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p-spec

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2004
1,278
1
quebec
if you looked at the chart, they recommend a 350# spring for a 170# rider in the 8.5/9" setting

I did,but my frame came with a 400.

hense why I have a 350 in the mail somewhere.Would be nice if it showed today with my pint glass.....

p.s

my suspension

front end,

butter smooth compression ( little to no LSC,bit of hsc and good rebound ) ( kinda like how gee has his fork from the looks of it working )

rear,same sorta feel,bit slower on the rebound.
 
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karpi

Monkey
Apr 17, 2006
904
0
Santiasco, Chile
I don't know how that happened, but after reading this thread I think my head might explode... alas, I did find some interesting points! haha
 

marshalolson

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2006
1,770
519
scary- on a dh bike 50# in spring is ~4-5% of sag. on a trail bike with a higher leverage ratio, it is more like 3-4%.

so if you want 30%, 33% or 40%, the springs will vary widely, hence the variations you are seeing from intense and CCDB.
 

SCARY

Not long enough
Yeah,but these are based purely off my weight.I mean ,why put the chart up if they can't even agree on the rate.I'm not going to buy separate springs for different courses.Once I get it set up,it pretty much stays there.

The intense guy said if I was an aggressive rider and raced, to go 450.Malcolm said #400,regardless.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
The intense guy said if I was an aggressive rider and raced, to go 450.Malcolm said #400,regardless.
if you are 40+lbs lighter than me, a 450# spring is a bit much IMO....but then again, DW makes points as to why a super fast rider might use a heavier spring.
 

Pslide

Turbo Monkey
The intense guy said if I was an aggressive rider and raced, to go 450.Malcolm said #400,regardless.
If you plan to run lots of compression damping (esp. LSC), you can get away with 50 lbs less spring rate on a CCDB. If you don't like to run a lot of compression damping, then go with the 450 lbs.

I've run as low as 300 lbs/in on my Legend with lots of damping, and as much as 400 lbs/in with a lot less damping. I actually prefer the latter, which gives less sag, better pedalling, and rides higher in its travel. The 300 lbs/in with lots of damping was very stable and had loads of traction, but wasn't lively enough for me.
 

toowacky

Monkey
Feb 20, 2010
200
4
Pac NW
When they are talking about clicks, its from all the way clockwise, then back for the number of clicks?
From the article:

Fox counts all of the clicks from closed. They turn the adjuster in clockwise until it stops and count clicks counterclockwise. For example compression would be 8 clicks out. They do this because the closed position on their products is always a constant. When they make a valving change counting the clicks from closed doesn’t change. When going from open there are piston and shim stack heights that alter the “open” position.



In that case, Gwin Holy sh**

*Special Tuning: Custom Compression valve stack. If a consumer's valve stack is rated a 5, then Gwin's is a 9 for firmness.
 

Whoops

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,011
0
New Zealand
...

I'm curious as to how disparate the shaft velocities are between trail irregularities (bumps etc, that, ideally, we want the suspension to be compliant over) and weight transfers (pedaling, cornering, compressions etc, that, ideally, ... curious as to how much of a "losing battle" we're fighting here!
Strain gauges on the cranks and h-bar, calibrated to give vertical (or maybe normal to nominal ground-plane) force (=m.a) of the rider, plus an accelerometer on the frame somewhere (but not while pedaling)?

Compare this with signals from accelerometers (=f/m) at the axles front and rear, with some (extremely) clever algorithm.

Hmmm. tricky. Maybe Mr Fourier can be re-animated to help us out?
 
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Whoops

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,011
0
New Zealand
From the article:

Fox counts all of the clicks from closed. They turn the adjuster in clockwise until it stops and count clicks counterclockwise. For example compression would be 8 clicks out. They do this because the closed position on their products is always a constant. When they make a valving change counting the clicks from closed doesn’t change. When going from open there are piston and shim stack heights that alter the “open” position.






*Special Tuning: Custom Compression valve stack. If a consumer's valve stack is rated a 5, then Gwin's is a 9 for firmness.
Hah, mine goes to 11.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Interesting. Link to thesis? Feel free to PM me...

