Review | The Formula Neopos Is Unlike Any Other Suspension Volume Spacer On The Market

[@ThunderStruckMTB]

Once it degrades and starts to fall apart, then you get to clean the fork out real good..... Good for progression and maintenance!

[@singletrack]

True! Mind you, as I mentioned in the review, we didn't have any degradation issues with the Neopos spacer in any of the forks we tested. One of those was a 170mm travel Fox 36 that I rode for two months with the spacer inside the air spring. As long as there's plenty of room inside the air spring, I can't really see how any damage would occur. Now if you had the spacer inside a fork with limited clearance around it (so that the spacer could be compressed mechanically by the air spring piston), then I can see how it would degrade. I believe that's what happened with the rear shock I tested - the clearance was limited inside the air can, and the spacer was being pummelled on large compressions. ST Wil.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@singletrack I have some things to investigate further: how much does the temperature effect the spacer? I ride in varied harsh conditions, only too crazy winds stop me. so how would the spacer handle -10C or colder? or 30deg +? and 2 months only wont tell much about durability, how often do we need to replace it? will the spacer be effected by different lubes? like fox's lube which will be in the air chamber. but this is an interesting product. but the last bit don't make it so desirable.

[@singletrack]

@@mtbboy1993 I couldn't say what the performance is like in really cold temperatures - we've only tested the Neopos spacer in conditions varying from close to freezing, up to about 38c degrees C, and we've had no problems within that range. Formula recommends you replace the Neopos spacer every 100 hours of use, or once a year - whichever comes first. You get three spacers in a packet for €29, so if you follow Formula's guidelines, you'll get three years worth of use out of the one packet. I've been told that a significant amount of the development time was trialling different materials to build the spacer out of, as well as testing those with various types of oil and grease. Of course they still stipulate that they have only designed it to work with their own forks. Of the forks we tested the Neopos spacer with, half of them used grease inside the air spring (Fox 36 170mm, Fox 36 150mm, Fox 34 Step-Cast 120mm), and the other half used oil (X-Fusion McQueen, Formula 35, Formula Selva). Hope that helps! ST Wil.

[@Musicsson]

@@mtbboy1993 He said it is some kind of silicone foam. Silicone is generally highly temperature stable.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@Musicsson ok, thx, sounds promising. but I am on coil setup now.

[@mtbboy1993]

4:31 & 4:36 is that damage on the right side of the Neopos spacer? if so how did that happen?

[@singletrack]

That would be an accidental stab wound from a pick :-) ST Wil.

[@kkbikeshack]

On your 36 tests, did you simply add it as a supplement? Or standalone? Thanks

[@singletrack]

For the 36 forks, I added the Neopos spacer as a supplement to the existing air spring setup. That was largely because I was running both forks (150mm & 170mm) with zero plastic volume spacers - so I had none to remove in the first place! In general though, that's how I'd recommend testing the Neopos spacer to begin with. First step would be to add one Neopos to your existing setup, to see how the fork reacts. Play around with air pressures (and potentially rebound damping) to see where you're at in terms of sag and whether you're using full travel. Second step would be to keep the Neopos spacer inside, but remove one plastic token. Again, play around with air pressures depending on sag, and see how much travel you're using. It does take a bit of experimenting to find the right setup that works for you, but I found that was part of the fun! ST Wil.

[@thecount1001]

how many do you use? if you had 2 regular tokens in say, a Lyrik 150, should you use 2 corks?

[@singletrack]

Hey James! It depends on a few factors, and because the Neopos spacer reacts differently to a rigid spacer, there is some experimentation required. To begin with, I typically tested each fork by adding one Neopos spacer to the existing setup. So with your Lyrik 150 with 2 tokens inside, I'd keep those 2 tokens in and add the Neopos spacer, then test out the fork to see how it behaves. If you were finding the fork too progressive, and you weren't using full travel, then I'd take out one of the tokens, so you're left with one token and one Neopos spacer. Then test out the fork again, experiment with air pressures/sag, and monitor how much travel you're using on your next few rides. That'll give you an idea of where to go next. Formula explained to me that you only need one Neopos spacer in order to get the effect of added compliance. Once you are running more than one Neopos spacer, at that point it simply becomes about volume adjustment - just like adding/removing tokens. So in conclusion - try using a single Neopos spacer with a combination of tokens first, before you start running multiple Neopos spacers. If you can achieve your desired setup with a single Neopos spacer, then that leaves you with spare Neopos spacers to run in other forks, or use in the future when the current one needs replacing. Hope that helps mate! [ST Wil]

[@roik.6694]

Genius

[@joahsprenger]

never expected this would work

[@singletrack]

I was pretty skeptical too Joah! The theory is sound though as far as using a soft medium inside the spring to help make the spring curve more gradual. But as to feeling a difference in high-speed chatter and vibrations? I was pleasantly surprised at how effective the Neopos spacer was. ST Wil.

[@mtbboy1993]

this is probably some sort of neoprene or silicone.

[@tiziano316]

Yes, no need to spend 30 euros. U can find something very similar for free...

[@Niko-xt5bs]

@@tiziano316 yes like synthetic wine plugs

[@tiziano316]

@@Niko-xt5bs exactly!