Suspension Settings

[jdarrough]

I ride mostly woods on my KDX220 and weigh about 200 with riding gear. Where should I set the front and rear suspension settings. I installed fork springs (42's from XR600) but have not messed around with the rebound setting up front. I have not touched the rear from the stock settings. A friend who rides a 2005 KTM250EXC and I swithched bikes and he commented that my bike felt really soft to him. (I don't expect my bike to handle as well as his!) The fork springs made a tremendous difference. Any help on settings would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim.

 

[nectar]

...well my kdx does not have rebound settings in the front, only compression adj. on the bottom for the forks...depending on your impressions of how the bike handles...then make adjustments according....clockwise is stiffer, counter is softer....the shock has both rebound and compression....anyways, I never had much with clicker adj. with the stock suspension, although when I changed my fork springs that did help...but best mod. was gold valves....front and back....hope this helps....

 

[karlp]

I've played a lot with the clickers on mine. Here is the routine I finally used in setting them:
Pick a length of typical to rough trail that takes at least 5-10 minutes to loop through. You want to go over the same terrain each time.
I left the front at the standard settings at first. You might just want to put it at the middle position.
Make sure your "sag" is set correctly at the rear. I like mine right under 4", but that is just me.
Turn your rear clickers fully soft on both compression and rebound and run the loop once or twice. Pay attention to how the rear behaves.
Turn your clickers fully hard and run the loop again and see what you think.
Set them to the standard positions and run it a couple more times.

Now you should have a basis for what does what and how it effects things. There is a lot of discussion here on the various effects of more or less rebound and compression damping.
Based on what you think start moving either clicker two clicks at a time and test each time.
When you get it where you think it works best write the settings down.

Repeat the same procedure for the forks.


I fooled around with mine for a long time and had things pretty goofed up. A buddy of mine suggested this somewhat disciplined approach. It did take a couple of hours, but at least now I know where I'm at and why I got there.

One thing I have noticed is that it takes the shock about 10 minutes of pretty hard riding to warm up, I guess, and start acting right.

All in all, I am not very happy with the stock suspension. We ride mostly very tight and twisty trails with lots of roots and braking bumps. I've got a stock rear shock and fork springs from an XR 400. I often feel like I'm really pushing the limits of this bike, suspension wise. I rode my buddies 200EXC for a while and while it was "harsher" it was definately more accurate and stable and never gave any indication that it would go anywhere but where it was pointed. It did turn kind of slow, but a fella could compensate for that.

Have fun and take your time!

Karl

 

[adam728]

I'm about 180# w/ gear, running .40 kg Race Tech springs up front. I basically did what karlp suggests, but not quite as extreme. I didn't start at either end of the settings, but when I made changes, I went like 5-6 clicks in one direction each time, so I could really feel what was going on.

I ride a lot of sandy, whooped out trails. My main complaint about the suspension (after changing fork springs) was that the rear end would pack up bad when getting into a long section of whoops. The only way I could get the bike to work decent for me was to go way, WAY out on the shock rebound. My setup is
6 clicks out on fork compression
9 clicks out on shock compression
18 clicks out on shock reboud

The stock shock just rebounds really, really slowly. Great for keeping you from getting kicked on a single big hit, but had me about going over the bars a number of times once the rear end would pack in the whoops. I'm definitly considering Gold Valves as a mod this winter, depending on funds.

 

[rollerman]

what do you suggest for a 230lb rider on a220 for fork springs?????
thanks tom

 

[NM_KDX200]

I bought my KDX used- I'm the 3rd owner- and the original owner must've set the suspension up because it's the best I've ever ridden. WAY better than my YZ250WR was. The YZ would kick viciously off to the side and the forks blew thru the travel far too fast. Just as an example, there's a little jump on my play track and if I over jump it and hit the face of the next jump on the WR, I'd smash against the handlebars. A few months ago, I over-jumped on the KDX and in mid-air was already flinching, but no!!!, the KDX just sucked it up and went right over. I don't think it even bottomed! There's another jump out there where I'll sometimes ride a wheelie down the landing and put the front wheel on flat ground and the KDX handles that FAR better than either the WR or my stiffer front XR250 did. My KDX feels very much like a friend's worked-over and enduro-ized YZ250.

My other riding area is filled with miles of hard-packed sand whoops and the KDX just rips over them. In fact, I'd been riding them in 3rd gear, but was feeling more confident one day and pegged them in 4th and just skipped right over the top. I had a brief feeling of what it must be like to be Ricky Charmichael....<g> I weigh 180 in riding gear and have my clickers set right in the mid-range and almost never touch them. I do have my sag set much stiffer- closer to 3" than 4 because I like the way the rear feels coming off a jump.

I wish I knew for sure what, if anything, has been done to my suspension but right now, it's great.