Suspension SETUP, a 'how to' guide...

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Suspension SETUP, a 'how to' guide...
Author Message
flag gramboh
O+
Posted: Jul 11, 2017 at 16:47 Quote
wellbastardfast wrote:
Need some advice lads. I currently have a fox 36 float fit4 but the ohlins coil looks fantastic I have a coil on the rear of my yeti and I love the feel of it, but am worried a coil fork wouldn't feel the same and getting the right spring rate could be tricky because the ohlins fork spring are basically in 10kg increments and I would be on the heaviest steady 101kg

Air or coil

Help a brother out

What problems are you having with the 36? I would say it's the best fork out there if setup well (I prefer RC2 damper). Could look at the 2018 EVOL air spring as an upgrade option.
flag ibishreddin
Posted: Jul 11, 2017 at 19:31 Quote
wellbastardfast wrote:
Need some advice lads. I currently have a fox 36 float fit4 but the ohlins coil looks fantastic I have a coil on the rear of my yeti and I love the feel of it, but am worried a coil fork wouldn't feel the same and getting the right spring rate could be tricky because the ohlins fork spring are basically in 10kg increments and I would be on the heaviest steady 101kg

Air or coil

Help a brother out

personally, I prefer air fork and coil shock. The sensitivity difference in air forks compared to coil is very little now adays, but where the air fork has the edge over coil is the ramp up. this means you could run it with fairly high sag if you want, but have supportive travel because of the ramp up without needing to run as much high speed compression to prevent bottom outs like you would with a coil sprung fork.

Specifically coil rear and air front because the coil tends to have support, and ride a bit deeper in its travel (depending on the shock). Basically I'd rather the rear compress more with control than the front blow through compromising the geometry.
flag wellbastardfast
O+
Posted: Jul 11, 2017 at 22:33 Quote
gramboh wrote:
wellbastardfast wrote:
Need some advice lads. I currently have a fox 36 float fit4 but the ohlins coil looks fantastic I have a coil on the rear of my yeti and I love the feel of it, but am worried a coil fork wouldn't feel the same and getting the right spring rate could be tricky because the ohlins fork spring are basically in 10kg increments and I would be on the heaviest steady 101kg

Air or coil

Help a brother out

What problems are you having with the 36? I would say it's the best fork out there if setup well (I prefer RC2 damper). Could look at the 2018 EVOL air spring as an upgrade option.

Not having any problems with it. I just really like how planted my coil shock feels and I was wondering if a coil fork would feel the same ie small bump and tail chatter is just unnoticeable. Fork wise I run my 36s really firm because I like the stiff feeling when am diving into chop but hate trail chatter even with my LSC all the way open
flag mountian-bikes64
Posted: Jul 16, 2017 at 12:40 Quote
wellbastardfast wrote:
Need some advice lads. I currently have a fox 36 float fit4 but the ohlins coil looks fantastic I have a coil on the rear of my yeti and I love the feel of it, but am worried a coil fork wouldn't feel the same and getting the right spring rate could be tricky because the ohlins fork spring are basically in 10kg increments and I would be on the heaviest steady 101kg

Air or coil

Help a brother out


Coil suspension in general will always be more responsive and sensitive. I personally like the feel of coil over air. I have the ttx on my enduro and demo and I love it. Going by the weight for a spring rate isn't always the best path. You may not need the heaviest spring. The fork will definitely be more supple. The fork also has preload and high and low speed compression. Major suspension manufactures go threw alot of testing before making it available. They wouldn't let it be sold if it was only for light and medium weight riders.
flag wellbastardfast
O+
Posted: Jul 16, 2017 at 12:57 Quote
mountian-bikes64 wrote:
wellbastardfast wrote:
Need some advice lads. I currently have a fox 36 float fit4 but the ohlins coil looks fantastic I have a coil on the rear of my yeti and I love the feel of it, but am worried a coil fork wouldn't feel the same and getting the right spring rate could be tricky because the ohlins fork spring are basically in 10kg increments and I would be on the heaviest steady 101kg

Air or coil

Help a brother out




Coil suspension in general will always be more responsive and sensitive. I personally like the feel of coil over air. I have the ttx on my enduro and demo and I love it. Going by the weight for a spring rate isn't always the best path. You may not need the heaviest spring. The fork will definitely be more supple. The fork also has preload and high and low speed compression. Major suspension manufactures go threw alot of testing before making it available. They wouldn't let it be sold if it was only for light and medium weight riders.

The shop that's sold me the fork said if I need to change spring then just post it back to them and they will send me different ones as and when which is pretty cool of them
flag freestyIAM
Posted: Jul 26, 2017 at 15:15 Quote
I have a 2016 Pike RC and am having trouble dialing in mid stroke support.