You mention you've done FFT analysis of dyno data. How applicable is this? I mean, for a square wave input, which I approximate as an extreme of braking bumps, an FFT is going to give you a LOT of frequencies that don't correspond to actual observed shaft velocities, no? (The FFT of a square wave being an infinite sum of harmonics, albeit decaying in amplitude with the order of the harmonic...) I guess my point is that the FT gives you the rate of change of phase. It's not clear to me how this pertains to our particular problem, but rather, should we not be interested in a rate of change of amplitude, ie: shaft velocities?

I'm curious as to how disparate the shaft velocities are between trail irregularities (bumps etc, that, ideally, we want the suspension to be compliant over) and weight transfers (pedaling, cornering, compressions etc, that, ideally, I would assume we want the suspension to be less compliant over). In an ideal world it would be nice if we could tune the LSC to act solely on the latter range of shaft velocities, and HSC to act on the former, but obviously in real life this isn't possible due to overlap, roll-off in the response of the damping circuits etc. Just curious as to how much of a "losing battle" we're fighting here!
FFTs were taken of data logged whilst riding, not from a dyno... no point running frequency analysis on something where you're controlling the input frequency!
 

SCARY

Not long enough
Strain gauges on the cranks and h-bar, calibrated to give vertical (or maybe normal to nominal ground-plane) force (=m.a) of the rider, plus an accelerometer on the frame somewhere (but not while pedaling)?

Compare this with signals from accelerometers (=f/m) at the axles front and rear, with some (extremely) clever algorithm.

Hmmm. tricky. Maybe Mr Fourier can be re-animated to help us out?
Jesus Christ!...I had no Idea what the hell I was walking into on this one.

I'm gonna stick to color coordinating and powdercoating options.
 
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Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Gonna need a video of this.
Google "sex machines" :)

I think that we are making two entirely different points but it is an interesting discussion nonetheless. Although entirely different than what you are talking about, my point is that LSC has a threshold at which it no longer becomes an effective method of controlling shaft movement. That threshold has a velocity, and that velocity is overcome by the vast majority of square edged bumps. Point being that at high shaft velocities, the high speed circuits and compression shim stack are doing the majority of the work, while the low speed adjuster is just "choked off" becuase the flow rates are higher than it can handle.

I'm not sure what you are looking at for data, but I'd be willing to go on a limb and say that I've taken more of it than just about anyone working in bicycles and there is no doubt in my mind that the LSC circuits on modet downhill dampers that I've tested are maxed out at what I would consider low shaft velocities. Furthermore, I can't see the benefit of transitioning to the high speed stack at a lower shaft velocity for faster riders, which is effectively what adding LSC does.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of using a balanced approach of spring and damping to control chassis movement and energy storage / dissipation, that dual progressive leverage ratio curve that the dwDHR and Revolt use goes a long way to that. I just have identified that there are limits to what can be done with current dampers.
Gotta get to work now, will respond tonight.
 

Whoops

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,011
0
New Zealand
FFTs were taken of data logged whilst riding, not from a dyno... no point running frequency analysis on something where you're controlling the input frequency!
Cool. What were the data channels? Wheel travel/t only or accels on frame as well?
 
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big-ted

Danced with A, attacked by C, fired by D.
Sep 27, 2005
1,400
47
Vancouver, BC
FFTs were taken of data logged whilst riding, not from a dyno... no point running frequency analysis on something where you're controlling the input frequency!
Crap. Replace "dyno" with "potentiometer" in my post. Brain fart moment...
 

gratiflying

Chimp
Apr 12, 2007
70
0
my .02... i rode my TR450 for a 1/2 season doing my own suspension setup. This generally consisted of me setting 35-40% sag (400lb spring for my last few bikes), a few on-trail dampening/rebound tweaks and leaving it alone. i put in about 40-50 days with this setup including 15 or so at WBP. my only complaint was that the bike felt unsettled in the slacked out 63 setting.

This season i had my buddy Arther at suspensionwerx do a proper setup (1.5hrs) after having everything serviced. what i found:

1. my 400lb ti spring actually tested as a 360lb spring
2. increasing spring rates = more traction. i went from a 360lb (susposed to b a 400) spring to a 500 and immediately noticed how all the body english i'm putting into the bike does not get soaked up in the suspension and instead gets more traction to the ground. however...
3. increasing spring rates = harder on the rider. simply put, i was moving and getting worked a lot more cause the suspension was not.
4. poorly setup suspension wreaks havoc with your bikes geometry. always at the wrong time (end of stroke)
5. more spring rate necessitaties more rebound dampening
6. suspension balance (front to back) is harder to dial in that just one or the other
7. generally my own setup was 25% undersprung

