Help setting up suspension for 1st time

Syncros

I got a marin rock springs 08 at the start of the year and have noticed that even over drops as small as 1ft, the front and rear shocks are bottoming out (Fox Float R and Pike 409). I've got them both set up for about 20/30% sag but i'm a bit wary about fiddling about with the rebound, compression and damping. It's my first full sus and first fork that i can adjust btw, so i'm pretty much clueless.

could anyone give me a little advice? I weigh ~70kg if that helps.

cheers

stumpyjon

If you're bottoming out and the sag is about (which from what you've said seems to be OK) you need more compression damping to slow down the rate at which your forks compress.

Best way to learn is play with the settings, ideally find somewhere to play and then ride the same bit a couple of times with the rebound damping completely backed off, middle and then wound right up so you get a feel for what the differences are like. The fine tune until you find the setting you're happiest with. Also worth writing down what the setting is (i.e. 5 clicks from fully backed off) as you'll probably forget.

Must go and make a note of my shock pressures come to think of it.......... :roll:

Syncros

thanks, just what i was wanting

fwb2006

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... QS#foxFork

This is what you want..

petercarm

If you have a problem as substantial as bottoming out on "drops as small as 1ft" you have a problem beyond a little bit of dial twiddling.

You haven't told us the bike, although with the 409 Pike we can presume it is something for all mountain type use. The reason for asking the type of bike is that if you, say, had a Marin Wolf Ridge it is extremely sensitive to rear sag setup.

The sag you have measured sounds OK, but sag measurement can be quite inaccurate especially for the fork. Getting 20% sag on the fork seated can still leave you with the fork too soft. It is more important that the bike is balanced front to rear than you have any particular sag setting. Have a look at how much the fork is sagged when you are in the attack position - it still shouldn't be above 30%.

Go back to your sag settings. This is easy on the rear, with air pressure changes. It is more difficult on the front which sounds like you may need to trade up to a "firm" spring.

Your Float R has no adjustments apart from rebound. There should be one "right" value for the rebound that gives you maximum control and grip but reacts fast enough for successive bumps.

Your Pike has rebound adjust (same deal that this has one correct setting). After that you have separate low and high speed compression damping adjustments between the compression knob and the internal floodgate. For the aggressive riding you are doing, you should have the compression damping completely open unless you suffer from brake dive into steep switchbacks (and then only the least amount of compression damping you can get away with). The floodgate setting should be set open enough that the fork never spikes.

What I'm trying to suggest is that the problem is with the sag settings only - stopping the bike from bottoming out by using the damper settings compromises the suspension function all the rest of the time and you don't want that.