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Twitchy decender


The Ghost

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I noticed on Sunday that my bike (full susp) felt very twitchy (if thats the term), like it was skipping along, instead of sitting nice and stable when I was going down a reasonably gentle decent.

 

At the moment Im thinking that the rebound on the shocks is too fast, do you think Im on the right track?

Do you know of something else I should check?

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what's your tire pressure? i think you're running it too hard

remember; the suspension starts from the rubber up, not the axle up.

Edited by Capricorn
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2 bar should be fine. I find 2 bar on the soft side for a higher volume (2.35" and up) rear tyre. You may find it rolling on the rim as you corner hard. But I don't think that is the problem.

 

So next is your front and rear suspension. How much travel does the bike have? What kind of bike is it? (XC, trail, AM, FR, DH?)

 

If your suspension is not set up right it can make the ride very twitchy. Set your front and rear suspension according to sag. As for rebound, I personally like the front to be running fast and the rear on the slower side. If the rear rebound is too fast it will feel like the bike is bucking.

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ok, good more info. Before moving off tire pressure too quickly, what tyres are u running: make and width.

The sag is pretty std if u running a stiff XC setup. . If you doing XC, which is what a 120mm setup is for, approximately how much travel do you use during your riding? Max travel used so far?

 

Since you thought rebound might be an issue, what is your setting on the rebound? How many clicks toward full? What fork and shock do you have?

Edited by Capricorn
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THIS. THREAD. NEEDS. INFO!!!

 

Pitchers would work as well though...

 

Yeah it does, first thing that comes to mind and this is something people start overlooking in time, is rebound control.

 

Rule of thumb the lower the airpressure in the fork the less rebound (faster), the more pressure you put in your fork more rebound. (slower)

 

Also do the pavement test on the rear shock, ride of a pavement each time setting your rebound with one incriment till the shock only depresses and corrects itself once on the drop.

 

Then lastly there are video's on youtube where you can check if there is play in your front fork. It might have worked itself loose a little. And depending on the rear suspension setup there might also be a bushing there thats giving a bit of play. If the bike older than a year and you havent put in a new bearing kit, now would be a good time.

 

But this is mushroom advise, due to the lack of information i have to say its advise given in the dark and i might be feeding your ****.

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I noticed on Sunday that my bike (full susp) felt very twitchy (if thats the term), like it was skipping along, instead of sitting nice and stable when I was going down a reasonably gentle decent.

 

At the moment Im thinking that the rebound on the shocks is too fast, do you think Im on the right track?

Do you know of something else I should check?

 

My Stumpjumper's (140mm travel) rear wheel started developing a loose feel on descents. After closer investigation found the problem in 2 places - bearings in rear hub had play as well as pivot joint bearings with play. I have replaced hub bearing and it is much better. I am sure replacing pivot bearings will solve the problem totally.

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:thumbup:

More info:

Schwalbe Nobby Nic tyres 26 x 2.25

Fox 32FIT-RL 120mm - Front shock

Fox RP23 120mm - Rear shock

 

After the loop at NF I can see the RP23 used about 75% of its travel, and up front maybe 45% of its travel. Those are also the max travel stats so far since its the first ride I had on her.

 

The rebound settings are set exactly in the middle for a benchmark then I could decide if I needed faster or slower once I tried it.

 

Thanks for the help

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  • 2 weeks later...

I reduced the tyre pressure oh so slightly, took a lot of air out of the front shock - it seems better now, just need to test on the same downhill as before so im testing like vs like.

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Thanks, I will do, the bike is only about 30km old, will go for a check and tighten soon. No changes slipping yet tho.

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