Quarq Shockwiz Suspension Tuner [Rider Review]

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The Quarq Shockwiz is an advanced piece of suspension tuning technology that allows regular riders to have factory level tuning ability without all of the fuss of being a factory racer. This customer has been using the Shockwiz to tune their suspension with some good results, read on for their thoughts!

Overview

I bought my Pivot Mach 6 Carbon with a Fox 36 fork, new in 2016, and put about 1000 miles on it per year (here in Salt Lake the trails are not super chunky so I ride my hardtail more often). I absolutely love the bike but always felt like I was not getting the suspension quite right. I recently upgraded the FIt-4 Damper to the Grip2 damper thinking I would be able to get things absolutely "dialed". It did feel a little better, but it still wasn't quite right. It really just introduced a bunch more variables into a slow and somewhat confusing setup process. It's really hard to tell for instance where high speed kicks compression in vs low-speed compression, same with rebound. I was also wondering if volume spacers would help and if I was just off altogether on my air pressure. Then I read a few reviews of the Quarq Shockwiz and thought I'd give it a shot.

First Impressions

I started out setting it up on my hardtail (Salsa El Mariachi Ti with a basic Fox 32mm fork).

Using the ShockWiz I had it feeling better than ever within two laps through Corner Canyon. 

It was really close already, but did suggest a little less air and a little more high-speed compression, and confirmed that I didn't need any volume spacers. Next, I got to work on the Pivot. The first lap, on shuttled laps down Little Cottonwood Canyon, it kept telling me to take air out. Now Fox recommended for my weight that I start off at 93psi, which felt way to firm. I kept taking air out as was recommended and ended up around 42 psi... This felt way too soft and I felt like I was going to go over the bars on every steep rollover. I thought that couldn't be right and that the Quarq ShockWiz was not really going to help in this setup... Then I went back and read the manual and watched their videos again. I didn't realize a couple of things when doing the setup.

First, you have to reset the base air pressure when you start off, also you have to start a new session (both in the app) when you change air pressure. I reset the air to a reasonable pressure and started the whole process again, fair enough I love to have an excuse to shuttle a ride. I worked through the process from the top of the screen to the bottom, as the instructions suggest, and after I got the air dialed in at 73 psi and adding two volume spacers I was able to move on to Rebound and Compression.

The rebound was really easy and basically confirmed the factory suggested settings were correct as they were. As for compression, it got the low-speed compression feeling great, but continues to tell me the high-speed compression should be opened up further, even though it's already wide open. I just started setting up the rear shock last week and haven't been able to get out and test this week, but after two laps I got the air pressure set where it suggested, I need to take a couple of laps and see what it suggests for volume spacers next.

Final Thoughts

In summary, this thing sucks... if you don't use it right. But if you watch the video on their site and follow the on-screen directions it really can help get things set up nicely and more quickly. It gets your bike set up to actually ride much faster. After getting the front setup and adjusted properly, and the new damper, I am consistently putting PR's on Strava for some of the faster somewhat chunky segments at the bottom of the trail. Would I buy it again, yes.