Ok – so I recently put a coil shock on my 5spot (DHX3) . Its great, no mid stroke wallow etc.
I like it a lot, its a keeper despite the extra weight! However I would like to tune the spring a little…

If I am in-between recommended spring weights via TFT’s spring calc can I choose the lower rated spring and just add some extra turns of compression or will this cause problems? i.e will the spring still have room to move fully? Its only got 2″ of travel on he 5spot.

I’m only thinking of a 50lbs difference. What do the sprung bounce brigade think?

Go up has been my experience on the calculator..

Or try this one?

I think you need to be really honest about how hard and fast you ride, those spring guides are for the average rider so if you are quite a smooth or possibly cautious rider then you can run a bit softer or if you are a goddamn boom gnarly rock smasher then a firmer spring will suit you better.

Adding a few turns of compression won’t hurt unless you add loooaaaaads of turns, you will be able to tell if you aren’t getting all the stroke by using the rubber bumper as a guide. I’d certainly do this for a ride or two before splashing out on a new shock.

What shock are you running? If it’s a higher end one such as ccdb or dhx rc4 then you can tune them to feel pretty much exactly how you want but getting the spring weight right is a good place to start

what spring weight i you using now?
i have a 600 lbs spring i can send you if it’s any use.

Thanks pastcaring, I’m using a 700lbs spring just now and would like to try a 650lbs or as close as possible to see what difference it makes to the ride.

Would be keen to take you up on your offer – will PM you in a bit.

Cheers G

no probs, send me your address and i’ll get it in the post on monday

You’re not going to notice a whole lot of difference between a 700lb and a 650lb. The range of recommended spring weights is also quite large, so 700lb might right on one calculator and wrong on another.

To illustrate on the TF Tuned one, I should be riding a 530lbs/inch and on the Mojo one it recommends a 570lbs/inch.

My bike has adjustable travel and what I end up doing is running the same coil spring in both the 145mm setting as I do in the 170mm setting. That I notice, but where is sits slightly higher in its travel for tail riding in the shorter settting, it sits lower in the longer setting and feels right.

My point is, unless you’re well over what you should be on, perhaps you don’t need to worry about it. You can also compensate on the damper by winding off any low speed compression you may have and reducing the bottom out resistance a little. That will, to some extent, compensate for a spring rate that is slightly too high.

Fox say no more than 2 turns of the preload adjuster otherwise you should be on a harder spring.

I tried a 400 and a 350 spring on my bike and you could tell the difference. It’s a 2:1 ratio though (100mm travel on 50mm shock stroke) so spring weight is always gonna be more sensitive.

See which spring gives you the recomended sag, you shouldnt really compensate for a low spring rate with more compression damping as the two settings work in different ways.