Cone Valve Experts

snackfedbear
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snackfedbear
Hitting that 40 hour mark and my set could use a rebuild and an update to the valving so I’m shopping around for a a company that has experience rebuilding and valving the cone valve platform. I took them local when I first got them and I was fairly satisfied, but my speed was about 60 percent of where I’m at now, and the turn around was too long for my liking. Not sure if it was parts availability or what, and I haven’t been inside the tubes yet to see if it’s some crazy different platform, but to honest I’d rather leave it to the experts. Any suggestions?
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soggy
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soggy 2/11/2021 11:59am
2/11/2021 11:59am
Powerband seems to be the favorite around these parts
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JohnMatrix
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Irvine, CA US
JohnMatrix 2/11/2021 12:10pm
2/11/2021 12:10pm
REP seems to be popular here in SoCal but never used them. I've had mine done by powerband a few times and they're always tits.
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Digger29
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Digger29 2/11/2021 1:00pm
2/11/2021 1:00pm
I've been using Powerband for 6yrs now and anyone who's ridden my bikes have said that my cone valves are the best forks they've ever ridden.

The Shop

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PTshox
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PTshox 2/11/2021 1:11pm
2/11/2021 1:11pm
Heck take them apart yourself. Grab a few beers and think your way through it!
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Muffin69
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Muffin69 2/11/2021 4:09pm
2/11/2021 4:09pm
REP is A+ in my opinion, they have a bit of a wait list right now but the turn around is a couple days and they hit my set out of the park first go. If you call and get on the list, you can drop them off a day or two before and the turn around is pretty quick!
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snackfedbear
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snackfedbear 2/11/2021 6:09pm
2/11/2021 6:09pm
Muffin69 wrote:
REP is A+ in my opinion, they have a bit of a wait list right now but the turn around is a couple days and they...
REP is A+ in my opinion, they have a bit of a wait list right now but the turn around is a couple days and they hit my set out of the park first go. If you call and get on the list, you can drop them off a day or two before and the turn around is pretty quick!
What city are they out of?
cartel
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cartel 2/11/2021 6:42pm
2/11/2021 6:42pm
Muffin69 wrote:
REP is A+ in my opinion, they have a bit of a wait list right now but the turn around is a couple days and they...
REP is A+ in my opinion, they have a bit of a wait list right now but the turn around is a couple days and they hit my set out of the park first go. If you call and get on the list, you can drop them off a day or two before and the turn around is pretty quick!
snackfedbear wrote:
What city are they out of?
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=rep+suspension

Always happy when I get to use LMGTFY.
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CarlinoJoeVideo
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CarlinoJoeVideo 2/11/2021 7:37pm
2/11/2021 7:37pm
If you are in So Cal, I use Enzo and it's the best setting to date that I've ridden, they can remove the cone and give you a shim stack for more of a KYB/YZ fork feel(which is what I went for.

I only hear great things about REP and PowerBand as well, just never used them.
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AgileMike
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AgileMike 2/11/2021 7:53pm
2/11/2021 7:53pm
Billy at Powerband. Nice guy and super knowledgeable.
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bvm111
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bvm111 2/11/2021 11:03pm
2/11/2021 11:03pm Edited Date/Time 2/11/2021 11:05pm
Mark at AEO/REP... highly recommended, he is the guy that set up dungeys suspension and trust me he can set them up for you too! I went all in and had him do everything to my CVs and yes i’m still just as slow as i was but the confidence in the suspension is amazing, through corners, over jumping to flat.... braking bumps, what braking bumps?

