Struggling to find a setup that is reasonably responsive over small bumps but also doesn’t bottom out too easily. I’ve added a couple of tokens (4 in total as 2 seemed to bottom out too easily) with compression 4 clicks from closed and rebound 2 clicks from fastest and its setup to 25% sag. It feels like I’m running too low in the travel. I realise the 130mm will always be a bit of a compromise but I can’t seem to find a happy medium.

I’m about 13.5 stone with gear and backpack full and ride mostly natural trails with a few trail centres thrown in. Suspension settings are obviously specific to each person but it would be handy to have a benchmark that’s I can tweak slightly to suit me

One for the afternoon lot maybe?

Normally the tokens that hold them up I thought which allowed lower pressures but if you are at 25% sag this does not seem to leave much room for change. Your rebound seems bit quick to me maybe although I am not sure that would help with your problem. If you are riding some trails with big hits and drops you are likely to get through 130mm anyway.
You could run a bit more low or bump the pressure up a bit

I have 140mm pikes. I have 2 x tokens fitted and run the forks at around 30% sag, maybe a little less.
Small bump sensitivity is not that good when JRA but they feel really nice once I adopt an aggressive stance on the bike, as in when I really need it and pretty much use the full travel on most rides though I don’t ever feel any hard bottoming out.

Have you tried playing with the compression damping?

I may try removing a token and accept that the forks will bottom out occasionally on bigger hits but at least then I’ll be making the most of the full travel more regularly. Would increasing the sag to nearer 30% be more beneficial?
Out of interest Jef how many clicks of rebound/ compression are you running? Are you similar weight?

Sounds a bit wrong to me, I’m the same weight and had the same Pike in 26er with one token, if you are 29 I can imagine you will need more tokens. Have you checked the lowers for trapped air pressure? It’s a common problem with pikes. Google ‘pike burp’ for more or carefully remove the bolt and free the air shaft from the air spring leg and see if any air hisses out.

Mine are the 27.5 variety. I’ve not heard of the trapped air pressure but I’ll have a look, thanks

Hi Tom, No, I am a big fat lad at around 14.5 stone.

Unfortunately I don’t know how many clicks I am using. I tend to just set up on feel, bouncing around on the patio, then tweak again if needed once I am up the woods.

Bigjim makes a good point. I read somewhere that when you set the pressure you should cycle the fork through its travel up to 10 times to allow the air pressure to balance out in the fork, in both positive and negative chambers (I think, stop me if I am waffling). I did find that this had an effect and make sure I do this if I tweak the pressure before measuring the sag again.

Obviously it depends how and what you’re riding but I wouldn’t run 25% sag on a 130mm fork, more in the 15-20% region. I’m at 2 tokens, 100psi and <20% sag on my 130mm Pike on my hardtail – but 1 token, 70psi and similar sag on my 160mm Pike on my full-sus. The only time the Pike on the hardtail bottoms is when I huck fairly big to flat or really screw up.

I’m similar weight to you and also struggled a little, after coming from 150 pikes I assumed they’d be very similar. Mine are 130 and have here tokens and about 90psi. I’ve got a few clicks of compression and rebound set about half way, erring towards slow if anything. Never been one for setting sag, I’ve got mine so they bottom out on anything over about 3-4ft, usually once a ride so I’m happy with that.

How many tokens do you have installed James?

Three tokens. One or two never felt like they were doing much. Three seems perfect. 27.5 wheel size.

I removed a token, did the ‘pike burp’ trick and went with James’ settings to start with and I can report a huge difference after a quick ride around my local trails last night. Off to somewhere a bit more testing this weekend so I’m sure some small tweaks might be needed but thanks for the help guys