First ride...shock setup questions

[Bryan Wells]

set rear to 300 psi with a 0.6 or higher vol spacer (assuming dps/x shock) and set rebound to full close, set compression to mid.

for the fork, set pressure to 110, use 2 volume spacers here, set rebound to 12 out, (if grip2 dampener set HSR 5 LSR 2 clicks from max open,) set compression to full open, and only crank in if jumps send you in an endo.

to check you are in a rebound ballpark, here is where an ebike is a bit different than a standard mtb, you DO want both front and rear end to slightly leave the ground when tested by hand, you want the rebound to be fast enough that the bike can actually rebound off the ground when let go by about 1". If you don't you have one hell of a dead feeling bike that rides ratcheted to the ground too much

you want MATCHING sag percentage as well, and make sure you test with your weight SOLELY on the cranks, while using your hand to squeeze just the front brake (this helps it set in) jiggle a bit the set the bike in past sticksion, aim for 27% if you ride hard or 30% if you ride more cross country areas.

rider weight=psi is not a good way to set up suspension

 

[CatButt]

set rear to 300 psi with a 0.6 or higher vol spacer (assuming dps/x shock) and set rebound to full close, set compression to mid.

for the fork, set pressure to 110, use 2 volume spacers here, set rebound to 12 out, (if grip2 dampener set HSR 5 LSR 2 clicks from max open,) set compression to full open, and only crank in if jumps send you in an endo.

to check you are in a rebound ballpark, here is where an ebike is a bit different than a standard mtb, you DO want both front and rear end to slightly leave the ground when tested by hand, you want the rebound to be fast enough that the bike can actually rebound off the ground when let go by about 1". If you don't you have one hell of a dead feeling bike that rides ratcheted to the ground too much

Interesting on the rebound and makes total sense. I do tend to like less poppy bikes, but racing Worlds in the late 80s and 90s we all wanted squishy planted bikes...like a dirt bike. I've had good luck setting bikes until my Evil...which is hyper progressive so it's quite poppy. But yeah the extra weight needs some push back to get it off the ground.

Hopefully this weekend I can get to the clickers. Were these settings your personal ones? If so can I ask how much you weigh when ready to ride?

 

[Bryan Wells]

trust me, it will be on rails still

 

[Bryan Wells]

pm me and i'll give you my number, we can chat. I do sus setups for a living...

 

[Gary]

setting up suspension sag point is really not this difficult

 

[CatButt]

setting up suspension sag point is really not this difficult

It shouldn't be, that's for sure. I hope it's a fluke and i hope the negative chamber just didn't burp.

 

[Lee Dove]

You may or may not have to change air pressure when you add or remove tokens. Sag is unrelated to the tokens completely. You always set sag first...that base psi will determine roughly where your rebound settings are. Tokens are literally the last thing in the setup process. And because they do what they do the base air pressure needs to be reset to get proper sag...then repeat the process again...and more than likely you'll be good to go. If you are gonna ride something with a ton of flat landings or bigger drops you may need to add a token to resist bottoming...in that case you will have likely already added a click or two to high speed compression.

You got that link to your source for using tokens to set or assist with sag?

Sorry for trying to help. Good luck with your wieght =psi method Im sure 60% sag is perfect.

 

[CatButt]

Sorry for trying to help. Good luck with your wieght =psi method Im sure 60% sag is perfect.

From the Fox setup guide...
"Start by setting the shock air pressure (psi) to match your body weight in pounds. With the air pump attached to the shock valve..." I've never had to add another 40psi from there to get it right...maybe you have but it just seemed odd to me.

You should let Fox they are wrong...they'll appreciate your help.

 

[KenX]

On my Decoy base with Rockshox Deluxe R shock I have 150 psi for 30% sag which works great for me, I'm 160lbs, different shock I know but...........

 

[tedturbine]

What psi did you end up with or is 300 still not enough for the correct sag ?

 

[Eckythump]

You will need more air in the X2 shock. At 115kg I’m a good chunk over 300psi, 4 out of 5 spacers. General rule is to set fork by body weight as a fork is direct acting, shocks start with sag point and go from there. Body weight is not a good guide as leverage rates are different bike to bike.