I haven’t touched a clicker except my rear rebound i went in one... and it was perfect out of the box!

do it you won’t be disappointed
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AgileMike
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AgileMike 2/12/2021 6:09am
2/12/2021 6:09am
Maybe I caught someone at Factory Connection on a bad day, but when I was buying my CV's, I was debating on spring CVs vs AER CVs. Factory Connection seemed super annoyed that I asked two questions about the difference and pros/cons between the two. They were the definition of "California Cool" to me. Didn't want to spend anytime talking to someone who wasn't a factory racer or an expert on suspension already. I promptly hung up after about 2 minutes of that attitude and called Billy at Powerband. He had no problem spending five minutes explaining the differences. I thought FC's attitude was very strange, especially as I was spending $3500+, not just asking about a revalve.
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WDSRCR
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WDSRCR 2/12/2021 6:13am
2/12/2021 6:13am
I got my CVs from ProTune in Ohio and Corey there did a great job setting them up for me. He had a ton of options and ideas we could try to get the setup perfect.
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snackfedbear
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snackfedbear 2/12/2021 11:55am
2/12/2021 11:55am
AgileMike wrote:
Maybe I caught someone at Factory Connection on a bad day, but when I was buying my CV's, I was debating on spring CVs vs AER...
Maybe I caught someone at Factory Connection on a bad day, but when I was buying my CV's, I was debating on spring CVs vs AER CVs. Factory Connection seemed super annoyed that I asked two questions about the difference and pros/cons between the two. They were the definition of "California Cool" to me. Didn't want to spend anytime talking to someone who wasn't a factory racer or an expert on suspension already. I promptly hung up after about 2 minutes of that attitude and called Billy at Powerband. He had no problem spending five minutes explaining the differences. I thought FC's attitude was very strange, especially as I was spending $3500+, not just asking about a revalve.
That sucks man. I caught the same vibe from pro circuit. They did a great job on the work, but just seemed like I was a nobody to them when conducting business.

Pit Row

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PTshox
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PTshox 2/12/2021 1:56pm
2/12/2021 1:56pm
AgileMike wrote:
Maybe I caught someone at Factory Connection on a bad day, but when I was buying my CV's, I was debating on spring CVs vs AER...
Maybe I caught someone at Factory Connection on a bad day, but when I was buying my CV's, I was debating on spring CVs vs AER CVs. Factory Connection seemed super annoyed that I asked two questions about the difference and pros/cons between the two. They were the definition of "California Cool" to me. Didn't want to spend anytime talking to someone who wasn't a factory racer or an expert on suspension already. I promptly hung up after about 2 minutes of that attitude and called Billy at Powerband. He had no problem spending five minutes explaining the differences. I thought FC's attitude was very strange, especially as I was spending $3500+, not just asking about a revalve.
Vote with your business. When you get that type of treatment go somewhere else and tell the guy "I was going to buy a set from you, but now that I've spoken to you I'll be taking my business elsewhere" then hang up!

I do my own suspension work... but I ve talked to more than one suspension company with this same attitude. Kinda a strange business. Somehow some of these guys think taking a shock/fork apart is rocket science. It's not...
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PTshox
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PTshox 2/12/2021 1:57pm
2/12/2021 1:57pm
But some of the folks are really good guys that shoot straight too!
Brent
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Brent 2/12/2021 2:41pm
2/12/2021 2:41pm
I did one set of suspension with Factory Connection, the fork was much too soft when I got it back.

Three calls to them to try to solve the issue and they treated me over the phone like I had a disease they didn't want to catch and they couldn't be bothered. I was polite to them even as they treated me like shit for asking questions.

Even so, they told me that they would speak to the tech who set up my fork and call me back - that call never came.

I'm a vet rider that gladly pays lot of $ out for my bikes, but these guys as much said they didn't want my future business.

Needless to say they are not on my speed dial when I need anything suspension related.

I know this thread is about CV fork service, and I keep hearing positive things about REP in Murrieta.
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snackfedbear
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snackfedbear 2/12/2021 2:54pm
2/12/2021 2:54pm
Strange indeed. Shouldn’t have to kiss anyone’s ass to spend money with them. I’m seeing it more and more often these days it’s crazy. Stopped spending money with my local shop because of it. Maybe I’m just becoming my parents haha!

