How to Adjust a Bicycle Suspension
Imagine this: you’re on the wooden trail, wind rushing by your hair and adrenaline coursing through your veins. Nothing can top this feeling of freedom and of being one with the motion. Your bike, trust as always, is like lightning: its quick and its contributing to the adrenaline rush you’ve got going. All of a sudden, you see a small bump; you think it’ll be a piece of cake for you and your mountain bike, but you guessed wrong. One bump and it feels like the suspension went straight through your back, and now you’ve got a problem at your hands. Your mountain bike doesn’t ride as it should. Its a problem, and we’re here to help with our quick and handy guide on how to adjust a bicycle’s suspension.
Whether you’re on the go and need to adjust the suspension on the fly, or you are in the comfort of your home and have plenty of tools and space available, our handy guide on adjusting your bicycle’s suspension will help you get the bike to the settings you want, so you may become one with your wilderness weapon and cross forests and clear paths with ease and comfort, and bring back the way mountain biking is meant to be done.
But first, its important to understand the components and the general functioning of the bicycle’s suspension, which will definitely help with both understanding the suspension as well as familiarizing yourself with how to interact with an otherwise mundane part of the bicycle.
Bicycle Suspension: The Things you Need to Know About
The following terminologies as well as parts of the suspension are the bywords to know, and to understand. Because as much as some people like to bike around in the wilderness, the actual information around the suspension and some of the technical terms around it is very limited, and even the names are part of what people find really hard and technical to understand. So, before we get into the actual adjustment of the suspension, here’s the things that make it up.
Spring
First and foremost is the shock or spring, which is arguably the most prominent part of the entire suspension, and is also the primary part which provides the suspension with the spring effect. Depending on the type of bike and its model, you can either have a helicoidal spring, which is essentially the classic spring that compresses and expands upon being pushed. More advanced suspension setups might have a pneumatic spring, which uses a cylinder filled with air to provide the compression and the spring effect. This is the primary part of the bicycle suspension and understanding the dynamics behind it will help you adjust your suspension with much ease.
Travel
Travel isn’t something that you do on your mountain bike. Well it is, but it isn’t in this case. In the context of the bicycle suspension, travel is the distance that the fork or the suspension body covers before it hits the stopper. In short, travel is exactly how much your shock can provide you with a compression effect. Denoted with mm or millimeters, while regular bicycles have a shock travel of 80mm, some advanced mountain bikes with beefier suspension setups might have a travel of a whopping 200mm to ease with the handling and the difficulty of navigating around rocky or subterraneous ground.
Sag
As opposed to travel, which occurs in response to the terrain and can vary from place to place as well as moment to moment depending on the terrain, sag is dependent on the weight of the rider. More specifically, sag is the travel of the spring or the coil (depending on the suspension setup of the bike) when it cushions the rider from a sudden shock in the terrain. Simply put, when you mount the bike, just how much the seat and the related apparatus moves downward and places its stress onto the shock is the sag of the bike. This is your primary indicator of having your bike suspension setup just the way you like it.
Hydraulic/ shock system
Finally, we have the entirety of the system on which the bicycle suspension rests. The hydraulic or shock system (once again, depending on the model of the bike) is the apparatus on which the system rests, and is primarily responsible for both the weight of the rider as well as the cushioning effect from the rough parts of the terrain.
Adjusting the Bicycle Suspension: The Steps
Now, let us discuss the actual adjustment of the suspension, and how you can go about making the bike more comfortable for you and riding style on the go.
Adjust the sag
The first part of the entire adjustment process is the sag. As explained beforehand, sag is primarily determined by the weight of the rider. Therefore, you can adjust it on the go, and can get help from the Trailhead application if you have a Rockshox product on your bike. For the actual adjustment, if your mountain bike has a helicoidal spring, simply use the adjustment dial located on the right side of the fork. Twist clockwise to tighten the spring, and anticlockwise to loosen it up. For air suspension setups, you will need a high-pressure pump that will allow you to inflate the air chamber or cylinder. The formula with air suspension is simple: if you want more sag, pump less air into the chamber. For less sag, pump more air. Mount the bike with your hands firm on the handle to test out your setup and repeat the process for the desired effect.
Adjust the rebound
As the name implies, the rebound is the time or speed with which the suspension returns to its initial position after having cushioned a shock. For experienced riders, a fast rebound is okay because they are able to take it in the rhythm and do not allow it to mess with their riding experience. For less-experienced riders, a slower rebound is suggested, since a fast-travelling shock may destabilise them and even cause them to get thrown off their mountain bike. To adjust the rebound, locate the right stanchion; under it, you’ll find the dial (on some models only) with tortoise and hare icons to denote slow and fast settings, respectively. Turn to the corresponding icon for your desired settings.
Adjusting suspension compression
Once you are done with the rebound and sag, its time to adjust the suspension compression. Since it is a little bit more complicated than the other two, here’s a quick reminder: adjusting the compression will essentially change the speed with which compression happens in the springs, and this will drastically affect the way the mountain bike rides. To adjust it, locate a dial on the right side of the T-fork, and look for the words CHARGER or COMPRESSION. Adjust it to your liking and rip through the trail at lightning speeds and happy riding!
Fluid Function: Your Premier Destination for Rockshox Services!
Fluid Function is the authorized service center for the world-famous Rockshox suspension products in Squamish, British Columbia. We have been the mainstay for the biking community for the longest time now, and whether you’re a hardcore biker with the best possible bike in your garage, or an enthusiast who likes to go at their own pace, Fluid Function is your partner in ensuring your wheels stay top-notch throughout your journey!