High and low speed compression adjustment offers fettlers the ability to tune the Vector’s damping characteristics to suit their riding style, while a heat-dissipating air can results in impressive damping consistency on long, rough descents.
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There’s also a bottom-out adjuster in the piggyback reservoir, which only significantly affects the very end of the stroke. This is a shame because the Vector’s relatively small negative air chamber results in a spring that’s firm to get moving off the top, before crashing through the mid-stroke too readily. Even though it ramps up again right at the end, this causes a bucking, trap-door sensation, even with lots of LSC wound on.
The high initial breakaway force reduces traction on steep terrain too. There’s no climbing mode and the unsupportive air-spring readily wallows deep into the travel on climbs, so it’s only suited to bikes that naturally pedal well or aren’t intended to go uphill. Even with the bottom-out adjuster and HSC wound fully off, I found it hard to reach full travel, so it’s best suited to more linear bikes too.