Follow up: I talked to both shops. Prices are fairly similar. Power and is about 50 bucks cheaper, but I would have to ship my stuff to them and rep is within driving distance so I think I’ll head that way. Thanks to everyone for the solid plugs!
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bvm111
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bvm111 2/13/2021 1:27am
2/13/2021 1:27am
snackfedbear wrote:
Strange indeed. Shouldn’t have to kiss anyone’s ass to spend money with them. I’m seeing it more and more often these days it’s crazy. Stopped spending...
Strange indeed. Shouldn’t have to kiss anyone’s ass to spend money with them. I’m seeing it more and more often these days it’s crazy. Stopped spending money with my local shop because of it. Maybe I’m just becoming my parents haha!

Follow up: I talked to both shops. Prices are fairly similar. Power and is about 50 bucks cheaper, but I would have to ship my stuff to them and rep is within driving distance so I think I’ll head that way. Thanks to everyone for the solid plugs!
ask for sam when you get there, he talked to me for a couple hours over a few phone calls. what i liked is he didn’t try to talk me into anything but took the time to explain the pros and cons of what they offer and allowed me to make the choice and then mark based the setting on the parts i selected.
Johnny Depp
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Johnny Depp 2/13/2021 8:20am
2/13/2021 8:20am
I'm thinking those shops don't know how to tune a cone valve correctly, hence the attitude. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on this thread, but it seems the solution for many is to kick the cone valve guts to the curb and insert KYB or race tech guts?
soggy
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soggy 2/13/2021 8:27am
2/13/2021 8:27am
Johnny Depp wrote:
I'm thinking those shops don't know how to tune a cone valve correctly, hence the attitude. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on this thread, but...
I'm thinking those shops don't know how to tune a cone valve correctly, hence the attitude. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on this thread, but it seems the solution for many is to kick the cone valve guts to the curb and insert KYB or race tech guts?
Enzo just takes the cone valve out and replaced with regular shim stack. You can also take the kyb intervals and put them in the aer48. Not sure why you would spend the money on CV’s then pay another 2g for kyb swap. I don’t think anyone is doing that.
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Bennett59
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Bennett59 2/13/2021 9:44am
2/13/2021 9:44am
I think some places remove the cone and put regular mid valve in them. I think Billy and Rep leave them but don’t quote me. My REP stuff handles awesome when I first got them I was just coming off injury and new bike and was cruising around and I thought man this stuff is little harsh for me, then I started getting my flow and picked up the pace and it was amazing seems like the faster you hit the stuff the better it feels.
AgileMike
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AgileMike 2/13/2021 11:04am
2/13/2021 11:04am
I would agree 100% that Cone Valves get better the faster you go. I also feel this is due to many suspension shops mostly working on suspension for reasonably fast and really fast riders.
I'm a B class vet racer in Idaho, trying to work my way to A class vet rider. Idaho is way less competitive than SoCal, so I'm probably a Vet C racer, trying to move to Vet B at SoCal races.

When I first got my AER CV's I emailed Keefer and he sent me his settings. I knew they would be too stiff for me because he substantially faster, but they were so stiff I could hardly ride them.

So if you are a C class racer that finally has enough coin to buy CV's, many the the shops are going to struggle with setup because they simply don't sell much product to people as slow as me (and potentially you as well).
POWERBAND RACING INC 2/13/2021 11:21am
2/13/2021 11:21am
Nice to see people taking the time to research and talk to the different shops. Guys like AEO/REP and my company Powerband Racing live and breath for this stuff. WP equipment isn't the same as KYB/Showa and they also require better tools to service and setup. Thanks for the feedback! Billy
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mtndoc_842
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mtndoc_842 2/13/2021 11:29am
2/13/2021 11:29am
Ill give Billy at Powerband another plug. He built 2 sets of CVs for me last fall. Was super personable and spent about 20mins on the phone with me talking about the feel I wanted. I ordered one set off him, rode them for about a week and then had him send me a 2nd set with no changes. He nailed the valving right off the bat.
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