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why the constant need for upgraded suspension?

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
I can agree with what many of you folks have said regarding folks throwing money at suspension, yet they aren't sensitive enough to the variables of the suspension to feel a difference.
So I have this to ad; a famous quote, from Racetech engineering.

" The best you know is the best you're ridden".

If you haven't tried anything better or different than what you ride, then you will not know if there are better options for you.
 

Lars_moelby

Chimp
Jan 10, 2005
42
0
Denmark
I find it pretty natural that, in a competitive sport - like ours, where number 1 and 2 sometimes are divided by 0.1 sec, you will try out anything to improve bike/rider just a little bit... and changing parts on your bike is (for some) a lot easier than taking time off to actually ride and improve skills.
From a racers point of view, any weight saving/suspension improvement/better traction, is well worth the money spent..
Racers use skinsuits, racers improve suspension, racers eat healthy...
 

Rover Nick

Monkey
Oct 17, 2006
280
0
The fact is that we are all getting all our info off of an internet forum. We all just need to push away from the computer and stop bitching about our $500 shocks and $1500 forks and go ride....Who's with me?
 

Alloy

Monkey
Aug 13, 2004
288
0
thousand oaks, ca
This is funny thread,

"You mean I can make $40,000 per month with just a few clicks of the mouse?

You mean all I have to do is work out for 3 minutes a day and I’ll have a body like Fabio?

You mean all I have to do is swallow that little pill and I’ll never have to worry about herpes again?

You mean all I have to do is get my shocked pushed and I’ll get better race results?

We all love to buy dreams… I just a bought a ccdb myself, it’s going to be sweet!
 

muddy beast

Turbo Monkey
Nov 26, 2005
1,815
0
The day suspension sets its self up perfectly for me and my riding style and each seperate riding conditions, is the day I stop thinking about what that "new" suspension will do for me, and how it COULD improve my riding.
 

TomBo

Monkey
Jan 13, 2004
300
0
Calgary,Alberta
I once ran fully a fully rigid bike. To tune it I would remove material off the forks just below the steer tube junction. To really get it dialed in I added some epoxy just above the brake mounts. That is how important tuning my bike suspension is to me.

Really I ride stock Fox, play with the clickers a bit. Now for my moto bike, I have started to play with the shim stacks and oil levels. Now that is a whole new ball game.
 

Supernaut

Chimp
Feb 12, 2007
49
0
Oslo, Norway
I once ran fully a fully rigid bike. To tune it I would remove material off the forks just below the steer tube junction. To really get it dialed in I added some epoxy just above the brake mounts. That is how important tuning my bike suspension is to me.

Really I ride stock Fox, play with the clickers a bit. Now for my moto bike, I have started to play with the shim stacks and oil levels. Now that is a whole new ball game.
And why would this be more relevant on a moto than on a dh-rig?

The reason for me to spend money on custom tuning doesnt have anything to do with getting better times or making me a faster rider.
Its about not being pissed off while riding because the suspension dont work as good as i expect it to do.
 

jonny dh

Monkey
Oct 26, 2007
223
0
under my feet
It is like golf. People buy super expensive clubs because they think it will make them better. Bikers who think they are slow on their bike will pump money into it because they think it will make them faster... bottom line is it won't, but it will make you feel good. Set you bike up, ride it, and stop making excuses for why you are slow.
do you mean my drop off three is not holding me back,and haven't fine tuned it in.what was the knobs for?J/K
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,908
634
well, i'm pretty well known for liking to tinker with my stuff, and spend a ton of time dialing things to exactly where I want it. I've never raced in my life, although I probably will start this year, but I couldn't care less about how fast I am. I've gone bigger on my 2003 bighit with a 24inch rear wheel thats almost broken, a stock van R, and a junior t then I have on my 08 glory 0. I've probably gone close to as fast. By all measures, my 66rc3 is quite a bit nicer and more adjustable to my preference then my junior t was. And I can say this with absolute and utter certainty: I have alot of fun on both bikes.

So why the need for upgrades? because I have alot MORE fun on my glory - I am able to get the bike to match MY riding style alot better then I ever could with my bighit. I had to match my bike on my bighit, now my bike matches me. But theres problems with it - my fork isn't linear enough for me, its very very progressive. Some people love it, I don't particularly. Its one of the most butter smooth forks i've ever had, I can tune the progressivity quite well, but its just not quite where I want it. So i'm gonna sell it and buy a fork that will do what I want it too.

Just because my times/skill don't increase, doesn't mean I don't have a more enjoyable experience on the bike. A different shock or fork can make the difference in how the bike rides. It doesn't mean you'll be a better rider, but you might like the bike more.