Me: 185lb and 17% slower than leov, hill and kovarik in the garbo DH. albeit i crashed 3x... so not fast but not slow hahaha

other findings:
- sometimes frames have very different suspension curves (linear vs. progressive) than forks and tweaking to get the overall bike dialed can mean compromises at one end or the other
- TRY DIFFERENT SETUPS. i would have never thought a 500lb spring would work well but if i'm racing a buff track, i'll definity run this setup
- i ended up running a 450 and tweaking my fork to match the rear setup
- the reason my bike handled poorly with low/slack geo was due to my suspension being too soft
- one click on an RC4 makes a big difference
 
Dec 7, 2009
197
0
Cloud Kiwi
Since allot of people have quoted what Gee and Gwin use setting wise based on looks of how the bike suspension is working I thought I'd throw this out there.

I'm not going to argue suspension theory as I agree a bit with Pslide at the end of his post #33

Here's a snip of an article from Australian Mountain Bike magazine issue, 114 Jan 2011.

Again this is there words and to the accuracy of anything over the internet or even in mags is what you make of it, I have no reason to doubt there article as the 3 bikes in question were all made available by the teams to them for testing as they were raced.

For through details buy the mag if you want, I think Svens findings quite interesting & to have the same Fox suspension on 3 different bikes 3 different riders and teams all with Fox factory tunning and the resulting setups tested by one bloke on the same track is pretty cool and revealing.

Gee Sup DH
Rider - 6'2" - 183lbs or 83kgs
Shock DHX RC4 kashima - 350lb spring
LSC - 9 out
HSC - 7 out
Rebound - 5 out
Preload - 1 turn
Boost v - 160psi
Bottom out - open
Gee runs 10-15% more built in compression than the stock consumer shock!

Fork - Fox 40 RC2 w/Kashima - Green Spring (firm)
LSC - 9 out
HSC - 14 out
Rebound - 12 out
Preload - none

Svm summary- tester 20lbs heavier in weight no bikes,settings, spring rates etc were altered, front felt too stiff, from ex WC rider, never used full travel on the La Coupe du Monde track. Cockpit sagged more in rear, helped to lean back over bike, easy to dive into corners, notes quality and smoothness of suspension immediately apparent though stiff up front, e.g spring rate. Overall tracked well, found the suspension slow, smooth comfortable and supple even with stiff front end.

This is an important sum and what Pslide was alluding too.
Gees setup is clearly reflected in "his" riding. With a stiff fork and a soft rear suspension setup he hangs off the back of the bike, attacking the steeps with confidence that a taller, stiffer fork brings.


Justin Leov Trek Sess 88
Rider - 6'0" - 176lbs or 80kgs
Shock DHX RC4 kashima - 450lb spring (@ other races he runs a 400lb spring)
LSC - 12 out
HSC - 9 out
Rebound - 6 out
Preload - 2 turn
Boost v - 155psi
Bottom out - open
Justis also running 10-15% more built in compression than the stock consumer shock!

Fork - Fox 40 RC2 w/Kashima - Green Spring (firm)
LSC - 10 out
HSC - 15 out
Rebound - 13 out
Preload - none

SVM summary - Justin's bike has a low attacking cockpit that took some adapting too. This gives bags of traction on flatter turns but doesn't immediately give confidence on steeper terrain e.g balance, for Justin this works. Justin's rebound speeds are also faster than Gee's or Aaron's.
Justin's bike felt smaller than Gees and much softer in the front, it sprinted like nothing, fast, front and rear felt more equal and balanced compared to Gee's setup. What I could not get my head around was the rebound speed he runs and I struggled to stay on line, with more time the potential of this setup could be realized, both have a progressive suspension curve allowing similar boost valve settings.

Same product, same technology, same support but they felt worlds apart.

Aaron Gwin Yeti 303 Team
Rider - 5'10" - 165lbs or 75kgs
Shock DHX RC4 kashima - 400lb spring
LSC - 9 out
HSC - 4 out
Rebound - 5 out
Preload - 1 turn
Boost v - 180psi
Bottom out - 1 turn clockwise, varies from track to track.
Aaron is running 15 - 20% more compression than stock consumer shock.

