Rear Suspension Setup
Some quick reminders on rear suspension setup!
The Best Baseline
Measure the sag. The old days of eye balling (or using a finger versus a thumb) are gone. The introduction of Metric shocks created a huge variety of stokes making it more important to measure the sag in millimeters.
For instance, the Yeti SB150 has a 230x60mm shock however the exposed shaft is about 9% longer. This might not sound like much the difference between a perceived 33% sag at 20mm and the actual 37% sag at 22mm is notable in the pedal platform and descent performance.
The Yeti SB130 utilizes a 210×52.5mm shock and the Ibis Ripmo a 210x55mm. The total exposed shaft for both is approximately 57mm – about 8.6% longer than the Yeti while only 3.6% more than the Ibis.
Long and short of it (like the measurement pun?) measure the sag for a good baseline.
“Losing” Air
Modern suspension rarely has a seal issue out of the box. Here are more common causes for the shock to read lower on your pump or sit deeper in the sag.
Charge the Negative Air Spring. Cycle the rear suspension several times slowly past 25% travel. This allows the negative air chamber to pressurize (which will lower the main chamber pressure). Occasionally large PSI changes or quick setups without accounting for recharging the negative air spring will result in a “false” sag setting. It may be perfect until you pedal it for a bit and it settles into more sag as the main chamber loses pressure to the negative chamber providing less support.
Pre-charge your pump. BikeCo has a ton of data on this – but remember your PSI will drop when the shock’s main chamber charges the pump line and gauge. Check out details here on pre-charging your pump.
BikeCo clients enjoy continued suspension advice and resource after the sale through our expert staff. If you’re in the market for a bike at this level you should enjoy a sales experience at this level.
See you on the trails!