Manitou Swinger 3 way – setup advice needed!

Ok. I have a Manitou Swinger that I’m about to fit to my Giant Reign but the Manitou website is cr*p and I can’t figure out how this thing should be setup.
I’m about 9 stone (56kg) so on the light side. It has a ‘SPV’. So question is. What pressure should I put in the SPV chamber?
What pressure should go in the main chamber?
Which one should be pressurised first as I don’t want to damage it.
I’ve tried to search the net but can’t find any advice for anybody my weight and advice out there appears inconsistent.
Help please.

http://www.birota.ru/manuals/manitou/swinger/04-swinger-sm.pdf

Manual

Thanks. That helps with servicing but I still cannpt find out what pressures I need?

2/3rds of your weight in psi, in the red valve, then sufficient preasure in the black value to get the required sag.

I have a 2005 Orange 5 and weigh about 73kg (ish!), I set the main pressure at between 100-120psi and the SPV at about 120psi, however a single pivot 5 may need different pressures than your Reign.

I have the manual if you want it.. but basically this is the relevant (& only) part:

The SPV air pressure range is 50-175 psi. Never use a pressure below or above this recommended pressure range. See warning above.
To quickly get “in the ballpark” for your weight, set the starting SPV pressure at 50-70% of your weight. The air pressure also affects the sag, so you should set the air pressure before setting the spring (main spring air pressure or coil preload) and sag. The air pressure setting will vary according to the following: 1) rider weight, 2) spring rate, 3) bike leverage ratio, and 4) personal preference. Lower pressures will create a lighter platform for a softer ride and lower blow-off threshold to the bump dump feature. Higher pressures will provide a firmer platform for firmer pedaling, firmer ride control and a higher blow off threshold to the bump-dump feature.
Once you find an acceptable setting, note that this may not be the optimal setting for all riding. Some courses or trails may have more pedaling sections (requiring higher SPV pressure), some may have more
small “chatter bumps” (requiring lower SPV pressure) and some may have more big hits, drops and jump landings (higher SPV pressure and volume ramp). With SPV, this can all be done in a matter of minutes with an air shock pump

i had mine shim stacked by tftuned….mmmmmm plushy plushness thats plusher than a plush thing wrapped in plushness! no need to piss about with it anymore either…

Nice. Shim stacks sound good.

carlphilips – what did that cost from TFT?

yes its made the world of difference to my bike, really nice, was looking at buying an rp23 before now im glad i kept it.

The advice so far is good. The shock will require a slightly different setup for each suspension type. When I did mine, I started off with 75% of my bodyweight as a baseline. 2/3 would be absolutely fine also – it’s up to you, as you will be adjusting from the baseline anyhow.

To be clear – take your weight in lbs and set the pressure to 75% of that in both the black and the red chambers and fiddle from there.

I am 200lbs so I put 150psi in the SPV (red) chamber to start with. I put the same amount in the main (black) chamber.

You are 56kg (~133lbs), so start of with 90-95psi.

With this starting pressure, measure the sag using the o-ring on the piston or use a zip tie as a substitute. You want about 25% or so of the overall travel.

I mucked around 20-30psi here and there and after 10 minutes worrying my neighbours riding round in circles in my garden and jumping the bike off the patio, ended up with about 160psi in the main chamber and can’t remember what in the SPV one – something like 155 I think.

Have a muck around from those settings and you’ll have it bob-on in no time. 😉

Great thanks. I’ll give it a go.
What effect would running a higher pressure (i.e. 75% instead of 2/3rds) have? Would this give more or less bob?? If I can understand how it works it will help with the fiddling instead of just going one way and then the other.

Also, another question. I’ve go a shock with the SPV valve on the same side as the main chamber valve but have seen another one exactly the same with the valve on the SPV chamber facing the opposite side of the shock??
Any idea which is correct, or why they are different?

Carlphillips – what’s this shim stacking you speak of? Sounds interesting!

Wavejumper – if you run a higher pressure it’ll be stiffer, therefore less bob. But if you’re light you might end up with a hard tail. I’m a bit of a biffer so don’t have this problem!!

i asked tf if they could do it as part of a service for me as it wasn’t an option on the site…guy i spoke to said he wasn’t aware of any done before but he’d be interested in giving it a go…got it back and it was a tad too harsh…he tweaked it again and its now 100% perfect..
interestingly (or maybe not!) the spv is to be kept at 200psi….
I’d recommend it for the shock though has totally transformed how it rides. before i had loads of problems setting it up and getting it the way i liked it, its nice to have it fit and forget now..

– carl – thanks for the info? I’m guessing your saying you need 200psi in the spv not me at 9 stone??

I’m not sure why i need no less than 200psi i think its because of the shim stack bypassing the spv or something like that..?
can’t remember what i had in there before i had it tweaked…

OK. Cheers. I’m off to play with it. 😀

……….. the shock that is.

think you need a minimum of 70 psi in the spv , you then need to set sag your weight in the black valve 20%sag for xc riding , you can now adjust the spv up to 70% of rider weight more pressure = bike will pedal better and stand up more .