Fork - Fox 40 RC2 w/Kashima - Green Spring (firm)
LSC - 8 out
HSC - 14 out
Rebound - 12 out
Preload - none

The quick sum, AWs setup reflects his motocross background - its very firm, allowing the bike to skim over holes, but requiring a very aggressive riding style. Incredibly stiff, bike felt the biggest, wide bars, advice to ride bike or bike will ride you right off the track. Ride hard and aggressive and this bike responds, also the way the others needed to be ridden to get the best from them. Not much room for error incredible core strength required to hold a line otherwise it would spit you off in a blink of an eye but this also inspires confidence when you step it up.

This is only a brief run down of the article, I'm no going to put up rest as I don't want to upset SvM for his article and the mag, though its 6months on now, I do hope he doesn't mind this much.

If so then delete it I just thought since 2 of these riders are mentioned a bit, and added some from what pslide linked which was also super cool but not much was said about the rides of the rides.

The only thing I would also like to know more of and why its not mentioned is actual frame size, I know Gee rides a large, but seeing Gwin's bike actually felt bigger would be interesting to know what size his Yeti 303 was and especially compared to his no Trek Sess 88, and also that of Justin.

Great thread, more understanding or more confused, read some info from a guy like Paul Thede almost as mind melding as dw's, my head hurts need a ride:D
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,786
4,727
Champery, Switzerland
Clicks don't mean anything with custom shim stacks. 15-20% doesn't mean much either if they changed the arrangement. The mechanics of the linkage also add a huge variable. Gee's bike is way more progressive than the Trek for example. Hard to talk about pros setups without taking into consideration if they altered the stack or stacks other than just beefing up the compression. They could also be running a different rebound stack as well and that would also change everything. Sometimes the stacks are beefed up to have a better useable range for the rider or sometimes it is to change the way a bike reacts or sometimes it is to fix a strange leverage ratio. Hard saying without knowing.
 

staike

Monkey
May 19, 2011
247
0
Norway
A friend of me (a rather good rider) tried out Gee's settings a day. It was totally rubbish for him. Both the front and rear just skipped around, without any proper traction. Too much compression for the casual rider.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
I think that we are making two entirely different points but it is an interesting discussion nonetheless. Although entirely different than what you are talking about, my point is that LSC has a threshold at which it no longer becomes an effective method of controlling shaft movement. That threshold has a velocity, and that velocity is overcome by the vast majority of square edged bumps. Point being that at high shaft velocities, the high speed circuits and compression shim stack are doing the majority of the work, while the low speed adjuster is just "choked off" becuase the flow rates are higher than it can handle.

I'm not sure what you are looking at for data, but I'd be willing to go on a limb and say that I've taken more of it than just about anyone working in bicycles and there is no doubt in my mind that the LSC circuits on modet downhill dampers that I've tested are maxed out at what I would consider low shaft velocities. Furthermore, I can't see the benefit of transitioning to the high speed stack at a lower shaft velocity for faster riders, which is effectively what adding LSC does.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of using a balanced approach of spring and damping to control chassis movement and energy storage / dissipation, that dual progressive leverage ratio curve that the dwDHR and Revolt use goes a long way to that. I just have identified that there are limits to what can be done with current dampers.
Right, I think we are making points on totally different aspects of the ride here; my argument being mainly concerned with bike stability (particularly when cornering or slower compressions closer to the natural frequency of the bike) and you being more concerned with the high frequency response of the wheel than the chassis stability.

For what it's worth though on the LSC front, adding LSC does lower the threshold velocity, but it still increases the damping force at ANY velocity regardless, and whether the damper is in the HS region of the curve or the LS region, if it's developing the same force at a given speed, then the instantaneous damping characteristic is the same at that point. If you're then exceeding the threshold velocity when you don't want to be, the tuner's response should be to increase the HS circuit preload, without changing the HS curve characteristic - which is to a large degree what most HS adjusters do (depending on the stiffness of the preload spring vs the stack stiffness - good discussion of this a while ago for anyone interested in searching), particularly those found in forks.

There are definitely limitations to current dampers in terms of what you can adjust externally. Once you're willing to get hands-on with the valving and port geometry, there's not much of a limit at all! :)

Here's what I take away from that article:

Gwin, HSC: 4 clicks
Gee, HSC: 7 clicks
Leov, HSC: 9 clicks
They were all on completely different frames, and all on custom valved shocks to boot. Comparing clicks tells you absolutely nothing; for all we know, it might have given them all exactly the same characteristics when measured at the wheel!

