Best vid I've seen so far for someone like me who's setting up a full sus bike for the first time. Just wanted to know what a good base setting looked like and this nails it.
@Al Castill high-end coil shocks are as good and even better than any air shock on the market depending on the brand and model. Anybody who tells you otherwise is either a shill, a sponsored Rider or somebody who doesn't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to the physics of telescopic Fork suspension. There are several good coil Fork manufacturers that provide MTB Forks. Plan on spending $1,000 or more. Öhlins, Cane Creek, DT Swiss & Push ( both actually utilize both a coil and air) 👍
This is by far the clearest and simplest tutorial in correctly adjusting your suspension. Highly recommend to viewing it and doing it. So far....it improved the ride of our MTBs dramatically....The bikes have never felt or ridden better than they have in the last 2 days than all the other 50+ days. Plan on spending more like 30 minutes per bike and 60 minutes if you need to remove fork or shock tokens per your tutorial outcomes. Excellent work Bike Radar!
The best suspension setup video. It explains all aspects that I gathered from many videos and articles. I'd love to see the v2 with more complex adjusting like high low compression etc
useful video. For those with a fork without rubber rings, you can temporarily use a zip tie to achieve the same thing. don't leave them on or you risk scratching the stantions over time
A zip tie cannot technically scratch your stanchion any more than an oring can, it's a lot softer than the oxide coating covering it, and the travel indicator only moves once per ride really.
These videos are outstanding. I had a few 'aha' moments that helped demystify suspension setup. This is the first time someone has stressed how important it is to have the front shock rebounding at the same time or first to keep you from going over the bars!
Because he tested the sag fully sated and not in attack position. Adding those 5-10℅ compensates for the weight that normaly would be distributed to the fork.
Thanks so much! This is the first suspension setup video I've come across that doesn't basically say "Set sag at 30% and ride it and tweak it based on how it feels". So simple to follow and I feel like it's a really good starting point!
Forget the pressure chart on short-travel RockShox forks. My Reba recommends to run something like 110 psi for a guy my size, but the sag and feel is spot on with 78 psi and three spacers fitted. Trust in your sag reading and test it out on the trails.
Some of those RS charts are crazy! Not only the short travelled ones, though. I think RS are afraid, that people will bottom out and blame them for it, so they just play safe and advise people to set it up way too firm.
My Fox 36 is the same. It recommends 68psi for a minimum air pressure for someone at 150... I’m 175lbs and I have it set at 60PSI and one token. I can’t get it past 80% sag on the fork so I might take out the spacer!
Well done! This is the best explanation video for suspension setup! 🤘(my freeride Kona is very happy after this video) Can I apply the same things to my downhill bike, a Demo 8? Thanks for your reply, in advance!
If your spring rate is correct then you shouldn't really need much in the way of compression damping. My fast and slow are fully open. If I do jumps and decent drops then I add a couple clicks of high speed comp.
Such a great video! So many others where people just talk to the camera and try to explain things. Here's the first where I've seen some real world tests I can go and do.
Great video, I would also like to know more about low speed compressions adjustments as some others have stated as well but this video is very concise, the best I have watched on suspension set up!
For the front I do this: Find a place with a lot of small/sharp berms. Set it at the lowest/least amount of compression. You will feel like you are blowing through your front suspension and losing stability out of the berm. Add more compression until it not blowing through and start riding smoothly and stable through the berms. You don't want too much compression as it will make your suspension feel harsh. Just enough to give you that stability, so it doesn't blow through it all and becomes unstable :-)
Just what I needed, but when setting fork rebound and looking for the front tire to 'hop', does it matter if the frame is carbon or aluminum? It seems the carbon would hop at a slower rebound as it is lighter, but is this difference negligible?
Excellent video! I wasn't sure what the manufactuers settings are for my fork. You video did a fabulous job of explaining how to set up the sag, rebound, and even the travel length in order to take full advantage of your shock / fork. Thank you!
Good method but can lead to a stiff front setup, jeopardizing turns. Most of non-pro dont weight the front enough during turns what leads the bike to understeer. If bike is understeering, reduce fork air pressure or make fork rebound slower. Or, stiff the rear and make rear rebound faster. This is the last step missing on the video, wich is very good by the way.
The stuff about setting your rebound by going off a kerb is rubbish. Rebound is adjusted for type of trails you are riding combined with how agressive your riding is.
So my Recon Solo Air has a compression adjustment on one leg - how do you incorporate that? And why might it turn 360 when its supposed to lock out? :)
Wow! I've done as explained in the video and it's almost like I have new (and better) bike ! Finally, my rebound and balance are set properly :) Thank you!
My god. Thats probably the most helpful and accurately and well explained video not only on this topic, but overall on the internet :D Insane. Thank you very much for making this! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks man. I subbed. I recently bought a full suspension bike but it just didn’t feel right. These settings instantly made me a little better of a rider.
When you say for the rear shock "when you do it this way set it to 30%" [paraphrasing], is that more sag than "normal" because you're sat further back, and is "normal sag" stood up on the pedals? Cuz I note my Whyte S-150 manual says 25% sag if I'm not mistaken.
Low speed compression can be used on the trail to fine-tune the level of support - if your fork is riding too low in the rough or diving too easily, wind on some LSC. If it's feeling harsh, wind it off. You can adjust this to suit individual trails, or to fine-tune the balance between front and rear.
