I have got myself a 2018 YT jeffsy CF pro race 27.5″.

It came with a Fox dpx2 rear shock that I am struggling to get the sag properly set up due to my massive heft.

I am currently running it at the maximum 350psi and getting about 40-45% sag.

I weigh about 140kg with all my riding gear and associated gubbins.

Obviously the best way of sorting this would be to loose 40+kg or fit a coil shock with a 700lb spring.

But the weight is coming off too slow, and I cant afford a coil spring on top of the cost of the bike.

Could I just stuff as many volume spacers as possible into the shock as a temporary solution, until funds or flab improves?

YES

You may need a different shock tune. Talk to the Fox people at Silverfish.

You may find the shocks max weight to be circa 110kg. You will need a different solution i fear. At least sending it away to tf or similar. What fork does it have? Is that able to be set up correctly?

The fork is a fox 34 factory, and I set it up without having to go stupidly high pressure.

The rear shock is working a lot better than it probably has any business doing, and I can probably manage with it as is.

I just wondered if a cheap volume spacer would make it even better.

I would look at a second hand coil shock – when you can afford one.

I am a fairly hefty guy at the moment – 5 stone heavier than normal…  My remedy was a coil shock with a firm spring.

It very much transformed the shock with my higher weight than that when I bought the bike.  Brought back the pop, correct sag and better controlled damping that my bike originally had…

@ bigalad

They will increase the ramp up for sure. I suspect they won’t make much difference to sag pressure though.

Still,a cheap mod to try.

My assumptions are based upon Rockshox shox mind you but I assume the principle is the same.

On RS stuff you would use a shock with a smaller air can if you are a heavier rider, in general. Ironically the so called “High Volume” can rather than the Debonair which is actually the higher volume option.

I struggled at 125kg on my first FS (a Canyon with a less favourable leverage ratio than yours – 140mm rear travel but with a 50mm stroke shock). I got down to 110kg but still wasn’t happy with the rear suspension, even with a Firm/Firm tune on the shock – that helped a bit but I still struggled to get the right sag. The advice I received was that a coil would have helped, but like you I didn’t have the cash to throw at it.

Not a solution for you, but I ended up selling it on and just stuck with a HT for a while. At 98kg now I have started looking at FS bikes again.

Yeah, at 115kgs I’m always right on the end of the usefulness of air shocks.

All my bikes are coil now, but even then it’s not always easy to get a big about spring for my fat ass.

Second hand coil shocks can be quite cheap and don’t have the reliability issues that second hand air shocks might.

As a + 115kg kitted rider a coil is probably the best way , however as a short term fix, increase volume spacers, speed up rebound ( probably not far off / or maximum) you are unlikely to get bucked like these scrawny 90kg sparrows, and firm up the compression settings. I’d also recommend TF tuned they will reshim to make it better for your weight. I’d also get used to using that climb switch.

At the moment I am a similar size to you after a few years of babies/work/no riding.

I have a FS tucked up in the garage but I sat on it and it didn’t sound good so I’m going to ride only my hard tail until I’m sub 115

Do you really need a FS?

I was hitting 137 over christmas so gave my FS a rest for a while till i get a bit lower again (baby, MBA, changing jobs etc all helped pile on the pounds). down to 127 now with a target of 120 before the middle of march and hopefully 115 by late april for a trip to BPW.

At 134 kilos over summer my FS was ok, probably could have been a lot better but i could get the sag to 30% just on a Rallon Orbea with a fox X2.

I totally stopped riding my road bike though as the wheels were making a very distressing sound under force up steep hills!