Ok ok, before anyone says I should know this. Firstly Ive never had forks with adjustable compression before and…its not for me, its for a ‘friend’ so…

Compression –
The heavier the rider the more you wind towards ‘+’?
The lighter the rider the more you wind towards the ‘-‘?

probably

not necessarily.

What forks? and what compression damping is it? high speed, low speed or both?

Its a matter of taste. Start with as far to – as possible and try it – increase it in stages till it feels right. I personally run with minimum compression damping.

Compression: Heavy more, Lighter less

set it so the forks feel like they are saggy and floodhesten-like then dial it up till you’re happy.

Rebound is as above but backwards.

MrNutt – Member
Compression: Heavy more, Lighter less

set it so the forks feel like they are saggy and floodhesten-like then dial it up till you’re happy.

Rebound is as above but backwards.

oh go on then oh wise old sage, spill your learned outpourings upon us.

rebound – start low and wind it on until it stops feeling bouncy.

You will get as many answers as there are members on here but IMO /IME the best way to set damping is start at minimum, increase till its too much and back it off a bit.

gw won,t…he just likes to ridicule.

GW, what do you suggest?

I’m genuinely interested in what you’d recommend, what’s more I pride myself in being wrong at least 50% of the time!

Start minimum? You mean on the minus setting?

why not eh, if that doesn’t work for you then try it at maximum and work the other way?

depends what you want from your suspension. there’s shed loads of good suspension set-up advice online, just not here 😉

you don”t need to start at maximum or minimum (it’s just an easier way to set the adjuster – counting clicks from full open or closed. if you don’t remember/write down your settings it makes no difference where you start so don’t get so hung up on it.

Knot4me – been taking your brave pills again?

ah, GW’s a “click counter” not a “feeler”, I see, it all makes sense now 😉

I’m both 😉

set the rebound so it goes ‘swoosh’ then work either way from there

simplified explanation..

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/24613_mountain-bike-mechanics-compression.htm

He doesn’t really go into any great detail, but you get the general idea.
(Oh, and to correct him, a Pike compression cart doesn’t have a shim stack as such)

Oh, and make sure you have the correct weight spring fitted first.

so he says the More (+) the less (-) it will bob under braking, ergo a heavier (+) rider would require more (+) resistance than a (-) lighter rider? I see where I was going wrong there then. 😉

It still depends what the heavier rider wants from their suspension tho. but yes to achieve the same level of compression daming they may need to run their compression damper more closed (or run heavier oil)

when the fork dives into it’s travel when on the brakes or in a compression, it’s low speed compression damping that will help (as with bob from pedalling input.

sounds like your agreeing with me there GW 😉

I figured it best not to perplex Hora with oil weights, increased sag/tracking/plough etc