Cool. What were the data channels? Wheel travel/t only or accels on frame as well?
On the post shaker I built, suspension movement and input displacement, so I could compare how the suspension reacted to the input at different frequencies, and see how the rider interacted with the bike. Pretty sure nobody's actually undertaken this research before outside vehicle crash testing, I couldn't find ANY mention of it anywhere - the closest thing was some US Army papers I found on proportions of bodily mass (ie relative weights of your head, neck, torso, abdomen, hands, forearms, upper arms etc). Sadly the project was somewhat limited by financial and time constraints (the original aim was pretty ambitious!) but it taught me a LOT. On the bike it's just wheel position against time. Accelerometers would be cool though, I'm sure DW's got dozens of those little buggers floating around!
 
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Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Crap. Replace "dyno" with "potentiometer" in my post. Brain fart moment...
haha righto. FFTs of wheel displacement only give you very implicit data, as in you can't look at a PSD of wheel travel and go "well then I need more rebound and less HSC" or whatever. What it does is help you understand the natural frequencies of the bike itself (natural frequency of the wheel, natural frequency of the sprung mass, how the rider moves, pedalling inputs etc) much moreso than the relatively random inputs. If you rode down a set of stairs or on a course with unbelievable amounts of braking bumps (Thredbo for example) you might start to see discernable input frequencies, but for the most part nothing much shows up there, all it really does is show you the vehicle's modes of response. It's not easy stuff to understand, and I'm still learning a lot about it. However, relatively speaking, I'm only at the beginning of my research :)
 

Whoops

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,011
0
New Zealand
...
On the post shaker I built, suspension movement and input displacement, so I could compare how the suspension reacted to the input at different frequencies, and see how the rider interacted with the bike. Pretty sure nobody's actually undertaken this research before outside vehicle crash testing, I couldn't find ANY mention of it anywhere - the closest thing was some US Army papers I found on proportions of bodily mass (ie relative weights of your head, neck, torso, abdomen, hands, forearms, upper arms etc). Sadly the project was somewhat limited by financial and time constraints (the original aim was pretty ambitious!) but it taught me a LOT. On the bike it's just wheel position against time. Accelerometers would be cool though, I'm sure DW's got dozens of those little buggers floating around!
"xSensor" app on iphone + gaffer tape = win!
 

Whoops

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,011
0
New Zealand
hahah. Doesn't it only do up to 1 or 2 g's though?
+/1 1.3g I think. Sample rate might be too low as well (among other issues, though uses the gyro in v4 phones which is cool, so = 6 axis)...

I think the phone-sensor itself has a limit of +/-3g.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,319
5,071
Ottawa, Canada
I'd just like to ask this question for clarity as it would help me understand the contents of this thread, and I realize it's a rookie question. But. Am I correct in my understanding of HSC vs LSC in that they are two separate channels in the shimstack. Adjusting the clicks of the LSC affects the "low amplitude" forces (rider input and small bumps). What I really want to make sure I understand is whether adjusting the HSC knob actually adjusts the point at which the oil will travel through the HS circuit right? It doesn't actually change the how the HS circuit controls the shaft speed, only the point at which it bypasses the LSC and switches over to the HS circuit.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
I'd just like to ask this question for clarity as it would help me understand the contents of this thread, and I realize it's a rookie question. But. Am I correct in my understanding of HSC vs LSC in that they are two separate channels in the shimstack. Adjusting the clicks of the LSC affects the "low amplitude" forces (rider input and small bumps). What I really want to make sure I understand is whether adjusting the HSC knob actually adjusts the point at which the oil will travel through the HS circuit right? It doesn't actually change the how the HS circuit controls the shaft speed, only the point at which it bypasses the LSC and switches over to the HS circuit.
You are more or less correct, for most bike dampers. The LS circuit is usually a small hole through the centre of the piston/shaft, that is partly blocked by a tapered needle that you wind in or out to close off/open up the size of the hole. The HS circuit is the large ports on the piston that are closed off by the shim stack, which may or may not be preloaded. If there's no (or very minimal) preload on the shim stack, the shim stack will affect the LS damping as well to some degree, because it will begin to open very slightly as soon as oil is moving at all. When you crank the HS adjuster, it increases the spring preload on the shim stack, keeping it closed for longer, and increasing the HS damping force somewhat as well.

