How To Set Up Full Suspension Mountain Bike

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Aside from having working brakes, there are few things more important than getting your suspension setup properly. It's mutual for folks to become intimidated by their suspension, but a few basics can accept you confidently establishing and maintaining your fork and stupor setup in no time. The purpose of this post is just to get us familiar with those nuts, and get out on the trail armed with them. Nosotros dive deeper into intermission fine-tuning in another post.

Become prepped, know what's upwards

Outset things first, allow'southward get some basic things established. Here are a few guidelines when information technology comes to your bike's suspension:

1. Bank check your suspension setup often. Like, every time you ride. Small-scale changes tin can accept big impacts on the ride quality of your bike and your feel out on the trail. If your sag is off by but a picayune bit, things get a whole lot less efficient. Going for a longer ride and carrying more weight in your pack? This volition impact your suspension setup. Just like y'all're preparing yourself past packing more than nutrient and water, you lot should as well prepare your bicycle.

2. Don't be scared. This stuff is manner simpler than it might seem. Play around with it. Acquire it. Agreement your suspension will pay off in the long run. I adept tip for learning what all the adjustments do is to use the extremes. Run the rebound all the way fast, and all the way slow, and feel the deviation. Do the same with compression, and fifty-fifty preload. And remember, suspension is user-specific. There are guidelines to getting your interruption dialed in, but ultimately, not many steadfast rules. In the end, it'southward all about how it feels to you.

iii. Break setup is likewise condition-specific. The more than comfortable you go with your interruption, the more than y'all tin punch it in for every ride. Not everyone is going to want to do this. Sticking with one setup for all conditions is perfectly fine, just, just as you might run different tire pressures in different conditions, you tin can punch your suspension in for the terrain. Y'all can, for instance, run softer break in depression-grip environments, but trails with berms and hard g-outs might phone call for more back up. Rough, high-speed terrain might call for faster rebound whereas you might deadening information technology down a bit for leap trails. Again, the level of per-ride tweaking will vary from one person to another, but knowledge is ability when it comes to getting the almost out of your dampers.

4. Speaking of knowledge, read your fork and daze's user manuals. Know what adjustments are available and where they are. And read up on your bike, too. Unlike bikes have different sag recommendations, some fifty-fifty have a more comprehensive recommended shock setup, based on that bike's specific rear suspension system.

v. Finally, carry a stupor pump with y'all when y'all ride. And any other tools you might need to brand compression and rebound damping tweaks. This volition come up in handy when you kickoff getting things really dialed-in, because making changes out on the trail allows for instant feedback. Besides, being prepared is always a good thought. The mini shock pump I go along in my ride pack is ane of the most frequently used tools I conduct.

Exist similar this guy, and bring your shock pump on your photo shoots. Er, rides.

Speak the Language

Now that nosotros accept that downwards, permit's make certain we're speaking the same language. There are a ton of break-specific terms, but here are the few basics you'll need to beginning with:

• Preload – Also known as bound force, or simply air pressure (in most cases). Most of us have air-sprung intermission, meaning that an air chamber, rather than a coil leap, is the force that keeps the shock or fork extended and allows it to bound back later on an touch on.
• Sag – This is how much the suspension compresses with just your weight on it. Nosotros adjust the jump forcefulness upward or down to accomplish the desired amount of sag.
• Shock stroke – How much travel your actual stupor has. Non the wheel. Your cycle might have 150mm of rear travel, only that is achieved through linkage and stuff. The shock of a 150mm bike might only have 50mm of stroke. Knowing how much stroke your shock has is important because it will let you lot translate a per centum of recommended sag to an actual number y'all tin measure. Shocks are measured past length (eye-to-eye) and travel (stroke). An example is: 210 10 55. Meaning 55 is the stroke in millimeters. We're not worried most eye-to-eye in this lesson.
• Damping – Not "dampening". All suspension is made up of two chief things: a bound, and a damper. Damping is what controls the forces going through the suspension, in the form of oil running through special valving. The damper is what keeps the spring from being a pogo stick and launching us to the moon every time our suspension rebounds from an bear upon. Its as well controls the way it compresses when we hit stuff. Calculation damping slows stuff down, while reducing damping speeds things up. Faster = less damping. Slower = more damping. Pinch damping controls how fast the suspension tin can compress, or essentially, how rapidly information technology can respond to an bear on, while rebound damping is the opposite. Rebound damping controls how quickly your suspension recovers from an impact. How fast it bounces back.

Getting Dialed

There are only a few basic tools required to set your break upwardly. A shock pump and measuring record or calipers are the two cardinal ones. Some dampers also crave Allen keys or even a socket (not pictured). Fox has a handy little tool for some of its shocks—it'due south just a 3mm Allen on one end and a 6mm on the other.

Getting your pause fix requires three main adjustments: Sag, compression, and rebound. Elementary every bit that, right? Let's dig in.

Setting Sag

When it comes to rear suspension, your bike has a recommended sag range. Figure out what that is. And while yous're in that location, look up the shock stroke, as well. You'll need that. Most brands recommend somewhere between 25 and 30 per centum sag. Pct of the total shock stroke, that is. If your shock has a stroke of 55mm and your bike should take 30 percent sag, your sag measurement is: sixteen.5mm.

You may not need to calculate your sag number. RockShox laser-etches gradients in its shocks, and some manufacturers will only requite you the number, or better yet, they might give y'all a starting air pressure level based on your weight (and sometimes height). Off the top of my head, I know that both Specialized and Ibis do a bully job of this. Many other brands do besides. Some fifty-fifty requite starting compression and rebound settings. Use them. They're usually pretty close.

When setting sag, yous want to be in a riding position.

