MOOSE SHOCK SEALHEAD(lowered the bike.)

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by moto9

Did I mention I converted the shock over to a bladder.

Piston or bladder - the concept is the same - you have a little less oil in your shock - no big deal....

jeff

[moto9]

Just an update
Got the bike out for a good 4 hour run thru the usual nasty Hawaii single track.

Actually the trails was a pretty good mix of wet/mucky and dry/tacky areas.

There were some good and some bad results.

I'll start with the good
Easier to foot dab, the bike turned quicker and tighter in the tight stuff, overall handling was good.

The bad,
The shock was harsher, I think is was ramping up much quicker, specially on the bigger roots and holes.
The shock also seemed to fade quicker.
I noticed the missing 1'' of ground clearence crossing over logs.

Overall it was a bust, I plan to change the sealhead back to stock, I had the bike working pretty good before so I'll leave it there.

[STM Suspension]

I'm a little late, but maybe I'd add a little...

Usually the simple way I lower a bike is to add a spacer inside- easy, cheap, and easily undone. So usually I'll put in a 1 cm spacer just under the seal head and it works great. Make sure you change your preload after this- otherwise you're likely to end up with an extra cm of preload- harsh for sure.

Nitrogen volume is something to note. And for sure you are already a little deeper in the stroke, so getting more into the progressive part.

I have to say that I've lowered a few bikes (my old personal 04 KX250 trail bike among them) and had no issues with a spiky, rough, harsh behavior. For sure I had the proper spring, and for sure I revalved it to suit. But it worked just fine.

There are lots of things that go into tuning a shock- the original poster mentioned that he changed to a bladder set up- and he mentioned it faded quickly. The bladder can make it feel different. As was pointed out, perhaps the bladder has a smaller nitrogen volume then the previous floating piston- And I have to ask why it's fading quickly with fresh fluid in it...

We use something like a 2.5 in rear dirt shocks- changes viscosity less when it gets hot. But fresh fluid shouldn't be fading anytime shortly after a rebuild.