Rene Robert when you rush through your travel or even bottom out, you should increase the spring rate (by air, coil or volume spacers). If you want the suspensions to react more or less sensitive to the ground, the compression knobs come into play. 1st = spring rate --> then compression (which varies from trail to trail)
Don't know why you're so bent on a 30% sag number when in fact that is a bit soft for most riders. What that means is, it only takes roughly three times a person's body weight to bottom out a shock or a fork which will happen on bigger hits. It's best to start at around 25% and work back from there. A bit of ill advice telling people to set their sag at 30%. Another thing, before setting any sag both Fork stanchions and shock piston should be cleaned and lightly lubricated with either suspension oil or pure silicone to prevent any stiction. Trying to cram what is fairly complicated into a 10-minute tutorial is really just short cutting something that shouldn't be shortcutted. It can take several rides before even figuring out a good base line, depending on the experience and skill of a rider and the specific Trail being ridden. It's videos like this that eventually send riders into the shop I work at wondering why their bike doesn't seem to be stable. 😄 Please don't try to cut corners when it comes to the technical aspects of machine set-up.
I'm curious, how can setting the fork rebound without rider weight on the bike be an accurate way to establish your rebound setting? Don't get me wrong, I'll give it a try, but logically it seems dubious. Can someone explain it to me?
Rock shock provided my with 3 massive folded sheets of paper... On "safety bleeping tips" !!! All they need is this fantastic info. My red dial on rear shock also, spins around and around.. it that normal? I now have the "flat" section at 12 oclock and will turn one click anti clockwise. Seriously i hope rock shock see this view. There ",info" is not even good for wiping backside with.
This should be the first video that comes up when you type in "adjusting mountain bike shock". For some reason, other videos space them out into "here's how to adjust sag" and that's it, or "here's how to adjust rebound" and that's it. I've bought a rear air shock for my bike and have never done this before, so why do all the videos assume I already know how to do the rest? Give me a dumbed down, super basic video that a 10 year old kid can understand, and make sure to do it for the FULL adjustment of shocks - wouldn't do you much help to ONLY adjust rebound and not have the correct sag, now would it? This video is the best.
I have got a whyte g-170 s 2019 endro bike and set my rear shock at 30 percent with 170mm travel and my front fork at 25 percent with 180 mm travel and it doesn’t have lock out and I am finding it to hard any advice please sorry?
Took my full sus bike to the shops for tunning and the guys there never just pumped the fork and shock. They didn’t even mention sag, progression or rebound. I already had an idea from watching this great video. Now I’m setting my own suspension by just watching this video and learning.
Neil Martinez if you’re going through too much travel and don’t have the time to add volume spacers try playing with the compression. There’s videos out there that help.
My fork was way too stiff and I knew it. I had to drop the pressure to about 30 PSI below what was recommended on the fork for my weight to achieve 30% sag.
sooo i have a problem... Im at around 27% sag i believe. When i land after jumps it feels perfect, but over small bumps it feels like i am riding with a ridgid front. What do i need to change setup wise?
@bikeradar: great tutorial! About the progression test, I assume the results here will depend on the compression settings, esp. HSC. How should that be set when performing the test?
The best explanation so far in all RU-vid! Thank you! However I follow every step to adjust the fork rebound but my tire doesnt go up from the floor, slow or fast, the tire continue in the floor. For information, I ride a Scott Spark 940 with 29 in wheels with 120 mm travel in both suspensions. Somebody know why or how should I adjust the front fork rebound?
How long does suspension take to bed in? I have new bike with Rock Shox Recon and Monarch R combo and when I set the rebound to its fastest, it’s still no where near fast enough to get the tyre bouncing off the ground, any ideas?
How do you set up preload? Thats the only setting i have on my SR Suntour XCE 28 when i push down i only can push it half way or less when im riding it sometimes feels like there is no suspension at all.
Not gonna lie. I'm a month into these settings and each day I feel dumber than the other. This guide is the best. The examples are logical and easy to follow. Too bad he didn't tackle compression settings as well.
Why do you measure sag on the fork in "attack" position and the shock in a relaxed seated position? Why shall you not measure both of them in the same riding position?
This is a great way to get base settings. Then you must adjust for your style of riding and the type of trails you ride. Keep fiddling with it till it feels right. I just removed one of the tokens in my Pike and it feels much better for my conservative riding style.
Dont forget that when you attach the pump to the fork or the shock you will lose a few psi each time, so before you take it off make note, because if you put it straight back on it will read different and just putting in or taking off a few psi from that reading will throw you off and will make it hard to get exact sag.
No they don't -- there's no way around the fact that some of the air in the shock moves into the hose upon attachment. Probably what you meant was that if the gauge reads 100 psi, then it will still be 100 psi in the fork/shock after you take the gauge off. If you go back later to check it, it will read (and actually be) lower, so you'll have to pump to get it back to what it was before your check.
My pump has a special valve that turns down on the pin and yea there will be a pressure loss on attachment but not worried there as I'm looking to set it at a given pressure. When I turn the pin valve back out the air chamber is now sealed with the set pressure and removing the hose all that's let out is the air in the hose itself.
