Took my YT on its maiden outing yesterday to the Black Mountain Cycle Centre.

On the whole the bike was great however….I’m getting loads of pedal strikes, not the usual newbie ones where the rider has the wrong foot down for a given turn, e.g left pedal down for a left hand bend, that’s just asking to be catapulted off!

No, this was flat (albeit rough) terrain with feet spread evenly on the pedals like a platform and yet still the all too frequent pedal strikes.

Do I need to wind in the compression on the rear coil spring so it doesn’t collapse under me when sat on it?….do I need to increase the compression making it harder to squish the rear? (i’m loath to do this as the bike felt balanced despite the pedal strikes)….is it simply a feature of out and out DH bikes that they sit low and the rider simply has to have quick legs to adjust to any uneven ground coming up?

Any help much appreciated.

I changed the spring on my YT Tues immediately after I got it. was way too soft. how.much do you weigh? what shock?

Is the shock packing down with the repeated hits? Could try speeding rebound up a bit?

Whats the sag %?

Do I need to wind in the compression on the rear coil spring so it doesn’t collapse under me when sat on it?

You don’t set up anything on a DH bike whilst seated. Use the spring and pre-load to set the sag. Then you can play with low-speed compression to help with pedal-bob, make incremental changes though so you know when you’re starting to adversely affect bump-eating performance.

As above, also need to ensure that the rebound isn’t too slow.

To your other questions: yes you will get more pedal-bob than a trail bike as there is far more suspension and it’s less compromised than a normal bike. Modern DH bikes are also quite low to start with, so that plus extra sag, plus highly active suspension makes pedal strikes more likely. Which all means – you’ll need to learn to time your pedalling better

I’m surprised you didn’t wind loads of compression on being at black mountain anyway. You’d have been losing loads of speed having it soft. I even ran my capra in trail mode there as “descent” mode was too soft.

you’ll need to learn to time your pedalling better

I read the post as if he was getting pedal strikes when not even pedalling?

That’s not very easy when the chainguide and/or ring will hit the ground first

I read the post as if he was getting pedal strikes when not even pedalling?

True.

I could be feet level on the pedals, rough ground, gentle bend approaching and ‘whack’ pedal strike….. The ends of my cranks look about 10 years old.

I’m heavy, maybe 14st so I think an uprated spring may be in order, cheers for the advice chaps.

yes absolutely. I’m 12.5 stone with no kit and stock spring was too soft