself into a standing "attack" position on the stationary bike. The position you would be in during active trail riding (vs seated).
  • Dismount the bike and examine the position ring.

Assuming you didn't bounce the fork during mount or dismount the distance between the lowers and travel ring will show the amount of sag in your system. That should be in the order of 40-50mm for a 160mm fork.

If the sag is too high add 3-5 psi (or remove from negative) to your positive chamber, try again.

Once you have the sag where you want it you can tinker with the dampers.

The damper setup depends on what you like to ride. If you are (actually) a jumper then you'll want to control compression on big hits. If you're a trail rider then you'll want to manage the rebound over chunky ground and roots.

  • Compression damping will regulate the speed at which the fork falls through its travel. The fork will be more able to absorb a big hit without topping out.
  • Neopos/Tokens reduce the air volume of the spring chamber and make the fork stiffer at the end of its travel. "More Progressive".
  • Rebound damping prevents the fork acting like a spring and returning all the energy that is put into it. You want it to be in the Goldilocks zone of absorbing regular hits and sharp edges but not bogging down through extended lumpy sections.

Realistically, set the dampers at their respective mid points (10 clicks/6 clicks). Go for a ride and pay attention to how the front end feels. With any luck it should be more or less right.

If you're in the mood try 2-3 click changes on the dampers and observe how that affects the bike handling.

Once you have a good setup, write it down so when you send the fork for servicing you can reproduce that feel again.

Warren Burton
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