Mountain bike fork and shock adjustment

This article is only applicable to air shock absorbers, front forks with positive and negative air chambers, or front forks with dual air chambers but only one valve

Since this is a technical article, there is no need to have a gorgeous beginning, just go straight to the steps

Use the front fork as an example: if it is a new or second-hand fork, and it has positive and negative air chambers, then the first thing to do is to "reset the air chamber", which simply means resetting the balance between the positive and negative air chambers

If the air chamber is not reset, it will cause some minor problems: the initial stage is not sensitive, the initial stage is very hard, the transition from the initial stage to the middle stage is not obvious, but the support of the final stage is sufficient, and... the front fork feels very astringent

When the above problems occur, there are two methods, method one: consider "resetting the air chamber", method two: add air chamber pads (the following will explain the limiting conditions for method two that are not successful in method one)

First: deflate the front fork, deflate it with a pressure gauge, after deflate it, press the front fork up and down, try to make it bottom out, if it can't bottom out, then move the front fork up and down, and then continue to deflate, repeat 2~3 times

Step 2: Pull out the front fork, fix the front wheel, hold the fork crown with your hand, and pull out the entire stroke with force until you hear a "hiss" or "bang" sound, then it is considered successful. If you don't hear it, you need to use method 2.

If there is a sound, perform the third step: pump to the standard air pressure. Fox needs to pull out the front fork to the top to ventilate the positive and negative air chambers.

The last step: adjust each knob. Tip: If you play in the city and don't go down a big drop, the shock absorber can be adjusted to be looser, so that the wheel will have better followability. , which will make the whole vehicle very sensitive. The official data may have a strong ability to absorb some large shocks. It is not recommended to use it for work such as brushing stairs that requires the shock absorber system to be fast and continuous, so it can be slightly adjusted according to needs.

The damping can be adjusted according to your own terrain and purpose. Generally, for people with a large body weight (about 100kg and above), it is recommended to reduce the high-speed compression damping to balance the sensitivity of the initial stroke, and increase the low-speed compression damping to obtain support; for people with a large body weight, it is recommended to increase the high-speed rebound damping and the low-speed damping to use Prevent the front fork from rebounding too quickly

As for how to set the damping, in my opinion, it is inseparable from the air pressure set by the individual. The general rule is that the higher the air pressure, the smaller the high-speed compression, the greater the low-speed compression, and the greater the high-speed rebound and low-speed rebound. You can refer to the configuration table of Fox and the configuration table of the official website of each frame brand

If the above problems are solved, you can skip method 2 and jump directly to the shock knob setting

If the problem of method 1 is not solved, start method 2 directly, add air chamber pads, and add pads to meet the following conditions: frequent bottoming, the initial stage of the front fork is not sensitive, the dividing point is not clear enough, the front fork stroke is reduced, and the number of pads is increased according to demand, but it should be noted that after adding pads, the movement process of the front fork will become very fast, the compression will be more active, the support of the final stage will be stronger, and it will be less likely to bottom out. In addition, all the air must be released before adding pads to avoid danger

After adjusting the air chamber pads, "reset the air chamber" again, but there is no need to make a "hiss" or "bang" sound, and finally adjust the shock according to personal needs

Regarding the adjustment of the shock absorber knob, there is no single way. It depends on the needs. The official adjustment options are for frequent mountain running, which are suitable for occasional large drops and curved walls, but not suitable for continuous high-speed vibration (climbing stairs), so you need to set it according to your needs

Note: If you climb stairs, you can adjust the damping of high-speed compression and high-speed rebound to be loose, but don't completely release the high-speed compression, because this will make the front fork lose support when the platform lands when climbing stairs, and the person will flip over from the front (similar to falling head). Therefore, try to choose a gear that is 3 gears lower than your own gear for high-speed compression. As long as the high-speed rebound does not fall a large drop, you can also adjust it a little faster, so that climbing stairs will be very comfortable

The adjustment of the shock absorber is mainly used for high speed. Low speed refers to the adjustment when the tire is touching the ground, that is, corresponding to curved walls, bending, and even during the process of moving, you need a low-speed knob. If you don't go up the mountain and walk on curved walls, you can just turn the low-speed knob casually, but be careful not to completely release it, just a little bit. The low-speed knob adjusts the support of the shock absorber when bending the wall. The greater the compression damping, the better the support.