[ssaulnier]

My static sag was too much. It should be between 30 mm to 40 mm per the manual, but mine was delivered at 45 mm. That means there is not enough preload, or stored energy, on the spring. I didn?t have much time to wrestle with the spring so I loosened the lock washers and added as much preload as I could by hand. Turns out that was less then one full turn. I could not get my hands on the spring collar to turn it very well and didn?t have time to mess with it and was not really in the mood to bugger it up with a screwdriver and hammer. I did not remeasure afterwards but suspect I need to add a bit more. In addition I should most likely go to the next higher strength spring due to my riding weight of about 220 lbs (100kg) being above the 75-85 kg target rider weight for the 52N/m stock spring. Turns out that the additional preload reduced the static sag to 35 mm which is right in the middle of the acceptable range per the manual.

The idea is to add enough tension in the spring to hold up the weight of the bike without the rider so that it only sags about 35mm +/- 5. That allows the spring to react properly to bumps, push the rear tire down into the dirt properly on the backside of bumps or launching off fallen trees, etc. Too much preload on the spring means that it takes a bigger hit to move the rear wheel in order to overcome the excessive stored energy in the spring caused by the excessive preload.

But if you weigh more than the target weight like I do then that ideal amount of spring preload will not hold up the rear end of the bike high enough to transfer enough weight to the front wheel for good traction and turning stability.

Having said all that sometimes less preload on the spring and a little higher rear sag is OK for a particular rider, bike, speed and riding conditions, as stated above.

In my particular case, As the others have stated, after 10 hours or so my front forks should break in and will most likely ride a bit lower in the stroke which should transfer more weight onto the front tire, giving it more grip and giving me more confidence. Then I can evaluate if I really want a stronger rear spring.

But I really need to measure the static sag again and bring it up to spec before I go riding again. No sense risking having the front end wash out and eating dirt because I was too lazy to wind in another turn of preload on the Shock spring.