Sorry this is long but I want to include all the details.
I had my suspension done by pro motion when I bought my bike. I was just getting started woods riding. I really have had problems on climbs that have root ledges and loose big rocks on them. It seems the back end wants to kick up and sideways. I attributed this to my lack of skill but recently rode my friends DRZ (which has way loose suspension for my weight) up a rocky climb and I was able to pin it and just spin and stay on a straight line. I have ridden other bikes with set up suspension and they all seem plusher then mine. These bikes also don’t kick when jumping off small bumps/roots as easily as mine does. Of course every one of these bikes was set up for someone lighter then me.
I was 203 when I had the work done but I am 191 now. Bike is a 99 cr250. 4.3 springs and 5.1 shock spring. It seems my rebound was really slow. Being a newbie I was adding rebound to control kick where I think I needed to back it off. The tuner gave me some literature when I got the work done and it said that kicking is the most often misdiagnosed problem. From what it said to do I backed the high speed compression all the way off (way about 3 turns out before) and backed the rebound from 12 to 18. To get proper sag I end up with about 1 inch of static sag.
Where I ride it is slow with lots of loose rocks and many ruts and roots. There are no whoops and rarely do I get past 3rd gear. I don’t think I ever bottom the suspension. If I can get the bike to work well in the slow technical stuff I will live with whatever bad characteristics I end up with for the occasional higher speeds. For these conditions what ill effects will light compression or rebound damping give me? I’m not sure what to look for to see if I have gone too far.
What if I went back to the stock springs (4.2 and 4.9)? I know I am heavy for them but when I ride a bike with stock springs in the bush it seems good. I get lower to the ground, it is plush, and on low speed turns with no berms the front can still compress enough to make the bike turn well. Would this be a bad idea?
I can get a free revalve but I don’t want to waste the guys time if the problem is me not knowing how to set up my bike or just not using good technique. I plan to talk to the tuner of course but wanted to get some opinions beforehand.
The forks are a little rough at slow speeds but I can’t say they cause any handling problems. When I get going fast they work very well. I like that the stiffer springs keep the front end high on downhills, especially when dropping over root ledges. Pointed downhill my bike works well and turns nice. But if I put a lighter spring in the back I wonder if I need to soften up the front so I get some sag. The bikes I have ridden with stock springs sag enough at both ends that they don’t seem to get too slack in front since the forks also sag a lot.
Thanks for any help.
I had my suspension done by pro motion when I bought my bike. I was just getting started woods riding. I really have had problems on climbs that have root ledges and loose big rocks on them. It seems the back end wants to kick up and sideways. I attributed this to my lack of skill but recently rode my friends DRZ (which has way loose suspension for my weight) up a rocky climb and I was able to pin it and just spin and stay on a straight line. I have ridden other bikes with set up suspension and they all seem plusher then mine. These bikes also don’t kick when jumping off small bumps/roots as easily as mine does. Of course every one of these bikes was set up for someone lighter then me.
I was 203 when I had the work done but I am 191 now. Bike is a 99 cr250. 4.3 springs and 5.1 shock spring. It seems my rebound was really slow. Being a newbie I was adding rebound to control kick where I think I needed to back it off. The tuner gave me some literature when I got the work done and it said that kicking is the most often misdiagnosed problem. From what it said to do I backed the high speed compression all the way off (way about 3 turns out before) and backed the rebound from 12 to 18. To get proper sag I end up with about 1 inch of static sag.
Where I ride it is slow with lots of loose rocks and many ruts and roots. There are no whoops and rarely do I get past 3rd gear. I don’t think I ever bottom the suspension. If I can get the bike to work well in the slow technical stuff I will live with whatever bad characteristics I end up with for the occasional higher speeds. For these conditions what ill effects will light compression or rebound damping give me? I’m not sure what to look for to see if I have gone too far.
What if I went back to the stock springs (4.2 and 4.9)? I know I am heavy for them but when I ride a bike with stock springs in the bush it seems good. I get lower to the ground, it is plush, and on low speed turns with no berms the front can still compress enough to make the bike turn well. Would this be a bad idea?
I can get a free revalve but I don’t want to waste the guys time if the problem is me not knowing how to set up my bike or just not using good technique. I plan to talk to the tuner of course but wanted to get some opinions beforehand.
The forks are a little rough at slow speeds but I can’t say they cause any handling problems. When I get going fast they work very well. I like that the stiffer springs keep the front end high on downhills, especially when dropping over root ledges. Pointed downhill my bike works well and turns nice. But if I put a lighter spring in the back I wonder if I need to soften up the front so I get some sag. The bikes I have ridden with stock springs sag enough at both ends that they don’t seem to get too slack in front since the forks also sag a lot.
Thanks for any help.
