Can anyone help me out with a decent default setting for high/low compression to start out with? I noticed my fork was packing done at Coed Y Brenin over the weekend and remembered I’ve never taken the time to set the high/low compression properly. I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to dialling in a fork – so would like a decent base to start experimenting with.

If you’ve had it a while and not serviced it- do this, it makes a huge difference.

Check your sag- it’s only a start point but worth doing.

If your fork is packing down, i.e. not returning to the sag position after successive hits then you can try speeding up the rebound damping. That is, have less rebound damping. Less is towards ‘-‘ on the adjuster. Just move it one or two clicks to start with and go from there.

Don’t worry too much about the compression damping for now, rebound is the key one to get right.

Thanks. I adjusted the rebound, so I’ll see how that goes, but I thought while I was in the process of getting that sorted I’d take the time to try to dial in some of the other settings.

Packing down is the rebound as already said. The compression is how it ‘stands up’ on the trail to different hits from bumps. Get the rebound dialled then work on the compression.

Thanks. I’m after something like this (which I found on the Pivot site):

Setting Rebound, High Speed Compression and Low Speed Compression damping adjustments on Fox 36 RC2 Fit damper forks for Firebird: In general, for a rider between 160-180lbs, we recommend the following baseline settings:
Rebound: 10 clicks out from all the way in
High Speed Compression: 15 clicks out from all the way in
Low Speed Compression: 17 clicks out from all the way in

http://www.pivotcycles.com/tech/getPage/4-suspension-setup

By ‘all the way in’ do they mean setting it to the max first and then wind it back?

When I had a 36 RC2 I used to have the LSC most of the way on and the HSC most of the way off.

On mine, I had compression (both) wound all the way off. I now run avalanche damper cartridges which feel way better.

Funny that, possibly later year models got less divey? Mine was a 2008 or 2009.

Might help if the OP gives more detail about his fork.

Compression damping will help to hold the fork up in its travel. Low and high speed refer to the vertical wheel velocity. In other words the speed the damper is being asked to move.

Low speed comp is useful for resisting brake dive, and winding some on will keep the fork up when climbing out of the saddle. High speed compression is trickier- not least because you’ll not find out the results until you’re hitting things quickly. It’s often why HSC is factory set in many forks.

Fork is 2013 Fox Float 36 FIT RC2.

http://locotuning.co.uk/tech-info.html 😀

Thanks Loco – the problem is I live in Norfolk and most of the stuff over here isn’t very testing on the fork. However, when we were at Coed Y Brenin over the weekend I could definitely feel the fork could do with some tweaking, so it’s hard to find somewhere to properly test and dial in the fork.