Suspension set up for lighter riders

I’ve no real idea what goes on inside a suspension fork or how a rear shock works. I have an idea that something provides the bounce and another thing produces the damping.

Beyond that I’d rather ride my bike than study engineering. As a 185cm 82kg 49 year old who started on fully rigid bikes it feels like a miracle how well suspension works to iron out the bumps and allow me to rider faster and/or for longer. I’ve never done anything with the settings beyond locking our my rear shock on extended climbs.

Now my relatively tall (165cm) but very light (45kg) son has outgrown his Islabike Creig 26. He wants to ride a full suspension bike. I’m looking at the FS Boardman Pro and I’m a bit lost as to whether the suspension will work at its optimum:

– Out of the box with no fiddling
– With set up help from a mechanic
– Only with changes made to the shocks

Grateful in advance for any advice. Please make it simple with as few technical terms as possible!

set up help from a mechanic. buy it in the week as weekend staff in halfords are often rubbish (depending on your store however). Should be nothing more than setting the correct air pressure for sag (amount the fork/shock sinks into it’s travel with the rider on board) once the bars and seatpost are in a comfy position.

that’s it really. if it doesn’t feel right, take it back and ask them to fiddle with it, but make sure you have an idea how to explain how you think it should feel.

I am far from expert but I think he will be fine. Get some help in the shop to set the sag. Since he is 45Kg I suspect the air pressure will be on the low side so maybe set the rebound damping at the faster end of the scale, same with the compression damping. If the bike doesn’t have those adjustments no worries, ride it as it is.

“He’ll grow into it”

Could potentially be problems – there was a thread popped up the other day on a similar topic. The low air pressure required for a very light rider can cause suspension not to fully extend effectively reducing its rated travel.

It’s about his weight – not really a height problem.

Provided shock and suspension are air-springs then adjusting air pressure should compensate for ‘manvstarmac-Jr’ lack of mass.

Best advice is to get him a test ride. My wife weighs in at 55kg and some bikes with air shocks require the air pressure to be set so low to gain sufficient sag that they fail to operate because of the internal damping. I believe the shock compression ratio has a bearing on this too.

If you cant get a satisfactory setup on your chosen bike (Id make sure it has air sprung forks before buying) it might be worth speaking to a suspension tuning company. Yhere are several good videos online to help you get a good intitial suspension setup.

Plus he’s probably not 45kg in winter riding gear 😉

past a certain (lower weight) point, the damping controls of most forks/shocks will struggle to work effectively.
Had a Rockshox fork re-valved for my son who’s 40kgs and the difference in suspension performance was quite drastic.

Id make sure it has air sprung forks before buying

Don’t know why you’d want that, coil works far better for skinny folk as there’s no stiction in the spring to have to overcome

@legend, cos in my experience as a skinny boy, most coils are designed for lard arses – guaranteed to need replacing with a less stiff one. At least air can be tuned to some degree before resorting to replacement parts.

Thanks all – some interesting thoughts throughout. Like the idea of going into Halfords at a quieter time to see what they can do.

Will then perhaps talk to a local suspension specialist if a set up doesn’t do enough.

fifeandy – Member

@legend, cos in my experience as a skinny boy, most coils are designed for lard arses – guaranteed to need replacing with a less stiff one. At least air can be tuned to some degree before resorting to replacement parts.

Exactly, swap the spring for the correct one and rock on. Any stiction will always be there though

Legend – 60kg