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Suspension Setup Guru in Cape Town


Mike Mac

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Hi

 

Is there a suspension setup Guru in Cape Town (preferably in the south) that could help me set up my bike?

 

I have watched many uTube Videos and read many articles and understand how to set sag, which I have done. I have also set H/LSC and H/LSR according to Fox recommendations. The bike still feels harsh and the rear wheel seems to hook up on roots /rocks, particularly while peddling on flats, uphill and slight downhill. I have played with the HSC on the rear shock, but couldn't feel any improvement going either way. I am not bottoming out either shock at this stage as I don't do many jumps. 

 

What is becoming clear to me is that I don't have the experience to feel what settings are improving things and what is making them worse and finding that magic dialled in feeling. So I am hoping to find someone with experience who can point me in the right direction.

 

Any advise will be appreciated.

 

M

Edited by Mike Mac
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Doubt you need a suspensions guru to get a base setup especially if you are not an advanced rider, normally the documentation for your parts should give you something decent to start with according to your weight (both for the pressure and for your compression/rebound settings).

 

I'd suggest for the rebound/compression to start soft/slow and work your way towards hard/fast rather than the opposite. That way you should feel from where it starts to become a little rough and avoid going too far.

 

Stoke can of course help you, that's the first name that comes to mind when you say "suspension guru in CT" but in my opinion nothing beats riding to find something that works.

Edited by Jbr
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Are you perhaps on a Giant? The maestro suspension system doesn't like square hits like roots.

 

 

Great question!

What bike are you trying to set up that has both ahigh and low speed compression as well as high  and low speed rebound?

Suspension units with those settings usually requires quite advanced undestanding of how the units damping circuit works and isn't recommended for novices.

reason for this is that low speed compression and rebound will affect the high speed circuits as well so adjustments need to start at the high speed side, then dial in the low speed (usually impacts pedalling performance and your climbing traction - basically anything relating to slower lower pressure fluid movements.

Once the HS is sorted dial in the LS but then you may need to dial out the HS as more LS is dialed in Always start with LS fully open and then open HS when you feel the LS starts to affect HS negatively.

 

Shoqwiz will certainly make your life easier but if your suspension is as complicated as you're intimating then you may want to consider investing in your own Shoqwiz since suspension performance degrades as the oil gets older and will affect your settings

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Are you perhaps on a Giant? The maestro suspension system doesn't like square hits like roots.  Thanks 

Not a Giant. It is a Specialized. 

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Great question!

What bike are you trying to set up that has both ahigh and low speed compression as well as high  and low speed rebound?

Suspension units with those settings usually requires quite advanced undestanding of how the units damping circuit works and isn't recommended for novices.

reason for this is that low speed compression and rebound will affect the high speed circuits as well so adjustments need to start at the high speed side, then dial in the low speed (usually impacts pedalling performance and your climbing traction - basically anything relating to slower lower pressure fluid movements.

Once the HS is sorted dial in the LS but then you may need to dial out the HS as more LS is dialed in Always start with LS fully open and then open HS when you feel the LS starts to affect HS negatively.

 

Shoqwiz will certainly make your life easier but if your suspension is as complicated as you're intimating then you may want to consider investing in your own Shoqwiz since suspension performance degrades as the oil gets older and will affect your settings

Thanks for your input.

 

The bike has a 2021 Fox 36 Grip2 fork and a 2021 Fox X2 rear shock. 

 

As you indicate, it is an understanding of the relationship between the low and high speed circuits that I am struggling with. I will need to re-read your suggestions and see how I can implement them to get this dialled in.

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Thanks for your input.

 

The bike has a 2021 Fox 36 Grip2 fork and a 2021 Fox X2 rear shock.

 

As you indicate, it is an understanding of the relationship between the low and high speed circuits that I am struggling with. I will need to re-read your suggestions and see how I can implement them to get this dialled in.

High speed is for big hits and low speed is for rider input ie how you shift your weight around the bike. I like to use a lot of LSC esp when riding rocky terrain. On my bike it feels like it absorbs the chatter. I ride with my HSC in the middle of my settings mostly. LSC makes quite a big difference. I rode the same short section of trail over and over in all the LSC settings and found one that suited me. But Stoke suspension will definitely help you get it feeling good without all the hassle.
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My 2c. Set the sag, set the clickers back to the stock form and ride it for a bit.

 

Remember a suspension guru can get your bike to 90% but the last 10% will always be you. He can only take so many inputs to determine a sweet spot setting and then from there you need to dial the last bit in yourself. That is why most good MX/motogp etc riders spend so much time with their engineers and learn each other to take feelings to settings.

On my mx and enduro bikes it generally took a few back and forths and a lot of playing with clickers to get it dialed for me. then that may not feel right to another person who is the same size and weight as me.

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My 2c. Set the sag, set the clickers back to the stock form and ride it for a bit.

 

Remember a suspension guru can get your bike to 90% but the last 10% will always be you. He can only take so many inputs to determine a sweet spot setting and then from there you need to dial the last bit in yourself. That is why most good MX/motogp etc riders spend so much time with their engineers and learn each other to take feelings to settings.

On my mx and enduro bikes it generally took a few back and forths and a lot of playing with clickers to get it dialed for me. then that may not feel right to another person who is the same size and weight as me.

 

agreed, getting balance right is a matter of trial and error. its very difficult to get it set up in the shop other than stock recommendations as per the fox manual

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How many kms on the bike? Remember a brand new bike needs a couple of hours for the suspension to "break in" 

 

Keep the HSC and LSC wide open and just dial in some rebound while everything breaks in. Then you start to dial things in.

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Hi

 

Bike has done about 1000km. But I recently swopped out the DPS shock for the X2. The X2 probably has about 150km on it.

 

I am pretty much running standard Fox recommended settings on Fork and Shock.

 

The big negative issue since fitting the X2 is what feels like the rear wheel hooking up on big roots and rocks where the bike with the DPS seemed to roll over no problem. I tried different HSC from fully closed to fully open. It didn’t seem to resolve the issue on my test runs. Should I try opening up the LSP? Or should I be trying something else.

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I forgot to mention in above thread that I am experiencing the hooking up more on slow technical inclines while peddling or flat low speed sections rather than on fast downhill sections.

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