Got a 2010 Morewood Kalula with a cane creek double barrel and i'm still trying to get it to feel right. I'm about 160lbs with gear on, Morewood reccomended a 200lb spring, which would require me to run a bit more compression, or I could bump up to the 250lb spring and run it a bit more wide open. With the 200lb spring I'm running about 40%-50% sag...Any and all input is great!
Suspension Gurus: Undersprung and Over dampened?
- Thread starter acair422
- Start date
Is your sag in the more normal (33%) range w/ the 250# spring?
I would go with correctly sprung rather than over damped. Don't rely on compression damping to hold you up under too soft a spring.
*edit: And you never, ever, want to be over dampened! It can led to slipping right off the bike!
I would go with correctly sprung rather than over damped. Don't rely on compression damping to hold you up under too soft a spring.
*edit: And you never, ever, want to be over dampened! It can led to slipping right off the bike!
I'm by far an expert on this but my own findings on this question on my own bike between a 500 and 550lb spring lead me to run the 550lb spring.
Sag is 30% with the 550 and 48% on 500
This lead to too many bottom outs on the 500 partially as a result of running a lot of preload to compensate.
I concluded 550lbs with zero/1 turn of preload was best for my bike and weight.
I also found the high and low speed circuits weren't completely independant And I had to tweet the hsc/hsr after I settled on the low speed settings.
Awesome shock and great way to learn about bike suspension....even though it does take some dedicated days tuning the same piece of trail and comparing results.
As I say, I'm no genius on this stuff and I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if I'm spouting crap and providing misinformation.
Sag is 30% with the 550 and 48% on 500
This lead to too many bottom outs on the 500 partially as a result of running a lot of preload to compensate.
I concluded 550lbs with zero/1 turn of preload was best for my bike and weight.
I also found the high and low speed circuits weren't completely independant And I had to tweet the hsc/hsr after I settled on the low speed settings.
Awesome shock and great way to learn about bike suspension....even though it does take some dedicated days tuning the same piece of trail and comparing results.
As I say, I'm no genius on this stuff and I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if I'm spouting crap and providing misinformation.
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FWIW the makulu and kalula suspension platforms are built around 40% minimum sag, and they REALLY ride well right at 40-45%.
the point is that 40% or more sag is where the suspension is optimized for pedaling, so you don't need to really jack up the compression to compensate for anything, and defiantly don't run more than 1 turn on the spring of preload.
you want at least 40% sag on these bikes, and can run them mostly open and still have a great pedaling/cornering/braking bike.
you want at least 40% sag on these bikes, and can run them mostly open and still have a great pedaling/cornering/braking bike.
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Preload has no effect on bottom out. Only initial sag. Preload should never be used to compensate for the wrong spring. Once into the travel say 10% even, the preload put on has no effect. It is only taking up the softest of spring slack.
The answer is to quit playign with that bike and buy a demo
Quoted, so hopefully people will read it twice, especially the bold part.
My 2 cents: I would never run more damping than I think is appropriate, but that's just semantics. I have tried, and currently use a setup with a fairly soft spring, yet fairly stiff LSC and find it to work very well. Compared to a stiffer spring with less LSC, the bike feels better over high speed chatter at the top of the travel, and feels a bit more stable.
I would try what Morewood recommends, and you can always experiment from there.
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More preload will help resist bottoming out but not by much it also reduces small bump sensitivity and rebound is harder to adjust correctly so as others have said try and get the correct weight spring.
It does have an indirect effect if you run too soft a spring and run excessive preload for correct sag...
I doubt it will make more difference to bottom out than taking one sock off. and the small bump sensitivity is true, but why would you want to get rid of small bump sensitivity? and still a negligible amount. I'm talking about only a few turns of preload, sure if you pretty much use a LOT of the springs travel it will be stiffer deeper into travel, and will loose more suppleness. But will most likely coil bind, and yes, increase bottom out resistance, LOL.
Manufacturers only recommend two turns or whatever it is. Beyond that you should have a heavier spring.
K9 do 25lb increment springs.
In short. you cannot make your spring stiffer overall by squashing it a bit. Once the amount of spring you have used by preload has been squashed past, you're back in the same range you would be anyway with the same load.
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This dude-weighs ~200Lb and runs a 250Lb spring so it would seem strange that you would need one that stiff.
I can't actually find a spec on the leverage only finding "low leverage" but if it is anywhere near 2:1 a 50Lb difference on the spring makes a big difference to your sag.
I can't actually find a spec on the leverage only finding "low leverage" but if it is anywhere near 2:1 a 50Lb difference on the spring makes a big difference to your sag.
Maybe try out a 225lb steel spring from x9, not sure where to get them in the USA? maybe you gotta order them from the uk or something? Kinda in the same boat, in between a 500 and 550lb spring.. I just stuck with the 550, seems to add a bit of "pop" to my particular setup.
generally with a new shock/new bike, you might do a few runs with the shock at full open, then 1 run somewhere in the middle or full closed, and tune from there. but def. try everything full open to start.
You can grind/file the edge of the coils down all the way around if you're keen. The more meat you take off, the softer the spring. Not sure if you could do it in a lathe.
Until last month, I had that exact same setup. I can promise you that you need to be on the 200 pound spring. I weigh 168 and ran both springs a good bit, and the 200 works better on everything. I know it feels weird to be on a spring rate that low, but considering that bikes weird ass suspension, you have the right setup. Here is about how I had my kalula setup if it helps ya any:
10 clicks of LSC
8 clicks of LSR
1 1/2 turns of HSC
1 1/4 turns of HSR
and I guess about 1 turn of preload.
And FWIW, I am now on a yeti 303r running a 350 spring.
That kalula just requires a super light spring.
10 clicks of LSC
8 clicks of LSR
1 1/2 turns of HSC
1 1/4 turns of HSR
and I guess about 1 turn of preload.
And FWIW, I am now on a yeti 303r running a 350 spring.
That kalula just requires a super light spring.
There should only be 4 full turns on each high speed knob, so two full turns would be halfway in.