This is an example of when a customer buys an $8000 Scott Genius LT bike, has a shock fail on him multiple times and none of the distributors have a solution for him. Let’s see what went wrong and how it was corrected.

You can see that this is one serious piece of equipment. The shock body looks like it was machined out of one piece. The level of fabrication reminds me of something you’d find on a formula one car. This shock works in a very different way from most. Instead of there being an air can, its a bare damper with two internal floating pistons or IFP’s . The pressure behind the dual IFP’s is what keeps the entire shock afloat. Because the volume in there is so small, the pressure required to support an entire person is really high. In this picture you can see part of the solution. I machined two new IFP’s with accurately machined O-ring grooves for good sealing.

This picture illustrates part of the problem. What you see is the original IFP with an insanely deep O-ring groove. What they put in there is a small O-ring first and then a glide ring stacked on top of it. If I wanted something to seal well, that’s not the way I’d do it. Glide rings aren’t meant to seal anything more than momentary pressure. They’re usually used to keep a floating piston from tilting and causing metal to metal contact between the piston and cylinder wall. This material is also used as piston bands to keep a piston edge sealed momentarily during the time that a lockout is engaged or when heavy compression damping is used.

After a few years I’ve finally clawed my way up the ladder of life to the point that I now own a better lathe that can make the large piston for this shock in a reasonable amount of time. In light of that, I’m offering this kit that replaces not only the two IFP’s but the large piston as well. All three have accurate o-ring grooves machined down to a proper depth.