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How to adjust Rockshox Dart3

sebabmw

Chimp
Jun 13, 2011
2
0
Hi all, please forgive me as I am total newb when it comes to mtn biking, I recently purchased a Giant XTC2 that came equipped with the Rockshox Dart3 fork, I want to make sure I understand how to adjust it, I understand what the lockout does, but I don't understand what external rebound and preload are and how to adjust them properly (if there is such a thing)and where these are located, I have searched SRAM website for a user manual but only seem to find technical info on the item. If anyone can help a total newb out and explain what these adjustments do it would be greatly appreciated.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Hey -

The manual for your fork is here:
http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/07 Dart User Manual 95-4012-306-000RevC.pdf

Briefly, rebound is the adjustment that controls how quickly or slowly your fork extends after it has been compressed. You don't want a fork that hits a rock, compresses and the immediately shoots back up because that's going to throw you backwards. You also don't want a fork that rebounds so slowly that it doesn't extend before the next hit. So you use rebound control to find a happy medium.

Preload adjusts the amount of force necessary to initially compress the spring. It's good to have your fork compress a little bit (that's called "sag") when you sit on the bike, but you don't want it to compress a lot so preload is used to help adjust that.

Page 5 of the manual describes these things and how to adjust them.

Hope that helps!