how to make front end less twitchy

stumpy4ever

hey
i recently defected from stumpjumper heaven to buy a norco faze 2.

i am 95% in love with it BUT:

i find the front end super twitchy, and not filling me with confidence on downhills.
also cornering under heavy braking causes huge dive in on suspension and lots of squirming

i've tried the following:

put some firetrail xc tyres on (the racing ralphs were total crap)
played with tyre pressures
lengthened the stem from stubby one out to 110mm
played with front fork (rshx sid race) +ve and -ve pressures across the recommended range. sag currently about 15/20pct.

tyres and stem made a diff, but since this is my first full sus, and also my first disc brake bike i cant decide if its just more responsive, or whether theres other things i should do.

any pointers greatly appreciated.

cgarossi

If it's sittish on surfaces like gravel, try a slower rebound on the fork. Works for me. I'm two notches in from slowest on my 32RLs

jairaj

have you tried using wider bars?

or getting more weight over the front for more grip? either change your technique and hover over the bars more or use a lower rise bar or move any spacers from below stem to above stem?

supersonic

Try more compression damping on the fork.

x-isle

If you are getting a lot of suspension compression, then I can only think it's technique.

Also, make sure your "attack" position is correct by crouching more toward the front on the twisty stuff, this puts more weight on the front wheel aiding grip.

The result may mean that you find that you are not braking as heavily and far more smooth around the corners.

Also, but "attack" position, I mean standing on the pedals. If you are seated, then weight distribution is all wrong. Sorry if you already know about this position (but you'd be suprised how many don't). Keep nice and relaxed and loose, standing on the pedals with them level, knees slightly bent, arms slightly bent and hovering your bum over the seat but not on it.

If all this is correct, then as someone has already mentioned, it's probably the rebound setting as you say the suspension is dipping but it's then squirmy. This could be the suspension "rebounding" too fast and fiercely causing the bike to be unstable.

wordnumb

Cut down on the coffee intake.

The frame's not too big for you?

jairaj

wordnumb wrote:

The frame's not too big for you?

I thought a big frame would slow the handling down? ?

wordnumb

Yeah, you're probably right jairaj... The frame's not too small for you?

stumpy4ever

thx for pointers - i don't think its my technique since i've been at this since my first saracen tufftrax and had the luxury of living amongst scottish single track heaven (no trail centres then!). Incidentally I had a great burn around the follow the dog in June without this problem too much (especially with a shiny new thompson stem from the cannock shop). I think it may be the rebound on gravelly stuff is main prob. Of course it could be the frame size and then i'm buggered.

I've fettled the rebound to nearly tortoise, and I'm in Whinlatter this weekend so will be able to use Altura trail for a test bed (it might even not rain)

cheers

bluechair84

Two suggestions - putting a whopping stem like a 110mm on will put your weight over the front wheel exhaerbating any twitches, making you feel nervous because of where you are on the bike. Try doing the opposite, experiment with a borrowed stubby stem as this will put your weight further back.

Try getting the head angle slacker, experiment first by dropping the pressure in the rear shock so you have a more sag. If it's nice, you could drop a spacer beneath the bottom headset crown, or stick a bigger balloon tyre on the front and a little xc tyre on the rear.

stumpy4ever

makes sense - whilst slowing down the front from a "handling" perspective, maybe the pins and needles means too far forward.

it came with a pos ritchey 60 or 65mm so pretty short originally.

will add these 2 variables to the experiment this w/e.....

thx

captainfly

Short stem, lower seat height, lower front tyre pressure and more rebound damping. And learn how to get the best out of your bike by shifting weight to load and unload, FS and HT require different styles.

*AJ*

A longer stem is not going to help, if anything you need to go shorter, and get a higher rise (wider) bar.

MarkLG

Put the original (shorter) stem back on and move the seat back on the rails a bit. Set the suspension to the recommended settings for your weight then do a few decent length rides on it to get used to the handling.
The bike will ride quite a bit differently to your old HT, so it may just be that need to adapt your style a bit.
Too much rebound on the fork will make it pack down - it won't have time to recover between hits and will just go further into it's travel. If you want the bike to feel more stable on the brakes add a bit more air pressure and an extra click or two of compression damping (if it's adjustable).
Once you've spent a bit more time on the bike and got used to the different handling then you might want to start fine tuning the suspension, or maybe adjusting the cockpit.

stumpy4ever

i can report that the biggest dif came from rebound. that little red knob moved to a quarter turn from mid point to the tortoise made a big difference. think i'll try the layback approach of saddle back, and shorter stem now. Found my arse over back of saddle a little on the climbs.

And sadly have to say the altura trail nowhere near as good as follow the dog in cannock. plus i dont see point of making trails out of slate so even on the best day in lakes this year (sat) it was slippy as .... reverse camber bends with slate on are not "a challenge" - just tedious.