Help me set up my suspension, please.

I'm not familiar with your fork - what adjustments are available?

i.e. what knobs does the fork have?

is it only on repeat hits that its coming through the bars, or on the first hit?

if repeat hits you want to slow down high speed compression (if available) and speed up high speed rebound

if on single hits you want to speed up high speed compression.

might also be worth trying to increase low speed compression and run a bit less pressure in the fork overall

You probably have a single compression dial and a single rebound knob. Back the rebound off a bit in case it's packing down, and maybe also back the compression dial off a bit too.

How new is the bike? They might just need bedding in first. It might even be that the bushing clearances might need checking.

Other thing to try is open all the adjusters to their fastest setting and adjust the air pressure by frequency rather than sag. What that means is that if the pressure is too low, it will feel soft and baggy, too much and you'll feel like you're pinging off everything. Once that's sorted, then bring in some damping to taste.

oh yeah, check the air spring for tokens as well. That will make a difference.

So I've got a dial on top right saying Open to Firm. Got rebound adjustment on bottom of right fork and air valve on left

Bike has only had two decent rides so far.

I realise what a luddite I sound!

If the pressure (fork) is too high, the spring won't be absorbing the small stuff.

If the pressure is too low though, the fork will sit too low in its travel at/near the point where the spring rate gets stiffer (due to how compressed air works). And thus in practice be less absorbing of small bumps than a higher pressure.

Hire a shockwiz, it'll get you pretty close to a good setup pretty fast.

Where are you Frank? I've got one of the Shockwiz you can use for a ride.

Tbh, I think I'd get your suspension 90% there on feel anyway without it

@franksinatra

Maybe I could help you set them up on the trail?
There's not much adjustment on the fork you have but working through stuff step by step can help quite a lot as long as you can answer the question does that feel better or worse?

Bracketing is the way to go. Never shockwiz.

If you're not familiar with how the fork settings work, I'd suggest finding a short bit trail you can session easily, ideally with just enough gradient that you don't need to brake.

Then set the sag. 25-30% sag is a good starting point.

Now open the compression fully, and wind the rebound fully on.

Ride the trail. What should happen, is the fork will pack down on successive hits, and show you the extreme of too much rebound. The bike will gradually nose down, with successive hits feeling harsher as the fork packs down/sits lower in it's travel.

Now fully open the rebound, and repeat the trail. The fork should now pinball of pretty every bump in the trail, and you'll probably struggle to keep control of the front end.

Now gradually increase the rebound, and repeat the trail until you find a setting where the front end feels fairly neutral in it's response to successive hits. Some people will like slightly slower rebound so the front end feels a bit more planted and packs down slightly on successive hits, whereas others will like the front end a bit more lively so it doesn't pack down at all and might not feel quite as planted.

Compression damping is where you could do with some trail where you need to brake, but repeat the above to feel how it affects the suspension. Then find a setting that you're happy with.

Once you've done all that, go back to the sag. A good setting is where you're bottoming out the forks on your typical hardest hit during rides, so try experimenting with air pressures. If you've got reasonable sag set, but find you're bottoming out too much, try adding a token. If you do adjust the pressure any noticeable amount, then you'll need to adjust the rebound to compensate (more pressure = more forceful return, so needs more rebound to maintain similar control)

Then once you have the fork set up reasonably well, repeat with the rear shock, although perhaps not going to the extremes. Try experimenting with just a few clicks more/less, or if you do want to try running the shock fully open, do it on a tame bit trail, as a fully open rear shock can buck you of the bike quite easily!

You want the rebound on the fork and shock to be fairly balanced, otherwise it'll make jumps quite interesting. Relatively fast shock/slow fork will tend to buck you over the bars, while a relatively fast fork/slow shock will tend to kick the front end up. If anything, you want the shock to be a bit slower, as it's more controllable.

It's also worth mentioning, most new forks require a good few rides to bed in and feel more supple.

And there is an amount of personal preference to how suspension is setup.

I personally hate compression damping, as it is reducing how effectively the fork/shock absorbs hits, so my default setting is fully open. And I like my rebound fast, with just enough to avoid the full pinball effect. Whereas others will prefer quite a bit of compression and rebound, so don't be afraid to experiment.

Various different ways of asking does it feel better or worse.😎

Setting a spring so that you're using full travel isn't the right way to approach things imo.

Compression damping is wholly necessary too if you want great feel.

Using full travel is a reasonable starting point.

My preference is slightly softer and rely on the bottom out, which is generally good on Fox and DVO forks. However my old Pikes had a hard bottom out, so I ran them harder as the banging wasn't good to listen to, with the trade off being they felt harsher on easier stuff.

However a lot depends on how much travel you have, and what/how you ride. There is no 'ideal' suspension setup for everything, and different riders will prefer different things.

For example, some riders will like a fair amount of compression damping to avoid brake dive and pedal bob, with the trade of being you lose sensitivity and the fork feeling slightly harsher, where as I'd rather have the brake dive and maintain as much sensitivity as possible, and I aim to spin smoother to avoid pedal bob.

Then things like tokens, some like that bit extra sag and using tokens so the fork ramps up more, whereas I prefer the tokenless as linear as possible feel, as I'd much rather have a coil fork! (I still miss my Van 36s!)

Which is why I suggest trying the extremes, and learn to feel the differences between too much and too little damping. Then experiment with the other options.

And if you're somebody who just wants to ride their bike and not spend ages fiddling with settings, don't buy something with lots of dials!

mc, why do you suggest to refine the rebound before pressure? I would set default sag, then set rebound roughly such that when compressed stationary to halfway, the tyre doesn't jump off the ground when released. Then refine pressure while riding, then rebound while riding.

About balance, bouncing stationary on the pedals is a simple way of determining if your spring and rebound rates are about right. Then remember adjusting anything on the fork/shock requires an adjustment to the other end to keep that balance, i.e. it's not a one end then the other then done job.

mc, why do you suggest to refine the rebound before pressure?

I did say to set the sag first, which will give you a baseline to work from. There's a good chance the initial sag will be adjusted later, but you need to start somewhere.

My guide was more aimed at those who don't really know what they're doing, and how to go about getting a feel for what the settings do. Everything is interlinked, and I think it's easier to start with a fairly basic setting that will remain constant through the initial tests while you experiment with the other settings.

If you know what you're doing, and what you like, you should be able to get a reasonable setup before you even leave the car park, however if you don't have that knowledge/experience, you have to start some where.

No harm mc but you're simply describing how to setup a fork to your preference.