Some people might do it in part because they want to be faster, and figure that if they manage to set the bike up exactly to how they want it, they'll be as fast as they can - not as fast as hill, peat, minaar, etc, but as fast as they can possibly be. Spending 6000 dollars on a bike WILL help me be as good a rider as I can be. It doesn't mean I'll be as good or better then the top riders, but it does mean it'll help me progress as far as my abilities will let me.

Plus, I love tinkering with crap.
 

Avy Rider

Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
287
0
Muskoka,Canada
I truly believe that there is a monumental lack of knowledge of the basics of suspension tuning. I'm the first one to admit to thinking I knew what I was doing until Craig at Avalanche patiently explained in great detail what the adjusters actually do and how to achieve the feel I want when I ride.

I know the whole Avy cult thing is old but I'm definitely a long time member. Craig KNOWS suspension from many many years of professional tuning and when he talks I listen! The result is that my bike now rides like a dream with no wallowing, no g-outs and it handles stutter bumps and rock gardens like they are smooth tarmac.

I chuckle to myself reading a lot of the threads here about how to get a bike to handle small stuff and still eat up big drops. So many times the person states that they have their shock set up to do this when the reality is that they have their settings backwards from the way they should be! Sure they may think that the bike is dialed but I'll guarantee that if it was actually set up properly they would feel an immediate difference.

One thing I have found to be useful is having someone else video tape me bombing the roughest sections of the trail and then reviewing it right afterwards. By watching the suspension as the bike encounters obstacles you can see right away where you could add or remove some compression or rebound to help you carry speed.

Anyway, I'm certainly not a suspension pro by any means but I have had many long conversations with Craig and I learned a lot about how to do things the right way.

Ride on Monkeys!!! ;)
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,908
634
Man....Sam Hill always seems so much smarter when you hear him talk...sadly it turns out he's a pinkbike kid!

that said, alot of people don't know how to set their suspension right, but alot of people DO know how to set their suspension right, and i'm willing to bet that most of the people who are really fast, play around with their suspension alot, and know exactly what they like know how to set their suspension up very well.

and if you don't, pay somebody to set it up for you.
 
Good riders are going to be good on any bike or any suspension. However, I personally believe that once you reach a certain level, properly tunned suspension can make a 10-20 second difference on just about any DH course.
This summer I spent a few months on pretty haggered suspension (claped out shock, crappy fork), once I got things sorted out (switched fork, got shock tunned by push), It was supper obvious from first run that I could ride faster, safer and have way more fun.
 

Alloy

Monkey
Aug 13, 2004
288
0
thousand oaks, ca
Good riders are going to be good on any bike or any suspension. However, I personally believe that once you reach a certain level, properly tunned suspension can make a 10-20 second difference on just about any DH course.
This summer I spent a few months on pretty haggered suspension (claped out shock, crappy fork), once I got things sorted out (switched fork, got shock tunned by push), It was supper obvious from first run that I could ride faster, safer and have way more fun.
Agreed! Also there is no better to way get fast then riding fast on clapped out ****.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Personally I am always trying to learn more and to get more performance from my bikes based on real world experience. Tinkering and tweaking have always been part of the game for me. I have sometimes made some misguided calls but I learn and then take that knowledge and move on. The intarweb is useful for hearing other people's experiences and getting technical info. But it is important to employ a crap sifter, because there is a lot of ass-backwards stuff out there.
 

[Tha]Shovla

Monkey
Aug 28, 2007
119
0
Somewhere over the rainbow
I personally Never touch my knobbs regarless of if im running a bad day or a good day on the bike. The bike fairies didnt come overnight and change my preload knob or my rebound knob and thats why im riding poorly today. i dont know why people are always changing their settings.

As for getting the aftermarket upgrades i got my DHX pushed because after 3 seasons i couldnt get it tuned the way i wanted it tuned and i figured maybee they could. I had settled on a setting that ran the bike the fastest in all situations but still found certain times when the shock didnt perform adequitly. I needed the shock rebuilt anyway and it was 40 extra bucks to have them work their majic and if it gets the little kinks out and takes out the flat feeling i have when i run the bike wide open down the ravine section of our trails over the washboard rocks and i can go faster than before then power to them. and if not. .. then im out fifty bucks. and not any worse off.
 

Avy Rider

Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
287
0
Muskoka,Canada
Honestly, the difference in performance you might get from tuning your suspension to suit different courses might be very small...but sometimes that's all it takes to win.
What you are trying to do for the most part is to increase traction and enable you to pedal where a hard tail never could. The ability to "pump" the bike over certain types of bumps can win races too so knowing how to change your suspension to suit different styles of riding can make a difference more than just for tractions sake.
 
Dec 11, 2007
43
0
thanks guys! the thread got abit off topic in the end but thats alright good to hear the discussion. I was really getting at upgrading the internals of the fork and the discussion sorta lead to adjusting the feel of the stock forks for differnt conditions. either way your input proved ride monkey to be a valuable site for information! thanks!