 

[CatButt]

What psi did you end up with or is 300 still not enough for the correct sag ?

I'll post all my settings...including clickers later this weekend after a couple more rides.

But I think there was something keeping the negative chamber from equalizing...now at 250 psi I am at 32% sag. I'm gonna add 5 to 10 pounds and see where that puts me. But its darn close. Need to find some bigger drops to see if it needs spacers or not. The ShockWiz was happy with the big hits I found...it has several things it checks for before giving suggestions on setup changes...but I know I'll run across bigger stuff on the trails.

I'm a much happier camper today...although that still seems like a lot air pressure to me it's so much better than it was.

 

[CatButt]

You will need more air in the X2 shock. At 115kg I’m a good chunk over 300psi, 4 out of 5 spacers. General rule is to set fork by body weight as a fork is direct acting, shocks start with sag point and go from there. Body weight is not a good guide as leverage rates are different bike to bike.

If I put anywhere near my body weight in the fork I might as well ride a rigid. The body weight to psi is listed in Fox website, mentioned in every video they do...even the setup vids from Jordi. It is to get you in the ballpark and I usually pretty close no matter the suspension unless it's a direct setup like cross country bikes often use.

I have a buddy that R&D at a well known US based company...he says many forks and shocks come totally wrong from their spec...the code...they have bad valves, wrong calving, etc. That's from Fox and RS...So maybe I got a weird one...I'm gonna send my suspension to him at some point...maybe sooner than later.

 

[Eckythump]

The body weight to psi recommendation is only for forks (same in the Jordi Dialed videos) and there should be a sticker on the fork also. Fox recommend a 15-20% sag which gives a much firmer ride than Rockshox equivalent. You can always give the 30% sag a go as lots of folk prefer to run like that.

When you did the calibration of the Shockwiz on the rear did you find it difficult to pull the shock out to full extension when the air was removed?

 

[tedturbine]

I'm a much happier camper today...although that still seems like a lot air pressure to me it's so much better than it was.

Good to hear !

 

[tedturbine]

The body weight to psi recommendation is only for forks (same in the Jordi Dialed videos) and there should be a sticker on the fork also. Fox recommend a 15-20% sag which gives a much firmer ride than Rockshox equivalent.

As an aside for my Fox 36, psi for 20% sag ended up being appox my weight in KG which matched their table:

Suggested Starting Points for Setting Sag
Rider Weight Air Pressure
(lbs) (kg) (psi) (bar)

150-180 68-82 72-82 5.0-5.7

 

[CatButt]

The body weight to psi recommendation is only for forks (same in the Jordi Dialed videos) and there should be a sticker on the fork also. Fox recommend a 15-20% sag which gives a much firmer ride than Rockshox equivalent. You can always give the 30% sag a go as lots of folk prefer to run like that.

When you did the calibration of the Shockwiz on the rear did you find it difficult to pull the shock out to full extension when the air was removed?

The sticker says @100psi for my body weight. If I put 220psi in that fork it likely explode and if it didn’t it’d Ben topped out and never compress at all.

It was no more difficult to pull to full extension than my other shocks. But I always pull super hard just to be sure I get it totally topped out. But nothing there jumped out as odd or different from other bikes/shocks. And I did it several times too...since I was having an issue.

 

[jbetker]

As a datapoint, I have a pro race and I also had to set my shock really high, ~240psi to get 30% sag. I weigh 185lbs.

The shock rides really well so this situation doesn't have me too concerned. It sucks that there's not a lot of margin though.

 

[CatButt]

So here's a shot of my clickers are at 255psi (I'm about 220lbs all geared up to ride) with 3 volume spacers. I had 1cm left of travel but the trail had no big hits or flat landings. The trail had a bunch of imbeded rocks and harsh square edges lips and holes. I feel pretty good about shock...a little tweaking left to do but overall it's super nice.

 

[WLEBay]

pm me and i'll give you my number, we can chat. I do sus setups for a living...

Bryan I run my FIT4 on roughly the factory rebound settings for my weight (155lb) and compression wide open.

My Grip2 36 eBike feels like crap. What settings do you recommend? Everything other than big hits sucks using current settings.