Rear Damper adjustments

[bonkeye]

bit of a dumb question but on the rear damper theres adjustment top and bottom what do they do, ive never altered mine always just jumped on it and rode but i had a go on a mate bike and it felt alot better than made felt slightly stiffer

so what does the adjustment screw do on top of the damper? hard / soft? if so which way adjusts to hard

and the lower black adjustment is that Rebound? is that how quick it returns from the damper being compressed? also can someone explain rear sag hight?


Thanks
Mark.

[noobi]

Originally Posted by bonkeye

bit of a dumb question but on the rear damper theres adjustment top and bottom what do they do, ive never altered mine always just jumped on it and rode but i had a go on a mate bike and it felt alot better than made felt slightly stiffer

so what does the adjustment screw do on top of the damper? hard / soft? if so which way adjusts to hard

and the lower black adjustment is that Rebound? is that how quick it returns from the damper being compressed? also can someone explain rear sag hight?


Thanks
Mark.

Top of the shock is compression, sometimes but not always there is an inner and outer knob, inner is low speed comp, outer is mid to high speed comp. Turning clockwise is harder.

Bottom of the shock is rebound, again clockwise is harder. You are correct, it is how fast the shock will return from a compressed state, the harder the setting is, the SLOWER the shock will return.

The way I often explain it is, both compression and rebound adjusters are like faucet taps, you unscrew (turn counter c.wise) them and they allow more flow, you screw (turn c.wise) them in and they allow less flow. For compression, if the tap is closed, it takes more force to pass the same volume of fluid, so the suspension is firmer.
The same is true for rebound, if the tap is open, then fluid is fairly unrestricted and the suspension returns quickly. Close the tap and it is more difficult for fluid to pass and it rebounds more slowly.

Sag is the amount the suspension compresses when you sit on the bike. Static is the compression between unweighted (on the stand) and self-weighted (off the stand, under the bikes own weight), ideally around 20?mm. Rider sag is the compression under the weight of the rider, ideally around 100-110mm. There are plenty of guides around on the best ways to measure static and rider sag.

I think that makes sense.

[Jakobi]

Great explanation Noobi.

[bonkeye]

awesome thank you