Lets Talk Suspension Set-Up!!

chrisdouglas

Hey everyone I've stripped and serviced and reassembled my suspension no problems, mechanically I'm happy to play with it, but I'm not sure what it is that I'm fettling. I'm sure there are others that feel confident enough to handle their suspension but some may not know what they're trying to achieve like me. I thought it may be useful to have one thread where we can address different needs, preferences and how to achieve those.

If not could someone at least off me a little help with my query.

Currently when I ride I tend to find that I'm soaking up a lot of vibrations and it doesn't feel like the suspension is doing much., apart from compressing "bobbing" when I'm pedaling. Individual hits, a one off drop that I roll off say, force the fork to compress but the rear shock doesn't feel like it does anything. However over rocky sections where the wheels are hitting different surfaces/cambers quickly it feels like the front is just bouncing all over and I'm just going along for the ride.

So what would people recommend I experiment with?

The bike is a Kona 29r. It's an XC bike so I'm no expecting downhill like handling but a set up of suspension I imagine will greatly improve it. the fork is a Rockshox XC32 tk (100mm) and the shock is a Rockshox Monarch RL. Basic kit and it's also all nearly 3 years old now too.

Any help would be great and like I said if others want to use this thread to throw suspension questions out there I'm sure it'd be better than cluttering up the forum with 1000's of suspension related questions and threads.

cooldad

Air fork and shock?

What sag do you have? Sounds way too firm.

chrisdouglas

Yes mate both are air. Rear shock is set to 25% sag and the fork (roughly) 25-30% sag. Which leads me to believe maybe the rebound settings could be tinkered with? It does feel too firm.

cooldad

Rebound has nothing to do how firm it will feel, it adjusts how fast they will rebound. Too slow and they'll pack down over a series of bumps, too fast and it'll buck you off.

How are you adjusting the sag - full gear, standing in 'attack' position.

Front sounds too hard or rebound way too fast.

I have a Kona with the same sort of linkage and it absorbs things well, but will never be cushy - it's an XC bike.

chrisdouglas

Full gear in attack position mate yes. I'll try and take a little out the front. Could riding position be a factor too? If I'm say too far back then the front isn't weighted?

rockmonkeysc

The Rockshox tk damper is rather crude. Best to just leave it fully open. The Monarch RL also has rather crude, unadjustable compression damping. Unfortunately they are both a bit harsh over small, high frequency bumps.
All you can really do is keep them well serviced to minimise friction in the seals and bushes.

chrisdouglas

Thanks for that mate. Guess I'm really looking forward to getting a new bike sooner rather than later then!

rockmonkeysc

Experiment with air pressures and get the best you can. Make sure there's lube in the lowers, Rockshox forks are often supplied almost dry.
You could just replace the fork in a year or two. The shock can be modified. £70 gets the larger volume Debonair air can which improves small bump compliance. For a bit more money the shock can be modified with a full custom tune.
The fork can't really be modified, the steel stanchions mean that the dampers from higher spec forks with aluminium stanchions won't fit.

The Rookie

Have you got tell tale O-rings on both fork and shock, if so what do they tell you the suspension is doing if you ride over both the regular trail where you fear the rear is not doing much and over the harsher stuff where you feel the front is 'bouncy'?

It could be the front is running out of travel and you are hitting the bump stops, that certainly is unpleasant (my own bike is a 100mm XC FS on 26" wheels, so I know what its 'like), the rather pants TK damper won't help, on my daughters bike we got more compression damping by swapping out the 5weight RS oil for some 10weight, not a cure all, but much better (then later on fitted a better damper).

At the rear it could be the shock needs a service or is at too high a pressure and isn't really moving at all until you get bigger hits.

When I rode a hardtail (26) I was envious of the 29ers cruising over chattery trails, when I swapped to my FS26 I could ride seated while the 29ers were out the saddle, so an FS29er should be like riding on a mattress!

davidradar

OK, I know this is the opposite to what others have stated in the post but I believe your problem is your rebound. I had the same problem, new bike just felt like a dud until I speed up the rebound in the front forks. With slow rebound the forks seem to just pack down and never fully recover which gives a very uncomfortable ride. Easy to try a few different rebound settings - you have nothing to loose.

chrisdouglas

Well I check it all over and managed to discover when the shock was serviced last, it was filled with the recommended air pressure for my weight...which turned out to be much too firm. Only running 13% sag!!

This has all been rectified and it now rides like a totally different bike! Which is both great and bad because last night while on a ride I bottomed the fork out and the front wheel snatched sending me off the bike