There are a couple things to know when setting sag. Full suspension bikes are very weight-sensitive. If you lot lost 5 pounds since the final time yous rode, your romantic interest may or may not notice, but your bike will. That's why we e'er prepare sag when dressed and ready to ride. Nosotros telephone call this "rider weight". It'south important to clothing what you'll exist riding in, including whatever pack yous might wear, water and all.

Calipers come in handy when measuring sag, but a metric tape measure or ruler and a corking eye works too.

In one case you know how much sag you should commencement out with, go alee and bosom out the shock pump and measuring record (or better yet, a set of Vernier calipers). There's a little sag-indicating o-band on the stanchion of the shock. That's what you'll measure.

Make certain any fork or shock lockouts are non engaged, and become side by side to a wall or something you lot tin can lightly lean against to balance. At present, get on the bike and assume a riding position. Similar y'all're about to attack a descent. Weight balanced, pedals level, elbows out. All that business concern. And then, without property the brakes, bounciness upwardly and down on the bike a bit. This will get the wheel nice and settled into the sag. Side by side, slowly achieve down while carefully trying not to shift your weight, and slide the o-band upwards against the seal of the shock's air tin. And then, slowly unweight the bicycle. It's important not to bounce on the bicycle at all after y'all set the o-ring. You tin catch the brakes once again to help stabilize everything. Then, step off the bike advisedly without compressing the suspension whatsoever more than.

Measure out the distance between the seal and o-ring. That'south your sag. Repeat this process until you're on target. Information technology might take a few rounds.

This little side annotation is important: Any fourth dimension you add or remove air from the shock, you must cycle it several times (like 10) before taking another measurement. Nosotros don't need to get into negative air chambers in this lesson, merely we practise need to know that all air shocks have them, and most of them are filled automatically via a transfer port from the positive air chamber (the i your daze pump is connected to). Cycling the shock allows the positive and negative chambers to equalize. If you lot add a lot of pressure to a daze all at once, you lot might discover that it's really hard to shrink the first fourth dimension and feels like a pogo stick, but cycling it a few times will normalize it. That's the positive and negative chambers equalizing, and that'south another reason why nosotros bounce upwardly and down on the bike a few times earlier sliding the o-ring into place.

Related: How To Ready Your Cockpit

Sag on Forks:

Setting sag on forks tin be washed in this same way. Generally, y'all're looking for around twenty percentage of the fork travel. But, fork sag is much more nigh feel than the shock sag is. Daze sag determines how the bike volition pedal, your traction, and even how much influence the drivetrain has on the pause. This isn't exactly the case with forks, so you tin can really set the firmness of the spring more on experience than annihilation else. Also consider your terrain. If virtually of your descents are steep, more of your weight will be concentrated on the fork, and you will want less sag. If your descents are not so steep, your weight volition exist more counterbalanced and you can become away with more sag. Or, outset off with the chart on the fork leg and get from there.

Almost every fork has a cheat canvas for settings. This fork has high- and low- speed rebound. Observe how as you lot move down on the scale to heavier weights, the recommended rebound gets slower. Whenever referring to "clicks" on knobs, it'south referring to the indents you feel when turning them, and the number is always how many clicks from fully closed.

Adjusting Damping

Impacts are separated into two categories: low-speed and high-speed. Not how fast the cycle is moving, per se, but how fast a sure type of bump makes the fork or shock motility. Depression-speed impacts come from rolling terrain and our torso-weight moving effectually on the bike. Loftier-speed impacts come up from foursquare-edged things like rocks and roots. When your bike hits things similar these, information technology requires the suspension to react quickly. Speeding up or slowing down a fork or daze's damping determines how it'southward able to rails the ground underneath us. The vast majority of riders run their damping way too slow.

All shocks are a bit unlike. This one requires a tool to brand damping adjustments, and features command over loftier- and low-speed pinch and rebound.

Some high-end suspension products accept more than external adjustment than others. For instance, many forks and shocks take low-speed compression and rebound knobs, while high-speed compression and rebound are set from the factory. No matter what you have at your fingertips, the bones rule of thumb for damping is to run it every bit fast as you can without your cycle feeling like a pogo stick. Start fast, and add damping every bit you lot demand to. Remember, calculation damping means slowing the movement down. Clockwise always adds damping, counterclockwise always speeds it upwards.

Compression:

Pinch is often indicated past blue. If you lot accept only one knob for compression, it'south a depression-speed knob. A lot of what low-speed compression damping is responsible for is decision-making how "bobby" your suspension feels. Adding low-speed compression will placidity how much your suspension moves as you lot're bouncing effectually on the pedals. It'll as well keep a intermission fork higher in its travel on steeper terrain. Just, exist careful how much you add together, because too much will make the suspension feel harsh on modest impacts. I like agile intermission, so I typically run my pinch damping either wide open or simply a couple clicks in from wide open.

Rebound:

The crimson knob. The same rule applies to rebound damping. Starting time off quick, and add damping as you need it. I generally encourage riders to get used to faster damping because information technology allows the tire to maintain better contact with the ground, but finding just the correct setting will vary between riders. And, keep in mind that the more air in your fork or shock, the faster information technology'll desire to spring back. Therefore, heavier riders will require more rebound damping than lighter riders, and any significant change to preload may require an aligning to rebound damping.

Nigh forks have compression adjusters. Some take ii. Low speed is near always in the eye, just if not it'll be labeled. Forks are always set up with dampers in the correct fork leg. the spring is taken care of in the left leg.

And there yous have information technology, folks. Those are the basic principles around interruption set upward. Side by side time, we'll swoop more into the tuning side of things.

Photos: Ryan Palmer

Source: https://www.betamtb.com/technique/higher-education-suspension-setup/

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