There are exceptions to this - some valves (eg CCDB) are relatively heavily sprung poppet valves operating over comparatively high displacement rather than preloaded shim stacks, in which case the amount of true HS damping can be very much affected by the adjuster.
 

Orfen

Monkey
Feb 22, 2004
259
0
UP, michigan
I'd just like to ask this question for clarity as it would help me understand the contents of this thread, and I realize it's a rookie question. But. Am I correct in my understanding of HSC vs LSC in that they are two separate channels in the shimstack. Adjusting the clicks of the LSC affects the "low amplitude" forces (rider input and small bumps). What I really want to make sure I understand is whether adjusting the HSC knob actually adjusts the point at which the oil will travel through the HS circuit right? It doesn't actually change the how the HS circuit controls the shaft speed, only the point at which it bypasses the LSC and switches over to the HS circuit.
My head hurts from reading this thread, but good info is being shared. :thumb:

since we are on the subject, another rookie question.

I understand that square edge hits and high speed impacts, like sizable drops, are are controlled by HSC/HSR and that smaller hits and traction is controlled by LSC/LSR.

But how about g-outs? are those HS or LS? lips off jumps? or does it depend at what speed/velocity you hit them?
 

Mo(n)arch

Turbo Monkey
Dec 27, 2010
4,441
1,422
Italy/south Tyrol
It just depends on the shaft speed of your suspension elements, NOT the bike speed!
If the shaft speed increases to a certain point, the hsc damping kicks in.
By changing shim stacks you can control the point were this happens.

I took this from the 888 evo tuning thread:

Really interesting thread btw!

Changing the shim stack changes the 'knee' on the damping graph, or the threshold between the LSC and HSC. The shape of the curve below the knee is 100% LSC and is not changed by modifications to the shim stack. Adjusting the needle valve is the only way to change the shape of the LSC curve:



The following graph shows the change in overall damper curve via changes to the first shims in the shim stack. You can see, that the curve below the inflection point (knee) is always the same shape...what does change however is the point where the shims open, and the regressive HSC takes over

To stay in the LSC region 'longer' you need to make the shim stack such that it takes more force to open. Stiffer or more large shims next to the piston face are one way to do this.


The further away from the piston face....you are effecting the regression of the HSC curve. If the tapper in shims is agressive (fat short pyramid) the curve will be more regressive. If the shim stack tapers less, the HSC curve will be less regressive in nature.


Images as well as some very good reading from here: http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/damping.htm
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Thanks - interesting.

Socket - what frequency bands are most relevant?
Probably not as high as you'd expect, mostly (but definitely not entirely) below about 5Hz. High frequency stuff is relatively random, and the super high frequency stuff (like say above 15Hz) has virtually no impact on the suspension, it just gets sucked up by the tyres. Consider that you can actually hear vibrations from about 20Hz upwards though though...
 
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Pslide

Turbo Monkey
Probably not as high as you'd expect, mostly (but definitely not entirely) below about 5Hz. High frequency stuff is relatively random, and the super high frequency stuff (like say above 15Hz) has virtually no impact on the suspension, it just gets sucked up by the tyres. Consider that you can actually hear vibrations from about 20Hz upwards though though...
I hope you guys get a chance to talk to Luis Arraiz (K9) one day...this is just the kind of analysis he does to set up CCDBs for riders. Captures the data on board, looks at the frequency analysis, then uses what he knows from the dyno curves of the shock to tune out the proper frequencies, both for low speed and high speed. And from what I know, it's pretty effective.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
I hope you guys get a chance to talk to Luis Arraiz (K9) one day...this is just the kind of analysis he does to set up CCDBs for riders. Captures the data on board, looks at the frequency analysis, then uses what he knows from the dyno curves of the shock to tune out the proper frequencies, both for low speed and high speed. And from what I know, it's pretty effective.
I actually met him briefly at Ft Bill in 2007 purely by chance. Cool that he's making a concerted effort to be methodical and by all accounts generally doing a good job, but there are a few theories of his that I disagree with (though by the same token I'm sure there are a few people who think I'm full of **** too!). He is doing some cool stuff (whether effective or not) of considering the little details of bike performance though, like those fork spring bearings.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,247
7,695
I love these discussions



srs.
Agreed. I'd love to see more hard data supporting suspension setup choices (and design) before jumping back into the full-suspension +/- big bike fray in the future.