[UncleHowie]

Sooo, what air pressure is considered as "low"?
As you can imagine the trail is a whole different animal in the wet.
What do you do to compensate this with your setup?

More rebound and less compression I guess.

 

[Samoto]

One thing i know that I don't dare run too low tire pressure in front because I've been flying above bike when the front wheel is blown. It is nasty!

My suspension is a bit under 15% sag and it is no way around to run than relatively high tire pressure otherwise due stiffer suspension, the rim takes hit.

Give me dual chamber setup, Schwalbe

 

[saruti]

I run ghetto tubeless
2.5 maxxis front and rear.
most of the time 35 rear \ ~28 front any terrain.
but if Ill lower the pressure , it will be only like 2 psi front\rear.
when I started riding, I too, lowered the tire pressure for more traction. and it helped.
but as soon as you go faster, you will get the rims ping on the rocks\roots and even get tires off the rims when cornering...

I'm no pro and no UCI racer.
but I race when I have the opportunity. I wish we had more DH races around here....
I weight 70kg

 

[atrokz]

When I was riding a lot of DH, I was doing so at Bromont, St Anne and other wet rooty trails. I played with suspension settings a lot, and ended up being one of those weirdo's who likes very stiff suspension. So I can understand the allure. It feels a little troublesome at low speeds, but feels good at higher speeds. I'd rather have trouble at low speed than at higher speeds, so that's where I ended up.

Had a 888 with ALL compression ports blocked off, heaviest spring, heavier compression side oil and lighter rebound side oil.
Rear shock was a Dhx with polished internals. Ran about 2 or 3 extra compression shims and 1 extra rebound shim from what I remember. spring weight was 50lbs heavier than the 'online calculator' recommends. Ran both sides at 20% sag.
200lbs neked
on Minion 2.5" I was running 28lbs rear, 25lbs front. Tubeless would burp no matter what. With those pressures and xc tubes I think I had 1 or 2 flats an entire season.

Now that I'm on a 'mini DH' set up enduro, I just leave the double barrel and 36 float in the same setting most of the year. I really only changed it when riding in the winter to remove a few clicks of compression dampening.

I think suspension is a really personal thing. it takes a few seasons of trying things out to know where you stand as a rider in terms of how to set up your suspension. The vital test proves how even the pros who are only a hair apart all have different preferences.

Guess the point is, test, test, test. Then act accordingly.

 

[slyfink]

sorry typed in haste.

low speed adjuster controls the port size, and thus the amount of oil flow hitting a shim stack. it does not make the shim stack "firmer", but it reduces the oil volume getting to the shim stack, while increasing the pressure (partially blocking off a hose with your thumb). So while you are making harder for oil to flow and the suspension to move, you are actually hitting the shim stack with more oil velocity and making it easier for it to bend.

high speed adjuster adds preload to the backer spring, and thus controls when/where the high speed valve kicks in, but it does not add "high speed compression", in the same way adding preload to your rear shock reduces sag and adds useable travel, but does not make the spring "stiffer" (hooke's law).

my point is that
1. some folks think "firmer" shocks mean a ton more spring rate.
2. some folks think that "firmer" suspension means closing the low speed port and adding more preload to the high speed spring.

getting the correct base tune that correlates to rider size, speed, track pitch, etc is really what is going on with "super stiff wc suspension", with only slight bumps in spring rate to account for increased rates of speed.

i also think that unless you are confident in the accuracy of the base tune and lo speed settings, playing with tire pressure for traction is a bit counter productive.

edit- thanks descente, exactly.

So this post makes me sad. I think it means I'll never be able to run off-the-shelf suspension. I'm 220 lbs right now and like to think I ride hard.

