Just seeing your posts this morning. I'm glad my reviews helped in the decision to get them, you will both be happy with the results. I can't wait to get back out for a long ride again. I mentioned how much better the technical trails were, but even just the narrow dirt roads with potholes were so much better to ride on. We also did a bunch of km's on the hydro line trails which are a big mix of rough dirt road and loose rocky climbs, and the ride and handling was a big improvement.
The S3's give you the low speed compression adjustment over the 2's rebound. I would have liked to have both but would have had to go to the 4's and the price hike was just too much. Having the compression adjustment was more important to me, plus the difference in price wasn't that much. Going to our campsite last week, the 520 was loaded up with all our camping gear and some extra fuel, I'm guessing around 180 pounds, plus the two of us and gas tank topped up. All I did was increase the rear compression adjustment by three clicks. We stuck to just the narrow rough road going in and it handled all the bumps just fine. With all the info we provided when ordering, I think they got the pre-load really close. I'm still going to play around with it soon and will let you know how that goes.
The wait is tough, we were told 8-10 weeks when the confirmation email came in. At the start of week 10 we still hadn't heard anything, so the Monday I sent an email asking, and the Tuesday I got a reply saying they shipped, and were at my door the next day, (we are only 2 1/2 hrs from them). The wait is worth it though, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of them!
