… and therefore if I’m setting some LSC on my forks to prop them up / stop the bike stalling through “dips”, wouldn’t the same benefit apply to riding with propedal in a light setting as well, to prevent the rear stalling the bike?

Yes

Yes. Although different LSC/pro-pedal dampers work in different ways, some are adjusting the damping force accross a range of speeds, others controll the speed at which they open. But they all do similar jobs.

…to prevent the rear stalling the bike…

I’ve read this a few times, and I have no idea what it means.

I’ve stalled cars and aeroplanes, never a bike

ScottChegg – Member

…to prevent the rear stalling the bike…

I’ve read this a few times, and I have no idea what it means.

I’ve stalled cars and aeroplanes, never a bike

Ride it into a brick wall – it stops right? Ok, now ride it into a dip and the fork can compress instead of rolling “up” out the other side, slowing momentum – or “stalling” the bike. Stop the fork compressing so easily in that example, and its “propped up” and rolls up out the other side easier, resulting in less loss of momentum?

The rolling in and out of a dip is a “low speed” movement of the fork (compared with say, riding over a root which is a more sudden impact). Low speed compression damping stops the fork compressing so easily in such situations, but keeps it banging over the root scenario.

As a result of the resounding yes, I’m gonna ride my full sus on Propedal setting 1 on trails, may be opening it up on bigger bangy downs – to keep momentum / go faster on trails.

Geddit?

I’ve stalled cars and aeroplanes, never a bike

Its when your legs fall off.

Kryton – lots of words, but still no hint how you can stall the rear of a bike.
I can’t recall ever riding an obstacle with the front wheel and then being dragged to a halt by the rear wheel hitting it.
Nope, still can’t.

It won’t stop you ScottChegg, just lose a bit of momentum. Worst case scenario, probably on a poor bike design is that on the flat as you ride away, the bike would feel sluggish as the rear sus wallows. Well set up low speed compression might make it feel quick and snappy.

All these differences are minute these days, as well as being subject to different inputs like rider weight etc etc

Think of it another way, low speed compression affects both pedaling inputs and rolling into/over mounds or through corners, anything that more “woooosh” than “bang”.

If you have no low speed compression the bike can’t be pumped through stuff like bombholes, jumps or corners. Think of a corner, the fastest way through it is to go in wide, clip the apex then run out again. The maximum load on the suspension is at the apex (and you’re pumping as well at this point adding to the centripetal force). If the suspension compresses right down at this point then you’r center of gravity drops by that ammount, meaning you’ve effectively lost ~6″ of the corner and made a bit of a right angle out of it rather than a smooth arc (even if your wheels have made a smooth arc, your bodyweight hasn’t), and the weight then has to ‘climb’ back out of the corner. Image the G’force has moved gravity to be perpendicular to the ground. So which is preserving momentum, riding into a wall and trying to lift the wheel up it, or riding into a smooth quaterpipe?

The way I think of propedal working is as a medium speed compression damping which operates around you normal pedalling frequencies where as trail “compressions” are lower frequency and small roots bumps will be at a higher frequency.

Yes. So the suspension is less reactive to low-speed inputs such as pedalling and body shifts. At the same time, it still reacts and is sensitive, to high-speed inputs such as trail bumps.

My experience with pro-pedal on Maestro is that makes no noticeable efficiency difference when sit-down pedalling because the linkage arrangement does a good job of neutralising pedal-forces anyway. It does make a useful difference with stand-up pedalling by reducing “bob” from body shifts. On my RP2 the high/low damping effects don’t seem entirely de-coupled, and pro-pedal seems to de-sensitise the high-speed a bit which is why I turn it off on rough descents. Turning it off makes the rear sit lower resulting in slacker angles which helps on steeper descents anyway; and on makes the suspension “stand-up” a little more which helps climbing: better angles and less pedal striking – this I can’t explain.

The OP seems to know the answer to his own question before he asked it .

Ramsey Neil – Member
The OP seems to know the answer to his own question before he asked it .

I did, I was after confirmation that my conclusion was correct – an as a result I shall be running my bike on PP1 all of the time for trail riding, with the option to open it up for downhill / rougher runs.

I’m now looking forward to the dry weather to arrive so I can experience the effect…. :-/