So Sprung Suspension who started a few months ago in the Forest of Dean are great. Jake and his mate are doing really well from a standing start and already seem to be building a reputation for quality and knowledge.
After extending my Yari to 140mm, I asked Jake how much sag I should be running. He reckons 20%, max 25%. I normally run closer to 30%. Tried it with 20% and initially thought it was a bit dead in terms of plushness, almost over-damped but the more i rode it, the more I liked it. Noticeably held up the front end in corners.
I'm an average rider but there's definitely something there even I can notice. Did a few little jumps and never used all the travel (as I would normally) but according to the devil that is strava was a bit faster although too many variables to link correlation and causation 😉 - and I need to play some more as currently have no compression damping set on the Yari motion control.
Found an article on Bike-Rumour from a couple of years ago which was interesting: http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/07/24/suspension-setup-series-1-set-your-sag-properly/
One short ride in, too early to tell. But will set the FS up as per that article/Jakes advice and see if I can tell the difference. I know Ben/Dan at bird say the CCDB on my Aeris works best at under 30% sag.
Not sure where the 30% sag comes from, maybe as forks have got longer/better damped I've just gone that way...
What say the STW massive? Interesting stuff or navel gazing? 🙂
Don't think I know how much sag I'm running, it's just a setup thing then work from there.
A topic that is both interesting and boring at the same time. As in, I know that sag and air pressure and tokens and damping settings etc. are important, and I find their relation to how a bike behaves in different terrain interes ... <snore>.... what? yeah suspension settings great they've really impor .... <snore>
No really, I really want to find this stuff interesting, and part of me is but the other part, well it doesn't really GAS? But thanks for posting, half of me is paying attention, the other half is kicking that half in the balls for trying to learn stuff.
Found that my Pikes need much less sag than my old marzocchis to get the same support and grip, do loose a bit of plushness tho
@mike - I find it hard to work out which way to go with suspension (esp CCDB!) - i know what I like and what feels wrong but after setting rebound and sag, I'm kind of done.
@steve - 🙂 Pretty much the same. I know I should be interested but it comes down to the sack of spuds on top riding properly really. Getting suspension right is probably marginal gains! But it pleases my inner geek to keep trying...
Hmm while I deep into geekery-mode, the longer air spring means RS recommend between 2 and 5 bottomless tokens, Currently has 4 in (as that's the default for 120mm). Worth taking a couple out to combat running more pressure. My understanding is these basically increase the spring rate near the end of the travel?
Firmer forks are great, but require commitment to gain the extra performance they can offer. One lapse of focus and you can be thrown off line. I usually just run softer as while slower is parts are easier (to ride and faster overall) as it lets you get away with errors or laziness without feeling like you've been punished.
i can never be bothered to work out either. but my mate always says 20-25% sag so i trust him, and it seems to work.
it really depends on the fork, I've found. My rockshox forks I've ran quite a lot less sag with (probably about 15%) and they feel great, but my Fox, I run 25%, any less and the fork doesn't respond as well to stutters.
the forks feel very different to each other in use too.
Well I don't subscribe to the theory that should use all your travel up once or twice for any given trail, it's ridiculous. How soft a setup would you need to bottom out your suspension at the average trail centre? Bike rides like mush because someone said it should bottom out.
Best setup is the one that gives you the most confidence.
I set up my forks so that they give me the best performance when I need it most (we have steep rocky descents) and the rest I'm happy to compromise on.
YMMV
I set mine up to almost bottom out on a big drop off. pike has one token in it but taking it out I think, monarch plus has no rings in it. front is about 25% sag and rear is 30%. runs pretty much perfect on the trails I ride the most.
Best setup is the one that gives you the most confidence.
Exactly. And that's almost always the fastest for how you ride.
I'd guess typical sag figures should be about 30% rear (seated), 20% front (standing) but fork sag is harder to measure consistently due to stiction, but it varies quite a lot depending on the frame and shock and fork and rider etc.
On my Spitfire (140mm) I've tried 25-30% rear sag (DBair) and found 25% works best for me - I prefer having something more solid for my legs to push against when pumping (XV air can and no spacers but the linkage has about 25% progression). On its fork (160mm Pike) I've tried 10-30% sag and found 20% works best (1 bottomless token).
On my Soul I think I ended up at 15% fork sag but the Float 32 140RL didn't have enough compression damping for my liking otherwise I'd have been able to run more sag.
On my Zero AM I've ended up at 20% sag on a 130mm Pike with 3 bottomless tokens - it generally uses less of its travel than the fork on the Spitfire because of the stronger ramp-up but that feels right with there being no rear suspension. And when I land a huck it bottoms out but not too harshly.
The tuning suggestion of bottoming out once on every ride is a terrible one - on many flowy trail centre trails you'll only use a lot of suspension when you come up short doubling up some rollers. A relative beginner will just find themselves bobbing around on a soggy sofa of a bike like that...
I agree. Once a year is probably about right. If only that you gain more from having stable, non-divey suspension than you do from full travel all the time. Its about balance I reckon.The tuning suggestion of bottoming out once on every ride is a terrible one
The tuning suggestion of bottoming out once on every ride is a terrible one
that depends where you ride - my suspension is set up differently to my son's and my bro in law because I hit harder and bigger jumps/drop offs than they do. can't remember the last time they bottomed out their suspension.