Do's and Don'ts of setting up your
suspension.
If you were asked what the most important component was
in your suspension I wonder what the answer would be. Well rest easy, I
won’t ask I’ll just tell you, it’s your spring. Yes that’s right the springs
on your bike are the most important item when it comes to good handling,
smoothness, road holding, feed back, and control. Contrary to what you
may read in advertising or be told by the bloke down the road who has XYZ,
revalving is not where most of the improvements are. Sure they do work
and can improve both handling, feedback and stability, but if you don’t
have the correct spring for your weight then all the revalving in the world
won’t make the slightest bit of difference, except of course to your bank
account.
Last year I was reminded of the importance of finding
the right spring with our race bike, a Yamaha R1. At the start of the season
it was re valved and sprung but at some point the springs were mixed up
and the wrong ones were installed, we finished up with no end of trouble
trying to make the bike behave properly. In frustration after that first
race meeting I sent all the springs we had away to be tested and marked,
it turned out that while we thought we had .9kg springs in the forks we
actually had .75kg springs, it doesn’t sound like a big difference but
in terms of spring rates that is huge. No wonder we couldn’t make sense
of what was going on at that race meeting. Once the correct spring was
installed everything just fell into place, lesson learnt.
A set of springs to suit your weight cost around $190.00
on the front and $180.00 on the rear plus fitting.* Once they are fitted
it s very important to set up the sag. Sag is just as important as getting
the correct spring, if it’s not in the ball park your wasting your time.
A young MX rider who we are helping this year was recently
complaining to me that he couldn’t hold the throttle tapped out in a straight
line without it trying to buck him off.
“Can you adjust the rebound up so it rebounds slower”
he said. I questioned his reasoning as he already had a lot of rebound
anyway. As a rule, the less rebound you can get away with the better so
I suggested that we see how much sag it’s got first. When I measured it
up he had 70mm of sag, he should have had about 90-100mm and as a result
the suspension was unable to compress enough to soak up all the bumps.
Contrary to what many people believe this is not rocket
science or a black art, just plain old common sense and mathematics - what
goes up must come down.
Measuring sag is very simple, and should be the first
job when ever buying a new bike. You see, it won’t just tell you whether
the measurement is right but it will also indicate whether you have got
the correct springs installed for your weight. All you need is a tape measure
and a couple of mates.
On the end of the swing arm and tailpiece or rear guard
make a reference mark to measure between. Get one of your mates to stand
in front of the bike and hold it upright while you lift the bike from the
tail end taking all the load off the shock so the swingarm is fully extended.
Take a measurement at this point. For this example we’ll say its 500mm.
Now while your mate is holding the bike upright sit on it with your feet
on the pegs bounce up a down a couple of times and return to your natural
riding position. Get your other mate to take a measurement from the same
reference point as before, this measurement should be 25-30 mm less than
the 1st measurement, i.e. 470-475 mm, or about one third of the total shock
travel. On an MX bike it would be 90-100mm. If this distance measures 485
mm the spring has too much preload and you need to take some off, if it’s
the other way add some preload.
If you need to wind the spring up more than 2-3 full turns
it is very likely that the spring is too soft for your weight. The rear
spring should have no more than about 10-12 mm of preload. Do exactly the
same on the front, take measurements fully extended and with you sitting
on the bike, one third of fork travel should be around about 40 mm.
I am a bit vague on these measurements because it is not
a hard and fast rule. Some guys like it a bit firmer and some a bit softer,
either way it should be close to these measurements to be on the money.
If this is all a bit too hard then ask for it to be done
the next time you’re in and we’ll do it for you, you’ll be amazed by the
difference a simple thing like this makes. The best thing of all, its dirt
cheap, everything you need is already there.
*Prices may vary - this article is now a year or two old.
|
