Pike Set-Up...

Angus Young

For those of you riding Pikes, what's your set-up in terms of rebound and the like? Now, I know the standard answer to "How should I set up my Pike?" is, "Depends on your riding style, where you ride, your bike" etc, etc.* Trouble with that is, first, I have no idea what my riding style is. I'm inexperienced and don't ride with others, so I have nothing to compare to. For the second two, well, tell me where and what you ride on your set-up.

I don't expect anyone to tell me the perfect set-up for me, but I figure if a few Pike riders chip in it will give me some sort of starting point. At the moment I've not touched any of the setting and it already feels like a big improvement over my Kona's original fork at places like BPW. I assume it's got more to give once I get it dialled in.


* I expect cooldad to be the first with this answer.

poah

set sag to preferred taste, set rebound so that you can just lift the wheel up before it rebounds after pushing down on the forks then set it one click slower.

I run 30% sag, lots of rebound, no tokens and I use all my travel with no harsh bottom outs.

if you find that the fork is fine for most hits but bottoming out on larger ones and drops then put a token in.

I weight almost 80kg and run 150mm pikes 26 inch.

cooldad

Angus Young wrote:

* I expect cooldad to be the first with this answer.

Nope my question would be are you a fat bastard or a really fat bastard?

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

set sag to preferred taste, set rebound so that you can just lift the wheel up before it rebounds after pushing down on the forks then set it one click slower.

I run 30% sag, lots of rebound, no tokens and I use all my travel with no harsh bottom outs.

if you find that the fork is fine for most hits but bottoming out on larger ones and drops then put a token in.

I weight almost 80kg and run 150mm pikes 26 inch.

Sorry, should have said that I have set the sag to somewhere between 25 and 30%. I'm also just under 80kg and running a 150, so that's all good info.

cooldad wrote:

Nope my question would be are you a fat bastard or a really fat bastard?

cooldad, you let me down! Yes, good point. As mentioned above, just under 80kg. So, roughly medium bastard.

rockmonkeysc

Find a good set up guide and don't ask a bunch of goons on the Internet.
Bad set up can ruin your ride, good set up will make your bike feel amazing and help you ride like a legend.

Angus Young

Every little helps.

rockmonkeysc

Angus Young wrote:

Every little helps.

Or makes things worse.

peter413

I'm running the total opposite to POAH. Between 20-25% sag, two tokens, not much (fast) rebound and a couple of clicks of LSC (6 IIRC). This feels great to me.

I never bottom out the fork with this set up which is the way I like it. I prefer to always have some travel left for those unexpected hits that use more travel than usual. I also seem to prefer a stiffer fork to others. Comparing the amount of travel used on my 160 Pikes to a mates on the same trail ridden at similar speed I always use less travel. Also worth mentioning is I only run 25% rear sag which can put that little bit more weight over the front of the bike compared to someone running 30& sag and my bar height is higher than others like it too. Basically I appear to be in the minority for how I like my bike set up.

BloggingFit

peter413 wrote:

I'm running the total opposite to POAH. Between 20-25% sag, two tokens, not much (fast) rebound and a couple of clicks of LSC (6 IIRC). This feels great to me.

I never bottom out the fork with this set up which is the way I like it. I prefer to always have some travel left for those unexpected hits that use more travel than usual. I also seem to prefer a stiffer fork to others. Comparing the amount of travel used on my 160 Pikes to a mates on the same trail ridden at similar speed I always use less travel. Also worth mentioning is I only run 25% rear sag which can put that little bit more weight over the front of the bike compared to someone running 30& sag and my bar height is higher than others like it too. Basically I appear to be in the minority for how I like my bike set up.

Similar to you but without tokens. I simply do my rebound by standing over the bike and pushing down the fork brakes on and letting it pop back up. If the front wheel starts pop back a touch at the top of the movement then I take the rebound off until it stops.

rockmonkeysc

Not surprising you never bottom out with 20% - 25% sag. Thats a very firm set up.

Angus Young

There's a very quick guide in this months mbr as to what's what on a Pike. I found it quite useful.

benpinnick

At 80kg you probably want to _consider_ a volume spacer. It depends on what its matched to at the back, but pikes are pretty linear in standard form. My personal preference is 1 token, and a decent amount of LSC, with 30% sag.

Angus Young

benpinnick wrote:

At 80kg you probably want to _consider_ a volume spacer.

That's what I'm thinking. I've been having a good old fiddle and fettle over the last couple of weeks and that's next on the list to try.

benpinnick wrote:

t depends on what its matched to at the back, but pikes are pretty linear in standard form. My personal preference is 1 token, and a decent amount of LSC, with 30% sag.

It's got the original Monarch R on the back at the moment but that's getting upgraded at the end of the month to either a Cane Creek Inline, Monarch Plus RC3 DebonAir or PUSHed Fox Float X. I think I'm leaning towards the Float. I'm running 25% sag at the moment so I might try 30%. I've been going back and forth on the LSC and rebound and I haven't decided what I like yet. It's almost as if I like something about all the settings, which is making it difficult to settle on one or the other.

poah

I run 30% sag with my inline with 1.4 volume reducers. set up is great on small bumps and doesn't bottom out harshly on big hits. was at innerleithen on Monday and I bottomed out the pike a few times so might try a token when I go again at the end of the month.

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

I run 30% sag with my inline with 1.4 volume reducers. set up is great on small bumps and doesn't bottom out harshly on big hits. was at innerleithen on Monday and I bottomed out the pike a few times so might try a token when I go again at the end of the month.

The volume reducers you mention, they're on the Inline not the Pike, yes?

poah

Angus Young wrote:

POAH wrote:

I run 30% sag with my inline with 1.4 volume reducers. set up is great on small bumps and doesn't bottom out harshly on big hits. was at innerleithen on Monday and I bottomed out the pike a few times so might try a token when I go again at the end of the month.

The volume reducers you mention, they're on the Inline not the Pike, yes?

yeah although I'm thinking about putting a token in the bike for going back to inners at the end of the month.

BloggingFit

Currently trying this...

Sag just under 30%
Rebound 10 clicks out
LSC 7 clicks out
Running 1 token

Bit hard to determine given the all the mud but seems fine.

Angus Young

BloggingFit wrote:

Currently trying this...

Sag just under 30%
Rebound 10 clicks out
LSC 7 clicks out
Running 1 token

Bit hard to determine given the all the mud but seems fine.

When you say 10 clicks and 7 clicks 'out', do you mean anti-clockwise?

Going to try a token this week and see how that feels.

BloggingFit

Both Clockwise.

Angus Young

So 7 and 10 click in the clockwise direction. I think that's about where I am at the moment.

BloggingFit

That's the one.

Been fiddling around for a while on my other set without a token and found LSC had ended up on 11 clicks out so figure the token is worth the addition for my weight.

Angus Young

BloggingFit wrote:

That's the one.

Been fiddling around for a while on my other set without a token and found LSC had ended up on 11 clicks out so figure the token is worth the addition for my weight.

Ah, now that's interesting, because that's what I found - I've been ramping it all the way up and I figure that, perhaps, I shouldn't be going so close to one extreme, so then I've been backing it off. Maybe a token is the answer, then.

How much do you weigh?

BloggingFit

Around 83kg without gear. I think my setting was due to the fork settling in and the warmer temperatures making seals a bit looser and the fork more sensitive. I think a few more rides will see me pop a little more air in but for now I will keep it all as it is.

I wouldn't worry about where you end up with settings as it can all get a bit psychological and you can end up with less than perfect setup as a result. Whatever works.