Fork Setup Questions

[bertusras]

Hi everyone, let me start with a bit of backstory here.

 

I've been biking about two months now after a very very long absence (read: the day before I got my first motorcycle is the last day I rode a bicycle) and it's going pretty well thus far. I've got a Silverback Sola 2 which has a RockShox Recon Silver TK29 SoloAir fork, which is doing its job just fine so far. I've not actually bothered checking the air pressure as the travel seemed in the right zone in terms of top out, but judging on the dust marks there is still 15mm odd to be had, unless I drop off something, but I've never actually used the full travel. 

 

First question, do I need to let some air out of the fork to get me some more travel?

 

Okay, next question (or predicament) will influence the answer of the previous question.

 

Yesterday at Wolwespruit I forgot that I locked the front fork and did a whole 10km's with a stiff as hell fork. I realised I was shaking around a lot but never made the connection. However, in the twisty forest bit the bike behaved beautifully. It turned and gripped like nothing. I think one of my issues with the MTB is I'm still riding it like my motorcycle, with my weight more over the front wheel, which is constantly (as we say in motorcycle racing) pushing the front. I keep getting small slides or folding the front (but I think that's a me issue, not a bike issue). The fork can do rebound adjustment as well, but I have no idea how it affects a mountainbike. Motorcycle, yes, this not so much. I don't know how a faster or slower rebound affects the handling, perhaps someone can point me to some information.

 

Now where I'm confused, the stiff fork gave me much more confidence in the twisty stuff, probably due to the bike not riding on its front wheel. Is there a set-up issue (stiffness or rebound) that I need to sort out, or do I just need to put less weight on the front wheel?

[Belgarath]

Eish, more technical than I know...
 

I used to ride motorcycle as well, and yes, it took me a while to adjust, as a tail-happy motorcycle is not so much fun, but you'd rather lose the back-end on a mtb than the front, etc...

 

Normally rule of thumb is less rebound on rough terrain, stiffer on flatter surface. It does make sense that you don't want to plunge the fork the whole time on the twisties, especially (as I normally do, because I'm rubbish) when you brake in a corner.

 

Have a look at your fork's instructions on how stiff it needs be for your weight. Adjust your rebound for the general sort of terrain where you ride. And yes, move your weight. Going down, my weight is normally behind the saddle because I'm scared of scorpion tails, and climbing my weight is back to have more traction on my driving wheel.

 

No idea if this helped

[JXV]

Check your bike's website for setup info. Normally the sag on fork should be 20% to 30% of rated travel when you just sit on the bike in normal riding position.

 

Rebound should be stiff enough to prevent bounce after a hit but loose enough to recover before the next hit.....tricky. The correct setting depends on the air pressure in the fork so get the sag right first. Then place a small log (maybe 60mm to 75mm thick) on the lawn and ride over it repeatedly at moderate pace. Start with fastest rebound and make it slower until the fork stops bouncing up and down after the hit. Also if your wheel drops into the holes when riding trail at normal speed then rebound may be too fast. Like when you lift the front to go smoothly over a root or step and the wheel just stays on the ground. Difficult to give a more scientific method.