My problem is with my (2014) Pike on my trail bike. I had been running the air spring at 85 psi with only 2 clicks of LSC and almost maxed out rebound damping (-2 clicks from full closed). At that setting I was sitting at around 18% sag. The small bump compliance wasn't what it could be, so I decided to throw in two volume reducers, drop sag to between 20 and 25% (which is around 75 psi) and run 6 clicks of LSC. At that setting I'm getting a harsh metallic sounding clank at bottom out (though it could be on top-out, I'm not sure) on large high speed hits (think hitting a rock when landing a jump, or off of two foot drops). It also seems stupid that I have to run almost maxed out rebound damping to get a minimal amount of control on the rebound stroke.

Does this mean that the only way for me to get a controlled, traction-providing fork is to get the shimstack tuned to my weight and riding style (as is the case with my shock, which has been tuned by Push) ? Sending a fork to the US is way more expensive than a shock, which totally sucks.

 

[kickstand]

when I started riding, I too, lowered the tire pressure for more traction. and it helped.
but as soon as you go faster, you will get the rims ping on the rocks\roots and even get tires off the rims when cornering...

Interesting you say this, as I too am no pro UCI racer, and I weigh about 10-15 lbs more than you.....but many of the guys who I know who I faster than I am have plenty of dings in their rims (I'll tell them they are doing it wrong)....as do I....I run about 23-25psi front and 25psi rear....no dings up front, tons out back, I could probably add more air...but it works for me.

I also run a "somewhat" stiffer than recommended suspension set up for my weight. (Green spring in my fox 40 instead of the recommended blue) and a 50lbs heavier spring out back than is suggested on my bike. (100lbs heavier on my new bike which should arrive before the weekend....I hope)

I'm slightly "fast" on the rebound, and about 35-40% "closed" on the compression adjustments on my fork and shock. As opposed to 0% closed or "wide open".

When I get on guys bikes who are faster riders than me their suspension still feels a bit stiffer than mine, though one buddy in particular got on my bike, weighs 25-35lbs more than me and thought my bike felt stiffer than his....I think it's all a feel thing sometimes and takes a minute to get used to.

 

[kickstand]

Sending a fork to the US is way more expensive than a shock, which totally sucks.

Can you send just the damper?

 

[slyfink]

Can you send just the damper?

good question. i don't know...

 

[blindboxx2334]

i wouldn't see why not. then you can do the lower service on your own and save some cash.

 

[DMdh]

This is a video of the team crc pre season testing from last year. In the minute 6:40-50 and 8:23-30 sam hill pushes his handelbar in the parking lot it looks that the fork pretty soft. ( I definitely can´t go that deep into the fork travel just pushing from my handlebar)

maybe not al the pros use a stiff set up?

 

[SCARY]

This is a video of the team crc pre season testing from last year. In the minute 6:40-50 and 8:23-30 sam hill pushes his handelbar in the parking lot it looks that the fork pretty soft. ( I definitely can´t go that deep into the fork travel just pushing from my handlebar)

maybe not al the pros use a stiff set up?

I know I can't run my suspension the way it is and ride on flats, my feet fly off all over the place

 

[Gary]

Please make it stop?

 

[kickstand]

maybe someone already wroth this, but if not,
you have to run higher air pressure in your tires. otherwise , the rims will get all the hits.

when I say firmer suspension , I mean less SAG.
and if you run lower air pressure in your tires for traction, you need to work on the way you ride....
traction will be better with better body movement on the bike.

I run ghetto tubeless
2.5 maxxis front and rear.
most of the time 35 rear \ ~28 front any terrain.
but if Ill lower the pressure , it will be only like 2 psi front\rear.
when I started riding, I too, lowered the tire pressure for more traction. and it helped.
but as soon as you go faster, you will get the rims ping on the rocks\roots and even get tires off the rims when cornering...

I'm no pro and no UCI racer.
but I race when I have the opportunity. I wish we had more DH races around here....
I weight 70kg

I'm starting to wonder if you are worried about hitting your rims on rocks and roots? Maybe you need to focus a bit more on the way you ride and try to ride a bit lighter and get over things with out monster trucking your rims straight into square edges and pinging and denting your rims all day?

 

[saruti]

Kickstabnd, even when you go light on your bike (part of the body movement on the bike) you might get the rims ping on rocks.
but, yes. you are right.