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how should my suspension feel ?

2K views 27 replies 15 participants last post by  tacubaya 
#1 ·
total rookie question... but im doing my first season at whistler and im having trouble getting pop of jumps in the blue runs, ive tried practising bunny hopping but my bike just soaks up all the preload when i push off, ive got a manitou 4 way swinger and am wondering if i should adjust it to make it ....stiffer ??? do i do that with the spring or adjust the rebound ?? any advice would be great.:thumbsup:
 
#5 ·
Like you are riding on a cloud... but really it should.

make sure you are running the min amount of air in the swinger or else it will not function correctly. especially the rebound, which is essential to jumping a big bike.

How much travel to you have (front and rear)?

Bump the rebound up a little and see if that helps... you might need a stiffer coil... use this to see how close your spring rate is... I would bump it up 50-100# if you are more of a freerider... http://www.igorion.com/_coilspring/
 
#6 ·
Yeah, sounds like you may have too much rebound. Getting a suspension bike off the ground is way different than a HT though, even with it set up properly you'll be working harder. The other thing may be the overall weight of the bike; do you have it built up super stout?
 
#8 ·
If you have extra time you may want to play with your suspension until it feels "right". But my advice is you better go to your LBS, pay $10-$15 bucks and have a mechanic explain you how to adjust it properly. In the end you could become an expert in no time.
 
#9 ·
ok, i have the manitou swinger 4way also. what you need to do is twist the spring in until it urts your hand so bad you cant do it anymore, seriously thats what i did. then, where the numbers are put it on the 3. then put some more air in the cartridge for extra pop off the jumps. if you want to do straight up dh one dy, take the air out to the recomended lowest possible psi. that is what i did for mine and it feels way better, but i am more of a dher so you may need to tinker around a little bit with the numbers.
 
#11 ·
Djponee said:
ok, i have the manitou swinger 4way also. what you need to do is twist the spring in until it urts your hand so bad you cant do it anymore, seriously thats what i did.
Bro... You need a new spring. No rear shock should have more than 2 complete turns of preload... Period.

To the op: sounds like your rebound is cranked. Back it off so your shock is more active. You don't want to go too far with the adjustment or we'll be calling you "buck rogers". Set the rebound so if you compress the back of the bike and lift it off the ground quickly, it should move quickly, but without topping out. I then add a couple clicks more to control the "pop."

As I was telling Dj, it's important to have the right spring. Gear yourself up and sit on the bike with all your weight and have somone measure how much your rear shock is compressed. You should be using around 30% travel at rest with at least one turn of preload on your spring...
 
#14 ·
DirtGash said:
Yeah I'd sell it and buy a hardtail, that will solve all your rear suspension issues.
I'm pretty sure you're joking. :)

I could barely handle 3 days on a hardtail in Whistler. I did it, but that was 5 years ago. If I tryed that now, I would probably need back surgery after a day! :lol:
 
#19 ·
it amuses me when people are too scared to touch their bike. take a run, adjust, take a run, adjust again, take another run, adjust. keep doing that until its set up how you like it. i like mine pretty fast, but not so fast that its bouncing ur feet off the pedals. usually i run around 30% sag., which you can measure by the eye to eye length if ur a nerd, or you can just adjust your spring until it sinks down a few inches or so. or...do a search.
 
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