Intense M9 Set Up

PB Forum :: Downhill
Intense M9 Set Up
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flag quantumfireball
O+
Posted: Apr 3, 2014 at 11:43 Quote
Bringing this back...hopefully someone has some input!

Finally got a few rides on my M9.

The Dorado feels dialed but the rear end isnt feeling like i want/expected.

Im right at 170lb and the Medium came stock with a 400# spring which according to CC and the M9 manual is too heavy for the 8.5 and 9.0 inch settings. Its feeling like im sitting way too high in the travel and like I'm not getting full travel even with some big hits. I have like 1 turn of preload and the CCDB is tuned as per the base tune for the M9 on the CC site. I took a little bit of LSR and LSC out as they are both cranked up in the base tune but it didnt seem to make a big difference. Anybody at a similar weight that thinks the 350# spring should alleviate this problem? Or just general input on the CCDB setup? Anything you discovered with some tinkering, etc... Its feeling pretty rough through rocky and rough stuff, way rougher than a full-on plow bike like the M9 should feel IMO.
flag z-man
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 3, 2014 at 12:55 Quote
Measure your sag.

You're aiming for 25% rear and 20% up front. Use what ever spring is required to achieve this.
flag scrammer
Posted: Apr 3, 2014 at 22:05 Quote
quantumfireball wrote:
Bringing this back...hopefully someone has some input!

Finally got a few rides on my M9.

The Dorado feels dialed but the rear end isnt feeling like i want/expected.

Im right at 170lb and the Medium came stock with a 400# spring which according to CC and the M9 manual is too heavy for the 8.5 and 9.0 inch settings. Its feeling like im sitting way too high in the travel and like I'm not getting full travel even with some big hits. I have like 1 turn of preload and the CCDB is tuned as per the base tune for the M9 on the CC site. I took a little bit of LSR and LSC out as they are both cranked up in the base tune but it didnt seem to make a big difference. Anybody at a similar weight that thinks the 350# spring should alleviate this problem? Or just general input on the CCDB setup? Anything you discovered with some tinkering, etc... Its feeling pretty rough through rocky and rough stuff, way rougher than a full-on plow bike like the M9 should feel IMO.

Once you have the sag dialled, try moving the shock mount in the front to the highest position as this will change the progressive rate under compression and make the rear a little "softer". If nothing else it takes only 2 minutes to make the change ... That is the beauty of the M9 ... It's flexibility and tune-ability

More discussion here:
https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=117849
flag KlanaRadikala
Posted: Apr 4, 2014 at 3:42 Quote
z-man wrote:
Measure your sag.

You're aiming for 25% rear and 20% up front. Use what ever spring is required to achieve this.

on a vpp bike like the M9 i would aim for 35% sag at the rear
flag quantumfireball
O+
Posted: Apr 4, 2014 at 4:10 Quote
KlanaRadikala wrote:
z-man wrote:
Measure your sag.

You're aiming for 25% rear and 20% up front. Use what ever spring is required to achieve this.

on a vpp bike like the M9 i would aim for 35% sag at the rear

Yeah I was thinking that Intense suggets around 33% like you said. I had measured my sag initally with the 400# spring in 9.5 mode and it was in the mid 20%, which I thought was decent but am pretty sure the spring is just too heavy for me. I have a 350# on the way and am going to put it in 9 inch mode and use the preload to get the sag to about the mid 30s like you suggest. This is also my first VPP bike so im thinking im not used to the suspension design as well. Ive had a few Demos and a Aurum before this. Spring should be here early next week for some testing =)
flag z-man
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 4, 2014 at 6:17 Quote
33% is way too much and is for old slow people who can't ride a bike.

You want 25% rear 20% front. And even that's on the soft side for racing. Trust me. I do suspension setups. Sag is the very first thing you measure.
flag KlanaRadikala
Posted: Apr 5, 2014 at 1:36 Quote
z-man wrote:
33% is way too much and is for old slow people who can't ride a bike.

You want 25% rear 20% front. And even that's on the soft side for racing. Trust me. I do suspension setups. Sag is the very first thing you measure.

tried a v10 with 2 less sag once, rode like shit. the problem was that the vpp suspension starts working probably when you hit the sweet spot of sag and beyond.

and as a racer i would ride the correct sag as intense recommends it and if it feels to soft just get more compression. without the correct sag you're loosing grip.

all this is personal experience, last season i rode a setup for 90kg and i'm only 72kg with gear to not blow through the travel on harder tracks, but it showed me clearly that it was not the right way, more compression and a progressive suspension with a good lsc platform makes a great riding. still have more pressure in my shock and fork as recommended.

but i think the M9 could work with 25% sag with the correct shock, progression and compression setup.
flag z-man
O+ FL
Posted: Apr 5, 2014 at 8:00 Quote
I know what you're saying and its just not true. As long as you're past the inital rising curve of the VPP design which 25% easily put you past, it's all good.

