2015 Apex SE full HyGear conversion

[FlyinA]

I bought my 2015 Apex SE new, trading in a 2007 Apex GT. I had some reservations about the Fox Float air shocks. After giving them more than a fair chance I just wasn't happy. The problem in a nutshell was that making air pressure adjustments always helped one thing at the expense of another. In the end, I lost all interest in playing with air shocks anymore. I wanted to switch out all 3 air shocks with high quality coil over shocks. After long deliberation, I decided on HyGear products.

This was not cheap. If you're looking for the least expensive way to solve your Fox Float air shock problems, seek elsewhere. I wasn't looking for the cheapest way. I was looking for the way that satisfied my needs regarding looks, performance and adjustability. Just a little disclaimer there.

It took some playing around and adjusting, but my goals were met and the sled's suspension is what I consider to be excellent now. The 2 front shocks were very good out of the box, requiring only a slight preload change (flipping a collar over) and some adjustment of the clickers.

The rear shock was a little more work to get it where I wanted. Out of the box, the shock was very plush and didn't bottom, BUT there was too much rear sag under throttle load for my taste, even with the weight transfer bar set to minimum transfer. I ended up removing the dual coil spring arrangement and replacing that with a single Eibach coil spring. This made the shock less plush, to be sure, but it also got the weight transfer how I wanted it and that was very important to me for my riding style. I did have to try a few different Eibach springs to find the one I liked best, and one that had proper sit in.

Net result is I ended up with suspension that performs at a very high level and can be quickly and easily adjusted to suit changes in trail conditions. I should point out that HyGear support did not advocate that I go to a single spring set up in the rear, so I did that against their advice. Their main concern was that I'd wind up with too harsh of a ride. Still, they were very helpful with phone support and with helping me understand their product so I could make good adjustments and get things the way I wanted, so they certainly deserve credit for that.

During the suspension set up process, I also got rid of the tuner skis and went to a slightly wider C&A single keel ski with Bergstrom Triple Points. Now the sled handles and steers much better!!

 

[Macheater]

Hey FlyinA glad to hear you have it setup to your liking. As somebody who had spent a considerable amount getting my 06GT to my liking, I can appreciate how much money and effort you have invested. Just one question though. Was it not possible to achieve your setup with a dual coil spring? I ask because I too felt the back of my machine had to much sit-in sag, so I gave the combo more preload which made it stiffer with a taller ride height. Now granted I haven't yet had a chance to ride it with the new higher preload so I'm sure there is still going to be a little tuning on the setup to do.
Also, I ditched the stock coil over clicker front shocks for the Fox Evol R's and have been very happy with them.
Did you go with the Axis shocks that they sell?

 

[FlyinA]

Yes, Custom Axis shocks all around, both fronts and the rear. I left the dual coil setup on the fronts because it worked very well there. On the rear, my problem wasn't sit in - that was fine - my problem came when I hit the throttle, the back end would sag down too much, tilting back to the point where the headlight was up off the trail at night, even with the low beam on. If I maxed out the preloads and stiffened the compression damping almost all the way, it would be better in terms of sagging down, but then too harsh of a ride. I even tried adjusting to block the action of the short soft spring, but then I bottomed out in bigger bumps. If there were a wide selection of the two different spring sizes used in the dual coil, I could have maybe found a combination that worked. Problem was, there wasn't much to choose from, but if I went to single spring, I had a wide variety of spring weights to select from in the correct size. It's also simpler picking one spring as opposed to trying to get two which work together, and then independently adjusting the preload of the two different springs. I'm NOT saying it's impossible for the dual coil set up to work on the rear of the Apex. Depending on your preferences, and your other set up choices, it could work terrific for you. Believe me, I spent a tremendous amount of time trying to find spring choices that could work for me to keep the dual coils on the rear because I really wanted that to work out, but for my set up preferences it just wasn't in the cards. YMMV.

 

[Macheater]

Ok got it. Them Axis had to cost a few bucks! But I've heard nothing but good things about them.