Trail Racing losing the front end in high speed rocks?

[1tontj]

Hello,
My 2004 KDX with stiffer springs front and rear and gold valves in the front wants to loose it when I hit softball sized rocks with the front (especially in corners). I am running a scott's stabilizer, and have the forks with about 3/8" gap above the tripple clamps.
Jeff Freddete set up the shims in the gold valves.
Suspension seems to work great in the tight woods, but at 40mph on the fire roads with the rocky sections it is hard to control.
Ideas? Should I put my forks back down in the clamps to stock height for more high speed stability? Less compression on the fork?

Thanks,
Phil Jensen

 

[bikepilot]

You have to figure out if this is normal (your not going to get great traction regardles of your set-up in thoes conditions). Then you need to think about riding style vs bike set up problems. If you determin its a set up problem read on. For high speed rocks you need the forks to react quickly, thus it is usually good to lessen both compresion and re-boud damping a little. Running the oil level a bit low helps keep the forks more linear which is usually desirable in rocky conditions, but might induce bottoming in other conditions.

If by "losing the front end" you mean it washes out then raising the front end will not help, if your trouble is that it is twitchy or tucks too much then raising the front end (lowering the forks) would be a good start. You also may want to consider softening the rear slightly and running the wheel all the way back in the swinger (might need a longer chain).

good luck

 

[renes]

I moved my forks up about 5mm in the triple clamps and found that the stearing was really responsive at low speed, but I went into speed wobbles very easy when going fast over rough terrain. After 2 or 3 speed wobbles I put it back. It was not worth it. I'm not sure if this is what you are experiencing.