33% is just simply way too much for a real racer. Trust me. I'm a fox service technician that works for the intense importer. I know how to set up a bike at a profession level.
For our racers we always start them at 15-20% front, 20-25% rear. With a boost valve RC4 you can run a bit more sag, but with a ccdb or a 2014 RC4 you want 25% tops. Not trying to be a dick here, but maybe you just can't ride a bike at a high enough level to really get the benifets of a bike set up for racing. The reason intense lists recomened sag at 33% is because most of the guys who buy those bikes are middle aged men who like comfort more than traction. Take a look at some WC pros bikes and how they sag, some guys only run 10% sag up front and 15% rear, even with a VPP setup.
flag scrammer
Posted: Apr 5, 2014 at 16:36 Quote
point — counter-point

Chris Kovarik helped me to set up my bike after I bought it during a coaching session and based on running A-Line and Dirt Merchant as well as RockStar most of the time (all jump tracks) he suggested the following:

30% Sag
9" travel
G3 Middle
front shock mount in the lowest setting (more pop on the face of the jump)

The beauty of the M9 is that it is flexible enough to accommodate the 22 year old racer - Z-man, the Legend - Karver, or the weekend warrior - Scrammer!

PS: I am 46 years old and got my first mountain bike in 1984 so I can ride but my race days ended 10 years ago ...
flag KlanaRadikala
Posted: Apr 6, 2014 at 3:56 Quote
z-man wrote:
I know what you're saying and its just not true. As long as you're past the inital rising curve of the VPP design which 25% easily put you past, it's all good.

33% is just simply way too much for a real racer. Trust me. I'm a fox service technician that works for the intense importer. I know how to set up a bike at a profession level.
For our racers we always start them at 15-20% front, 20-25% rear. With a boost valve RC4 you can run a bit more sag, but with a ccdb or a 2014 RC4 you want 25% tops. Not trying to be a dick here, but maybe you just can't ride a bike at a high enough level to really get the benifets of a bike set up for racing. The reason intense lists recomened sag at 33% is because most of the guys who buy those bikes are middle aged men who like comfort more than traction. Take a look at some WC pros bikes and how they sag, some guys only run 10% sag up front and 15% rear, even with a VPP setup.

ah ok i see your point. don't have the M9 for a long time and was only 1 time on a real dh track since i got it. on my scalp i had about 20% - 25% sag. my dealer, wich is a bit slowe than me told me the thing about the vpp setup.

so thank you for the information, i will try it on the wc track in schladming as soon as they open.

and i think a setup for wc pros is still not the perfect setup for me, i'm more than a bit slower than these guys
flag warrens
Posted: Apr 7, 2014 at 6:24 Quote
I am a light rider, about 168 fully geared.
I wanted to ride 9.5'' travel configuration, I followed the CCDB chart and got a 400lbs spring. This gave me about 30% Sag.
I thought this would be ideal but I found out that I was blowing through the travel like a hot knife in butter.

I changed my settings 8.5'' travel with 400lbs spring achieving less sag (I haven't measured but I think is about 25%) and it feels awesome. Way more traction, planted and stable in the rough. I liked it a lot. I will have to agree with z-man and suggest around 25% sag.
flag japage
Posted: Apr 7, 2014 at 6:33 Quote
Played around with mine quite a bit but found this to be it for all around riding. Makes the bike playful but can still monster truck the shit out of the rough stuff.

Shortest travel
Mid progression
Mid dropout
400lb Ti spring
63.5 degree up front
flag simpleride
Posted: Oct 20, 2014 at 23:49 Quote
Not sure if anyone is still paying attention to this thread. Anyways I just picked up a 2013 M9 and I am about to have all the bearings replaced as they are rough. A friend from my LBS suggested going with seal on all bearings and not to use the grease port. Anyone else try this with their vpp. He said to some research on it before hand but I have not found any such thing. Cheers

Glitch
flag fastboyslim
Posted: Dec 23, 2014 at 15:24 Quote
Use the grease ports, the pro teams in the world cup are.
flag RyanWensley
Posted: Dec 23, 2014 at 15:42 Quote
fastboyslim wrote:
Use the grease ports, the pro teams in the world cup are.
This

 


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