When i first started riding my bike i found the front forks used to be too slow on the rebound, causing a lot of nose diving. I think the Float has 12 rebound positions, so after a while I started from scratch and clicked the rebound faster and faster till it felt comfortable.
But recently when I had my bike serviced the guy said to me i was running the rebound way to fast and if it was his bike he would make it slower.
So whats the general tips or trick to perfecting the rebound setup?
I also have never touched the shocks rebound so not even sure if thats set up properly!
if the forks diving a lot you would need to set up your low speed compression damping/compression damping or what ever your fork has. this is of course if your running the correct coil spring/ air pressure for your weight, and the sag is set correct.
Yeah, I am happy with the way its set up, I found the nice middle ground between too fast (pogo) and too slow (diving) so I will keep it as is. I fly over what ever is in my way, so i will keep it how i like it.
Definitely personal preference. If it works for you then that's all that matters, I like mine as slow as I can go without it packing up and still tracking, I've mates who ride with it as fast as they can get away with. Unless Flooks, or someone who really knows what they're talking about, tells you otherwise I'd stick with what feels right to you.
Yeah, I am happy with the way its set up, I found the nice middle ground between too fast (pogo) and too slow (diving)
Then it is correct. As someone said up there, it's not the shop blokey's bike, it's yours. The "middle ground" is what you're aiming for. My favourite rule of thumb for getting somewhere close is to sharply push down on the bars with the flats of your hands and then lift you hands away as fast as you can. If the bars catch your hands up, slow the rebound down. If your hands outrun the bars, speed the rebound up. If the bars return at the same speed as your hands move away, that's somewhere near right - go ride and tweak from there.
Re the shock rebound general starting point is to use as little as poss that lets you ride off a kerb whilst sitting down and no pogo-ing. Then adjust to taste.
The old motorbike suspension trick if you feel you are going round in circles trying to find a decent base setting is to try to make the problem worse, don't know why but it seems to be an effective way to learn about suspension setup.
Make sure you write down your existing settings before you start, then you've got nothing to lose.
If the fork is a Fox Float R the rebound cart has a compression stack built in so that when you set up the rebound correctly for the spring rate it sets the compression to match.
If you have the rebound too fast, you have too little compression damping and you're riding purely on the spring. The fork can then dive under braking, and tuck under in corners. Getting the sag right and matching the rebound to that is the key.
So the guy in the shop was right to advise you to slow the rebound given the symptoms you were describing.
If you'd said "packing down" the advice may have been different. The fact that he prefers a slower setting is irrelevant. I think that was just a subtle way of putting a point across.
He was giving advice on settings that are correct given the type of fork. (I simply agreed with his advice in relation to the symptoms in the OP) If he'd then been told the fork was packing down with slower rebound though, he may have been able to offer more assistance.
The owner clearly felt that it was worth checking out afterwards, and all he gets is advice from other riders who prefer different settings(probably running different spring rates) and to carry on with the current settings until an expert tells you different. How do they know that the shop guy hasn't received training that effectively makes him an expert compared to all the members here giving their best guess as to what's best for an individual rider?
I don't think it's fair that he gets bad press on a public forum (not from the OP I hasten to add) for recognising that the fork requires particular damper settings to work more effectively, and being courteous enough to offer advice based on his knowledge.(beleive it or not, there are staff in shops across the country that know what they're talking about)
If you want to get a definitive answer, ring the distributor and ask them for their recommendation. The optimum setting may be slower than you might think for reasons that you might not have considered.
You can ignore their advice too if you wish, but it's based on many years of R&D.
"If you want to get a definitive answer, ring the distributor and ask them for their recommendation. The optimum setting may be slower than you might think for reasons that you might not have considered."
thats the problem, there isnt a definitive answer, you can take as many variables out of the equation as possible. correct spring for weight, guide line sag settings, guide line pressures for air springs etc, but there will always have to be an element of on the trail tuning by the rider to get the best performance out of the fork for his or her riding.
to do this there are an array of "tuning" aids to help. compression damping, high and low speed compresion damping and rebound damping. some forks have these packaged up in fancy sounding guises such as TST micro or, erm, cant remember what fox and rockshox call theres! these try to simplify the tuning set up for the rider by simple turning a dial to select the terrain you expect to be riding over.
imo, unless the rebound what that fast as to send the bloke flying across the shop, or that slow he had time to make a brew before the fork fully extended. its not possible to make a judgement on the settings of the fork by simply cycling it up and down a few times in the shop..
The Fox versions are RL, RLC, RC2, and X carts (on the 140mm TT and 100mm Terra logic versions). RS use Motion Control low speed on forks up to 140mm, and Mission Control with high speed on longer travel forks with more linear rates before the midstroke. Manitou have a similar TPC system after doing away with the Intrinsic damper system. Maverick use an emulsion damper with an IFP and a tunable shim stack, as well as Marzocchi's TST and all of these have useful adjusters to control the compression phase of the stroke.
But the fox R cart has a compression stack built in to the rebound adjuster which typically has no effect until at least 4 of the 8 clicks of adjustment are dialled in with the standard 7.5wt oil. Which is why I think the guy made a good call.
You can tune the performance to offer faster rebound and use the compression feature by using lighter weight oil and adding a few more clicks on the adjuster if that suits your riding style better, and the guys at Mojo or TF Tuned could offer other tuning tips on top of a good base setup with just one phone call.