Some Stats
Rider Weight: 185lbs (84kg)

Fork Settings
LSR: 11 clicks in from open
LSC: 4 clicks from open
Pressure: 73PSI
Tokens:1

I've done a couple things that did provide more mid stroke support but the adverse effects outweighted the gains.
1. I've experimented with more tokens (up to 3) but then just end up not using the last 1/3 of my travel and I got more arm fatigue.
2. I've experimented with more LSC but then feel like the fork isn't supple off the top and i got more arm fatigue.

Maybe my set up is totally screwy and I'm not even in the right ball park with one of these settings and thats why experiments with tokens and LSC have just yielded adverse effects.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
flag bikerboywill
Posted: Jul 26, 2017 at 15:46 Quote
I'd run more pressure. Aim for 20% sag. That's where my pikes felt best. Think I ran 90psi with two tokens in
flag WasabiJim
Posted: Jul 27, 2017 at 4:14 Quote
that's a lot of rebound dampening, could be keeping it deeper in the stroke than needed giving a harsh feel - e.g. action that should be off the top at 25-30% sag is instead say 40-45% where the fork is obviously less supple.

and its been said the LC on the pike doesn't do much more beyond the first 5-6 clicks

upping the psi as suggested will give that middle stroke support but also, believe it or not, wont necessary make it firmer off the top, as again the fork is getting back to the sag point more readily.
flag scrippsranchDJ
Posted: Jul 28, 2017 at 9:08 Quote
Have you tried going back to 0 tokens? If the mid stroke is too soft but everything else is pretty balanced then you have too much progression in the suspension and the mid stroke has a scoop or lack of spring force. My suggestion would be to start with 0 again and slowly work your way through the process.

Basically if you need support at the last 25mm of travel, add tokens. If you need to add support to the middle of travel, remove a spacer or cut one smaller.
flag robby29
Posted: Jul 31, 2017 at 12:06 Quote
Does anyone have a float x2 on an enduro? What air pressure are you running and what's your weight? Just trying to get mine setup and currently I'm running 210 with three spacers. Just wanted to compare.
flag OverlyCasual
Posted: Aug 3, 2017 at 16:52 Quote
I have a suspension issue. Maybe. I just put a 350lb coil on my rear shock (old manipoo Swinger) and I can bottom the shock out just compressing the rear with a little force. I weigh 145~ pounds so I figured a 350 would be right for me. If i go off any kind of drop it will probably bottom out. Did i get a spring that was too light? Should I put more air in the shock? For what its worth, I used the TF tuned calculator to figure that i needed a 350lb spring.
flag ajax-ripper
Posted: Aug 4, 2017 at 21:27 Quote
OverlyCasual wrote:
I have a suspension issue. Maybe. I just put a 350lb coil on my rear shock (old manipoo Swinger) and I can bottom the shock out just compressing the rear with a little force. I weigh 145~ pounds so I figured a 350 would be right for me. If i go off any kind of drop it will probably bottom out. Did i get a spring that was too light? Should I put more air in the shock? For what its worth, I used the TF tuned calculator to figure that i needed a 350lb spring.
What frame, what's the stroke... I need details
flag OverlyCasual
Posted: Aug 4, 2017 at 23:13 Quote
ajax-ripper wrote:
OverlyCasual wrote:
I have a suspension issue. Maybe. I just put a 350lb coil on my rear shock (old manipoo Swinger) and I can bottom the shock out just compressing the rear with a little force. I weigh 145~ pounds so I figured a 350 would be right for me. If i go off any kind of drop it will probably bottom out. Did i get a spring that was too light? Should I put more air in the shock? For what its worth, I used the TF tuned calculator to figure that i needed a 350lb spring.
What frame, what's the stroke... I need details

2011 Transition Bottlerocket 2.25 stroke 140mm of travel. I was riding today and found that if I keep my weight centered over the bike and compress the suspension the shock doesn't bottom out. It's just when most of my weight is over the rear when it bottoms pretty easy or taking any kind of drop bigger than a couple feet to flat. Sitting in the saddle also leaves me with very little travel, but that's less of an issue for me.
flag staike
Posted: Aug 5, 2017 at 9:51 Quote
The calculators are very inaccurate for some frame designs. The leverage ratio for your frame can be very different from the "norm". If you can bottom it out just bouncing on it, then it's a spring issue. Try a 400 spring.
flag WasabiJim
Posted: Aug 8, 2017 at 4:31 Quote
what amount of sag are you getting?

and what compression adjustments does the swinger have? is it a 4-way or 6-way?

some of the swingers did a good job

 


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