I have had an enduro, ebike and long travel trail bikes all have 150mm+ travel. No matter what I do on any bike - rebound, compression, air pressure, volume spacers I always bottom out the rear suspension but only ever use half or max 3/4 of the front. I generally ride black trails, natural or trail centre. Even if I jump and land evenly or front wheel first still I never go above 3/4 front travel (I don't always land badly). What am I doing wrong? My weight distribution cannot be that far out or I would be landing badly and crashing which isn't the case..... It's not the bike either as it is the case with all my bikes over the last 6 years each with different shocks and forks!
Please help
Sounds like a pretty decent setup to be fair! If you’re desperate to change it then obviously lower air pressure and volume spacers in the fork and opposite in the shock. The other trick with a fork is to get rid of some of the air in the lowers, if you have bleed valves compress the fork as much as possible press and release the valves and let the fork return. This reduces air volume in the lowers which will help use more travel
I've heard bottoming out occasionally isn't a bad thing, but if it is constant, then it does sound like you need more air in the rear shock (or a harder spring if coil).
Someone else suggested this, but put your bike and fork and shock models into an ai, including your weight and kind of riding you like and ask for base settings. Try those and then adjust from there...
I tried that and it has made a difference.
If you put 25% more psi in the back and 25% less in front it has to change things - or your bikes are all broken!
How are you setting the rear sag?
Fork: have you tried the manufacturer's recommended pressure etc?
Thanks all for your responses. For the forks I have Fox 36 Factory Grip (2019 and 2023) and a Fox Fit 4. For the rear shocks a 2019 X2, 2023 Fox Nude 5T Evol (Scott Genius). All tried Fox 38 with the same issue. No reason they are all fox just fate as I found the best deals on the bikes and they came with these.
For the forks I have removed the volume spacers and run 5-10% less than recommended. At 68kg rider weight removing any more really creates sag that effects the geometry. For the rear shocks I already run 20% more pressure than recommended, but it still happens!
The point is that using the recommended sag in the rear causes very frequent bottom outs (Decent jumps of 15-20 feet, but not bike park stuff) in the rear and using 50% suspension in the front - why have a 160mm fork and only use 80mm travel! When you see the you tube videos of riders running down an average rough trail and using decent front travel never happens for me on similar terrain....
I don't think modern 'Enduro' forks are designed for 68kg riders.
I can be anywhere between 80-90kg kitted and like my forks soft. I always find manufacturers recommended pressures too stiff and find I'm towards the bottom end of the acceptable pressure scale to achieve
A) the correct sag
B) small bump compliance
C) full travel on some rides
That's on Lyriks and Fox 38's
I'd have to check my pressures but from memory I think I usually end up somewhere between 55-70psi
Oh and I always end up with way more than the recommended pressures in the rear.
I don't know where manufacturers get their numbers from tbh
Chuck each bike with fork and shock year and model into ai (I used Google Gemini) and your weight and it'll give recommendations, set fork and shock to those and ride. Will need fine tuning but should be better than current, but I'd be adding a wee bit more air into your shock as an absolute minimum to help reduce the bottoming out.
I have a few different Fox 36, I never come close to bottoming them out when they're set up to work and feel good, unless something goes really wrong. Always have much less air and more open compression damping than the recommend settings. I'm 74kg in my socks.
As for rear shocks... all depends on the frame and tune... what bikes are they? I do come close to using full travel on mine often, unlike the forks.
OP, is this causing you any issues? if not, why change it? Or, if it is, what are the issues? do your hands take a beating on rough stuff? or do you struggle to weight the front wheel in flat corners?
I used to struggle loading the front wheel so adjusted my shocks and bar height to balance the bike and help me get more into the attack position.