Sag settings for different trails... Do you adjust??

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BigRay

Likes Bikes
Hi All,

Might be a dumb question but just wondering does anyone set / adjust their sag for different trails.
As an example over the weekend I can ride some xc trails then later that arvo can go hit some DH
runs (I ride a new Reign so I have the joy of one bike for most areas)
At the moment I just run the sag / air pressure at the DH level e.g to handle drops and jumps etc, but I was
reading and some people reckon you should adjust your bike to use most of your travel for whatever your
riding. So should I look at adjusting each time (of course I'd have to learn what works for each spot and keep
a record) or just set at say 25 - 30% and just be done.

Let me know what you all do, especially the people that ride vastly different terran over a weekend session.

Cheers
 
Flow-Rider

Flow-Rider

Burner
25% sag is just a general starting point, depends on your weight, fork types, riding style and how rough the trail is can very how you adjust sag. The main thing with sag is that you don't top out the internals of your fork. Your fork isn't going to dampen the best over small terrain if it tops out and its not too good for the internals as well. You always want to achieve the best travel without bottoming out the fork also. So now depending on how you ride you may never do a jump or a drop where you hit the limits of the fork.. When I do a lot of jumping I run less sag but the shocks I have make the ride a bit uncomfortable for the longer rides where I run less.
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I love adjusting. I sometimes adjust for the same trail just to get a different feel. It is one of the main reasons I run air shocks.
 
B

BigRay

Likes Bikes
Thanks guys for your input, just a quick one Flow-Rider when you talk about "topping-out" wouldn't that be
more of a rebound circuit issue then a sag / air pressure circuit issue?
I'm still learning so please forgive ignorance but I thought air pressure = compression control / bottoming
rebound knob= rebound control how fast the shock or fork returns / top out control....

Any info most appreciated, as said I'm still learning so I love getting into the techy side and gaining more knowledge.

Cheers

Thanks again for your input all.
 
John U

John U

MTB Precision
Seriously man, a lot of suspension tuning is a mystery to me. I think what you are suggesting is a great idea (different tune for different trails) but I have few bikes and try to ride all of them so it makes it fucking difficult for me to work out the tune between them. I set them around the middle, maybe make some slight adjustments, and them leave them BUT, I would pay someone with some knowledge to ride with me and perfect my tune for the way I ride. It would be awesome if there was someone working the downhill trails at Buller who could do a couple of runs with you and give you some tuning tips.
 
Ivan

Ivan

Eats Squid
Bigray,

The performance of the maestro suspension on your Reign will be very sensitive to sag. It will take some time experimenting to find the right % (and possibly some air volume spacers in your shock to achieve the right progressiveness), but when you do it should basically be set and forget.

I do not subscribe to the theory that you should be using most of your travel on every ride. The suspension has not been designed that way.
 
The Duckmeister

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
BigRay said:
Thanks guys for your input, just a quick one Flow-Rider when you talk about "topping-out" wouldn't that be
more of a rebound circuit issue then a sag / air pressure circuit issue?
I'm still learning so please forgive ignorance but I thought air pressure = compression control / bottoming
rebound knob= rebound control how fast the shock or fork returns / top out control....

Any info most appreciated, as said I'm still learning so I love getting into the techy side and gaining more knowledge.
Click to expand...
Correct, topping out is more to do with rebound adjustment than sag. As a general rule, the more pressure is in the spring chamber, the more damping on the rebound needs to be wound up (more damping, usually marked with a "+" on the dial slows the rebound rate).
 
Flow-Rider

Flow-Rider

Burner
BigRay said:
Thanks guys for your input, just a quick one Flow-Rider when you talk about "topping-out" wouldn't that be
more of a rebound circuit issue then a sag / air pressure circuit issue?
I'm still learning so please forgive ignorance but I thought air pressure = compression control / bottoming
rebound knob= rebound control how fast the shock or fork returns / top out control....

Any info most appreciated, as said I'm still learning so I love getting into the techy side and gaining more knowledge.

Cheers

Thanks again for your input all.
Click to expand...
say you only set your fork to 5% sag on a 120mm fork = 6mm movement before the shock stops at full extension its not good for the shock if you keep it in this zone all day. The rebound control will slow it down some what and you will always top your fork out when you jump and alike but should be avoided in normal riding. I used to have a 80mm travel fork and ran it with no sag at all because I used to jump the bike frequently. If I would run sag on them I could easily bottom out the fork because of the little travel they had (80mm) but the end result was they developed into a real clunky set of forks when they would top out. The ride will not be as smooth either if you let them top out all the time either.
 
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D

Dougy

Likes Dirt
As a general rule of thumb softer will give you more traction, comfort, and control but will be less responsive and slower. Harder will be faster and more responsive but more difficult to control. Hard is good for fast smooth single track where soft is better for slower more technical terrain. I tend to run my sag softer then adjust for trails using shock/fork damping.
 
Beej1

Beej1

Senior Member
About the only time I adjust the suspension on my Nomad is before and after a day at Buller on the DH trails, and even then I'm not sure it's making much of a difference. I'm sure things would work better if I had a better ability to detect the effects of the adjustments I make. But I can't. So I mostly don't bother. It's not like it's slowing me down relative to my riding buddies on the descents - practice and fear are the main factors affecting that.
 
L

lucifuge

Likes Bikes
I believe the sag should be set with respect to the bike, not the terrain. However, rebound and low speed compression could (and should) be set for varying terrain.
 
B

BigRay

Likes Bikes
Thanks all for your input, I'm going to have some fun and play with some
settings and pressures etc and see what works. I guess the whole idea of
having tunable suspension is so you can "tune" it to what works for you and
the type of riding you do. :whoo:

Once again thanks for the help.

Cheers
 
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