Just a quick questions hopefully. I have got some new Rockshox Reba’s and the stanchions have 10-30% sag markings. What % sag do most people run or is it on a case by case basis depending on weight/riding style etc? Just a rough guide would be good though.

Set the sag at 10 %. If you don’t get full travel at least once during a bumpy ride increase the sag until you do.

20-25% for trail/XC riding, carry a shock pump for a few rides and play with the pressure, rebound and compression until they feel right. Full travel when needed is good but the right travel for your riding is what you are aiming for.

Suspension Setup Series #1 – Set Your Sag Properly

is it on a case by case basis depending on weight/riding style etc?

Yes. very much
10-15% for all my forks. (95-200mm)
lots of sag might be fine if you ride seated most of the time and rarely push it but it’s horrible bordering on dangerous when actually riding hard.

Basically the more you mince the more sag you can run on your fork.

Try it at 10, 20 & 30 and see how you get on. Sag is important for keeping your wheels in contact with the ground. Whether you use full travel is not entirely the way to judge since you may really need a different spring rate. If your spring is air you are rather limited to pumping it up or letting it down though.

Ah he’s aron gwinn…

If you do your sag when you are in the right position it can be set at the 20-40 range depending on the bike and rider. The article linked is really good and makes a lot of sense.

Standing with weight centred on the bike Mike (obvz). have run stiff forks since Aaron was in nappies (but riding his crosser no doubt)

I need to run my forks at a stupidly high pressure so the it doesn’t blow through the travel on the rough stuff. But on the smooth stuff it skitters about and never feels plush. About 10% SAG I think.

I should buy a more suitable fork really but without a custom tune there’s nowt on the market for fat biffers.

bigblackshed, What forks are you running?

Cheers everyone, that was just what I was after – the linked article is great, along with all their others about suspension set up!

RS Revelations RLT??? 20mm axle straight steerer, not sure of the year. 2010 maybe. They were the 140mm, but now spaced down to 120mm.

They’re on my Sanderson SS, that gets used for more thrashing than mile munching.

BBS, have you tried reducing the air volume? Should be easy enough to bodge some kind of spacer a’la new Pikes to increase the ramp up.

mtbel
Basically the more you mince the more sag you can run on your fork.

Sorry to have to say this, but how come every time i read one of your posts i wonder if there is “end” missing off your nickname???

No offence like. 😉

Sags only a starting point anyway, fiddling while you’re out riding gets the sweet spot…
Take your punp out with you for the first few rides..

Ah.. Maxtor que? Le Reine de manuel laid.

‘xcuse mon francais 😉

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

setup section.

It might be worth tweaking the settings and doing it a bit scientifically. TBH I just had a twiddle of the knobs 😳 when they were new and then rode it. I then just kept adding air until I didn’t blow through the travel all the time.

I used to run 20% ish on some forks but I was just thiking today about my accursed Marzocchis. To get 20-30% sag on the Partiot, or to achieve bottom out, they have to be so soft they ride like absolute shite. Pumped them up to feel rock hard when boinging them, but they work much much better when riding.

Could be to do with the fork being long and the angle being slack, therefore the front wheel is rather a long way away.

RS Revelations RLT??? 20mm axle straight steerer, not sure of the year. 2010 maybe

These are most likely to have the dual air spring, which gives you more options for adjustment.

Set your spring up with equal pressure in +ve and -ve chambers so that you are no longer bottoming out all the time.

Then add up to 15 psi more on the negative spring. This will make the initial stroke of the spring more supple giving you some more small bump compliance.

Also are you bottoming out on just individual hits or successive hits? If successive hits, it could be your rebound damping is too high and the fork is not able to recover quick enough before the next hit and ends up packing down.

Sorry to have to say this, but how come every time i read one of your posts i wonder if there is “end” missing off your nickname???

I just assume it’s Elbry with a new login.

Considering installing a small coil spring in the negative air chamber of my fork, because I can’t fill it with air directly. This would be to improve small bump performance and give a little more sag whilst retaining mid stroke support.

Loco, ever modded a fork like this?

jairaj – Member

RS Revelations RLT??? 20mm axle straight steerer, not sure of the year. 2010 maybe

These are most likely to have the dual air spring, which gives you more options for adjustment.

Set your spring up with equal pressure in +ve and -ve chambers so that you are no longer bottoming out all the time.

Then add up to 15 psi more on the negative spring. This will make the initial stroke of the spring more supple giving you some more small bump compliance.

Also are you bottoming out on just individual hits or successive hits? If successive hits, it could be your rebound damping is too high and the fork is not able to recover quick enough before the next hit and ends up packing down.[/quote]

Yes dual air. It’s not packing down, it’s just the big hits. I’m up past the recommended air pressure as it is, about 170psi IIRC. Not sure if I’ll blow the air seals if I go much higher.

I’m 1.94m tall & 120KG BTW, so not a whippet by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of people I ride with have said I ride smooth, “for a big lad”.

I run a fair bit, but use the compression to create a “platform feel” so it doesn’t blow through the travel. Helps to keep the front up, whilst keeping the first1 1/3rd of the fork quite active.

If I were that big I’d be riding something much chunkier than Revs tbh. Even I (at 90kg) found Revs a bit on the weedy side after riding 66s for a while.

For extra Gnar, I ride with nothing less than 150% sag. It makes the trails come ali… oh I can’t be arsed.

I ride with nothing less than 150% sag

Mincer! 😛

Considering installing a small coil spring in the negative air chamber of my fork, because I can’t fill it with air directly. This would be to improve small bump performance and give a little more sag whilst retaining mid stroke support.

Loco, ever modded a fork like this?

Fox forks us a neagtive spring rather than an air chamber, also Rockshox have started using a ‘counter measure’ neg spring in some of their shocks.

Pace also did this – brilliant idea I think for a variety of reasons. It has no effect on the positive chamber when its travel is done.

May investigate this.