Race Teched 01 RM 250 Eastern setup?

[rhyno]

Hi Jeremy,
I have been playing with the valving on my 01 RM250 since I installed it june of 01.
The problem: West Coast setup does not work in the tight woods of New England.
Original setup would allow me to attack nasty downhills and 4th gear fireroads with confidence but when it comes to lugging around in tight trees and uphills that will not allow you to get out of 2nd gear my bike was horrible. Seemed like it wanted to bounce over the 6-8 rock or square edge roots. But as soon as I could get my speed up, like 3rd gear, my suspension would plushin up alot.
I lowered fork oil level and softened highspeed but this made little difference. Forks were a bit plusher at lower speeds and a bit harsher at higher speeds. Pretty good but not great.
As for the shock: I was told by RT to soften the high speed valving. I did this towards the end of 01 but this made little difference with the tight woods obstacles. It was still harsh at speeds lower that 3rd gear.
Well I kept going softer with the high speed valving until it was bottoming on whoops and kicking me but the rear was still harsh on the 1st and 2nd gear nastiness. I did some talking with a guy from another site( I think it was offroad.com) and he suggested going faster with my HS rebound stack in my shock. I did this starting May 02 and it made a big difference on the 1st and 2nd gear obstacles. I also went 2 steps softer with my LSC. This made my bike handle much better on the 1st and 2nd gear stuff but now those 4or5 inch rocks on the high speed woods roads are scary. Its like the shaft speeds are not fast enough or something. What gives. Is this the limitations of RT gold valves or do I have to spend more time setting up my bike.
oh one other thing. I have run Factory Connection suspension in the past and from there setup for eastcoast woods my bikes would never rip through whoops but it was super plush at lower speeds. I tried to explain this to RT but it fell on deaf ears. My RT setup with still rip through whoops but is not quite as plush as Factory Connection setups I have ridden. Is this type of obstacle something that can be used to fine tune my bike for the tight woods of New England.
Thanks very much for any info you can give me.
"A" NETRA Enduro rider. Probably being too anal about his setup. Not sure if that is possible though.

 

[NO HAND]

IMO, I have found the rebound to be also one of the most important aspect of suspension tuning for whoops. I always tune the rebound to allow me to take the whoops pinned as fast as possible and the setup I end up with varies from one track to the other. There really is a big compromise to be made between whoops speed and plushness. Sometimes to get faster lap times, the way I have to adjust the rebound slow enough to follow the whoops is hard on me for the rest of the track because there isn't much plushness left. You might want to try and carry a screw driver and play alot with the rebound depending on the place you're riding.

 

[2001yz250]

I am very interested in Jeremy's reply to this also. I have RT also and would love to hear his advice on dialing in for eastern trails.

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Ryno,
I don't know what to say speciifcaly.. I'm defienlty not a expert in regards to the RT system. There are some knowlegeable RT guys around here that may be able to help you based on there exspereince.

As you may or may not know I generally advocate a mid-valve and base-vale stack and lower flow pistons. Regardless of that fact the RT set-ups should work it your willing to do the tunning time. Which is really the strength of the RT concept from what I can tell. (its in your control)

I's speculate that Pete Payne or someone like him can help you. Shocknut used to have a fair amount of RT exspereince, but well he's become quite famous for his "opionions" on these things.

So I hope ytou find someone who can help you!

Best Regards,
Jer

 

[Pete Payne]

rhyno,
Give me some info on you , I see that you are an "A" rider, but where do you finish in the "A" class. Also give me your weight and height and I will try and help out, Thanks ----(Race Tech guy in VA)---Pete.

 

[rhyno]

Pete,
Thanks for your help! Here is my info!
Finished 2nd "A" 250 and 18th overall for the year. NETRA Enduros. Best finish was 7th overall A Highpoint. Tristate Enduro

Height- 5'10"
Weight- 225 with gear

Frnt forks- .44 springs CL3 CH1 with .010x11 added to the bottom of the highspeed stack to flow more oil( my own theory could be screwed up). 105 mm oil level. RT oil

Shock: CL7, CM11, CH93 Factory connection Soft High speed adjuster compression spring, 140 PSI nitrogen, RL6, RH4 5.4 rear spring 105 mm rider sag.

Just for reference I rode my buddies Factory Connection 00 CR250 yesterday. AA rider and the strange part about the bikes is they feel very similiar if your blitzing a rocky section or whoops. When your riding the bikes aggressively they felt very similiar but when the speed slow down the CR felt ULTRA PLUSH. He said my bike felt like a JOHN Deer tracktor at lower speeds but had praise for my bike when the speeds picked up. Don't know if this helps but this is the problem I have been fighting with the bike.

 

[2001yz250]

Pete please reply to rhyno. Would a drop in oil level help with fork plushness or maybe increase rebound damping?

 

[BBD]

Lowering the oil level will make the forks plusher, but too lo of oil level will let them bottom easier. Put a ziptie around the fork leg under the dust cover and see how much travel you are useing. Next, play with the comp clickers( 2 clicks at a time). Record where you started and any change made. Rebound should be set to where the bike does not act like a pogo stick (front and rear). Too much reb will also act like too stiff comp(susp will not reb fast enough for next bump and this loses travel and you go from 11 to 6 to3 to over the bars or big rear swap). Hope this helps.