The Tuesday Tune Ep 15: The Concept of Correct Setup
"How do I set my suspension up correctly?"
"How do I know if my suspension is set up correctly?"
There's a good chance you've asked that at some point in your bike riding life if you're a mountain biker, either to yourself or somebody else. We get the question at least once a day here at Vorsprung, so we would be remiss not to address it head on.
The long and the short of it is that the correct suspension setup is the one you're happiest with, according to whatever criteria you use to determine that. Just want a smooth ride above all else? Or are you willing to take some punishment for the sake of cutting seconds off the stopwatch? Clearly, the two are going to result in some differences in setup. This week on the Tuesday Tune, we're discussing simple questions you can ask yourself about whether your suspension is performing the way you want it to, to help you narrow down the characteristics that could do with improvement, and to help you understand where compromises in your setup may begin to arise.
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He seems to think that there are 3 click range which are correct settings for rebound and all the others are basically wrong.
www.pinkbike.com/news/To-The-Point-Rebound-Damping-2013.html
"There is a very limited range of rebound velocities that result in a good setup. Some
people may prefer rebound on the slower side of this spectrum, and some on the faster side.
This is worth repeating: the useable spectrum for a given rider is only about 3 clicks wide. "
While I agree that suspension must be set up to personal preferences, this is very subjective and when it comes to rebound speed the spectrum is more limited. There are many people who run very fast rebound and other very slow rebound without realizing how that can negatively affect the suspension behavior and bike stability. The curb test method is a starting point method and it's helpfull since it eliminates very slow rebound setting (slower than critical damping, which don't have any advantage). The question is how fast it should be from critical damping point. This would depend on your preferences, however the room is quite narrow. With a small oscillation in this method you get a good balance between stability and liveliness. If you want to go faster, them it becomes more live and plusher but it also becomes more sketchy and dangerous on jumps. It's always a balance. So, the bottom line is: For most people the curb test is a great starting tool since it helps them to use a balanced rebound setup, without going into extreme settings.
Bye
And the wrong there is "technically wrong"; "too much rebound" is under the critical damping threshold and it should be very ineffective at isolating the sprung loads from the terrain; "too little rebound" is too far above the critical threshold and should be bouncy (and can be sketchy on jumps [you'll get bucked]).
The "3 clicks" rule helps keep riders from hearing "all jump bikes have super slow rebound" and cranking theirs all the way down, or that "race bikes run wicked fast rebound" and cranking theirs up and getting tossed OTB on the first big hit.
Once you've got it estimated (with curb test or however), you shouldn't be going more than a couple clicks either way for tweaking the feel.
How do you know what you want? Find what you don't want, and move away from that. For example, if there's something you don't like about your existing setup, anything you can identify there will make it relatively simple to improve upon. Giving you a baseline valving/setup is something that can be done in the case that people don't have a great idea of what they want, but for highly experienced riders this is only a starting point. For riders who can't identify specific problems, or don't have much idea of how their suspension could or should feel, doing things purely by the numbers is a great way to give you a very rideable setup that at the least will perform reasonably well in most regards, and in many cases it's possible to identify the weak link in a particular component's performance and directly address that to make improvements across the board.
The CCDB IFP has very little friction to begin with (let's say 2N, which is about 200g equivalent - it's less than that, but let's call it that). The IFP is roughly 22.5mm diameter, the shaft is 8mm. The motion ratio between the two is then 7.9:1, meaning the shaft has to travel 7.9mm to displace the IFP by 1mm. The force ratio is the inverse of this, meaning that the 2N of friction at the IFP translates to 0.25N or so at the shaft. The leverage rate of the bike then drops that down to about 0.1N at the wheel. That's roughly 10 grams equivalent friction when measured at the wheel. While this is a theoretical advantage, in practice I would find that pretty hard to justify if it costs you any extra. It won't really make a perceptible difference on its own, but servicing your shock probably will.
FYI the relative insensitivity of the DB Air at the start of the stroke is due to the air spring curve more than anything else.
Used to be I would adjust my suspension to fit my riding style -- nowadays I spend more time adjusting my riding style to get more out of my suspension
1. Tyre pressure. I can't stress that one enough. Run a bigger tyre with lower pressure if you have to.
2. Rim stiffness/spoke tension. Not much you can do with the rim other than replacing it but if you have super deep section rims they do deflect quite a bit less than shallower, more compliant ones.
3. Spring rate. Too firm = pain. Too soft = pain.
4. Damping settings.
5. Fork friction
6. Bar height
7. Bar stiffness
8. Grip diameter
9. Grip softness
10. Brake power
11. Brake lever reach & angle setup
12. Bar roll (forwards/backwards)
Compare all of those to what your shorter travel bike is like and see where you think the biggest difference lies. It may be a suspension issue or it may be to do with the way the cockpit is set up.
And thanks for completing!
According to this article www.pinkbike.com/news/sam-hill-bike-shwalbe-procore-tires.html Procore is improving the way suspensions work.
Aaron Gwin said that square edge bump were better managed with the flat tire defender installed.
These products do certainly give some protection against puncture, rim denting and burping but do they improve the performance of the suspensions?
Hi Steve!
On the same lines as a correct set up, I would like to know more about what is a balanced set up? What does it imply for the spring curves, rebound speeds and compression settings?
My questions are pretty broad yes, so maybe you can answer in one of the coming episode...