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As I remember a few years ago it seemed the consensus from the experts was that you should achieve full travel once or twice each ride. I managed to do this on the Verderers trail in the FoD but don't know how or where, never got anywhere near full travel before so was surprised. Is it still the case that you should achieve full travel or not bearing in mind the varied terrain, do people adjust pressures/damping etc for different terrain or is that just something pro's do? Forks are RS Revs if that makes any difference.
I think with air forks that tend to ramp right up at the end of their travel getting full travel is a rarity if you run the sort of pressure that makes most of your riding bearable.
I tend to treat the 'last bit' as emergency travel not 'I can get that hopping over a log at Stanmer'.
Yeah, I very rarely get full travel on any of my bikes, apart from the rigid one. You bottom out when you get things completely wrong and need rescuing, if you bottom on a regular ride then your bike is a wallowy mess. Full travel on 150mm+ forks will pitch you forwards a good bit too, which sin't really conducive to rapid progress.
You bottom out when you get things completely wrong and need rescuing, if you bottom on a regular ride then your bike is a wallowy mess
sounds like an excuse for mincing...
Does it?
yes.
Oh right, I'll try riding a bit faster then, thanks for the tip.
I bottom out fairly reguarly, but I try not to run my sus too firm as I had tendonitis a while back and I get sore fingers...
I'm a little concerned with some of the harsher bottom outs though, as they are very metallic and mechanical sounding/feeling, so I'm surprised there is no rubber stopper or ramp up (Fox Float 34s).
I very rarely get full travel on any of my bikes, apart from the rigid one
Isn't that when your chin meets your handlebars? I try to avoid that on mine.
Forehead and stem for me. I too try to avoid it, but sometimes there are big drainage ditches.
Sometimes when riding like a baby elephant, which I manage at least once on most rides. The proper guide to correct spring is how much static sag there is when in the so-called "attack position" ~25% works for most people on an XC trail bike.
Actually with air shocks, I don't think you can bottom out as they ramp up exponentially; the last bit is unusable.
^ How do you define bottomed out? Used all the travel available, or metal to metal?
Cuz you is big giant yampy mess ennit 😆
marzocchi bottom out is the best. mahoosive metal clang.
i definately dont bottom out on a ride unless its a BIG drop.
rofllez at 'attack position'
I think this whole bottoming out on a ride thing is a myth - maybe something someone once said then taken out of context and perpetuated on the internet. The whole point of suspension, if it is well set up, is not to bottom out - once you've bottomed out you've no longer got suspension, sort of defeats the object. Also how can you say you need to bottom out every ride? Some rides will be more demanding than others, so some rides you'll use more suspension than others. You're not going to go to all the effort to set up your suspension for specific rides - unless you have a team of mechs on hand like pro's.
However, if you only ever use half of your suspension travel most or all of the time, then you've either got your suspension set up too hard and therefore not getting the full benefit of having it - or you have too much of it for the type of riding you do - you don't need it for pootling on canal tow paths for example.
You want to be able to tackle the terrain you want to tackle without upsetting the bike too much so you maximise control, therefore gain confidence and therefore feel like you can tackle the terrain faster. Less suspension, poorly set up suspension or no suspension just means you'll be wanting to tackle the terrain slower, not that you can't tackle it.
The whole point of suspension, if it is well set up, is not to bottom out - once you've bottomed out you've no longer got suspension, sort of defeats the object. Also how can you say you need to bottom out every ride?
^^This. Saying that you [i]have[/i] to bottom your forks out is just utter bobbins. It's like saying that you need to bounce your car's engine off the limiter at least once everytime to drive it. Who comes up with this guff?
^^^
Doddy...
DrP
As I remember a few years ago it seemed the consensus from the experts was that you should achieve full travel once or twice each ride.
Plain wrong! As is this:
. Although to be fair I detect a fair bit of tongue in cheek with that one... 🙂sounds like an excuse for mincing...
Suspension is not optimally controlled at the limit of it's travel. Suspension is being used correctly when it works the most for you. It was a common misconception that bottoming it out regularly reflected optimum use.
I think this whole bottoming out on a ride thing is a myth - maybe something someone once said then taken out of context and perpetuated on the internet
Not an Internet myth - magazines used to perpetuate it!
[quote=votchy]I managed to do this on the Verderers trail in the FoD but don't know how or where,
Probably the 'high-compression' down/up dip on the last section before you ride back to the centre..?
Probably the 'high-compression' down/up dip on the last section before you ride back to the centre..?
May well have been, when I got back to the car park the O ring was around 5mm from the brace and there were dust marks just below it so around 130-135mm of travel used on 140mm forks, pretty impressed that I achieved that without feeling like I was going to die 😀
lol at shinsplints