[omnom]

Hello all,


I am currently running a a Pike and a Monarch RT3. They are mounted on a NS Snabb T. As I am a really light rider, coming in at 115 pounds. I was wondering if there is any specific modifications I can do to my fork & shock for them to perform better for someone as light as me. I'm not exactly sure if there are anything that I can do for the fork / shock to better suit me but from the top of my head maybe lighter oil or different maybe different seals? Though I'm unsure exactly which seals or oil would be a good swap.


If there are any other lighter riders out there that is using a similar set-up as me, it would be great if you can tell me the amount of bottomless token you are using so that I can use it as a "guide" or if you have found that any certain setting makes a great improvement in the suspension do let me know!


Thank you.

 

[lazarus2405]

As a lighter rider, you'll probably be more sensitive to stiction than a heavier person on the same setup. Seal breakaway force will stay the same, while impact forces will be proportionally lower, so it'll be harder to initiate shaft movement. I'd stay on top of lubrication and make sure you service the fork lowers and shock air seals regularly. Keep them nice and slippery.

The Snabb has a fair bit of rotation on the upper shock mount. I think a RWC needle bearing kit for that mount would be an (inexpensive) improvement over the stock DU bushings.

The Charger damper already uses 3wt oil, so there isn't much room to move to a lower viscosity. The Monarch's damper uses 7wt oil, so you could potentially go with something with a lower viscosity if you felt it was overdamped for you. You'd have to do a full piston service, but full service manuals are easy to find online, and there's only one shock-specific tool needed that can be found for about $8 at Jenson.

Another option might be custom tuning. You might be a good candidate for that, since you're pretty far from the 170lb median rider weight, but I don't know of any shops that will do custom tunes on Rockshox equipment.

If you really want to dive into it, you could revalve your shock's shim stack yourself. It's jumping deep down the rabbit hole, though. This thread looks like a good place to start: http://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/rockshox-monarch-rt3-shim-stack-792842.html

 

[fsrxc]

generally, a lighter rider using low pressures gets better results with the largest volume air spring (no spacers/tokens).

Also, test the fork with the rebound all the way out (rabbit) then turn it in a click or two at a time to find the best setting.

 

[trailbildr]

If you are an aggressive rider, go with tokens and regular service. Lower volume is better for more aggressive riders. If you are more of a floater and beginner, leave the tokens out and get the dynamic settings right.

Messing with the shim stack in the Monarchs is a very iterative process. You can get the specs for the base Low compression tune and get shims from CSR which will make the 'open' setting more open. A lot of shops can do custom tuning on those rear shocks. Most can just source the low-tune piston from a supplier and swap it out during full service.

mk

 

[omnom]

Hello all,

I forgot to mention that the pike im using is 140mm if that makes any difference. As I cant do much (in terms of oil), I might send it for servicing and change it to a 160mm. If I remember currently, I am currently running 2 tokens in my fork at 35psi. The fork currently feels fine but I find that the mid travel of the fork has no support. I am unsure how to explain this (maybe its suppose to be like this, I am a fairly new rider), but from what I can tell, the inital compression of the fork feels great, I think the word is "plush"? The final part of the fork feels progressive? Like its getting harder to bottom out as the air is getting compress. But the mid travel just feels the same as the initial travel.

I might need to go back and tweak around with the setting of the fork.

As for my shock (running at ~135psi), do you think going with 3wt oil would be good? Or would there be anything lower than that? The rear shock is quite confusing for me as it feels like a sponge with a spring it in. Thats the only way I can explain it. I might ride it out more to get a better feel for it. I might compare it with other shocks, tho the only one I can compare it to is my friend's Monarch plus RC3 so im unsure if it is a fair comparison.

Edit: I read a thread that Red Line has a LightWater suspension oil. Do you think I should run it in my shock & fork? do you think going any lighter on the oil for my fork have no improvement?

 

[fsrxc]

if you're opening up the shock anyway, it makes more sense to tune the shimstacks than change oil weight. For the fork, it's easy enough to change oil but in my experience it didn't help much (first I tried Red Line 2.5wt then Like Water).

 

[AndrwSwitch]

Does your fork have a compression damper adjustment on the crown? Try a little more compression damping and see if you get better midstroke behavior.

You could also try another token, but it might not do anything for you in midstroke.

Sent from my E5803 using Tapatalk

 

[One Pivot]

Less tokens should help mid stroke. If its especially soft and extra plush off the top, thats a very good indicator that you need to remove tokens. It'll firm up the mid stroke.

 

[Rootsboy]

I am 151Ib fully geared up and I thought I was quite light, well out of my group anyway.
My pike was at 140 and after years of messing about with it, and a Fast upgrade which I believe is shim set to my weight, I discovered that no tokens for me works best.
The pike is meant to have one or more at that travel. But with both the Fast upgrade and the original. I found that it just did not feel right at a lower psi.
55 just was not doing it. It seamed like everything felt better at 60 to 65 for me.
On the original I used to set up wit lsc 0 or maybe 1 or 2 For steep technical. And 6 clicks from slow(tortoise) rebound.
With the fast I still have the same rebound. Then 8 from slow lsc and 4 or 5 I think clicks from slow hsc.
I only took the token out a few weeks back. And I still have yet to bottom it, even on 3/4ft jumps to flat.
I am guessing taking the tokens out, is similar to using a large air can on a shock.

 

[omnom]

Thanks all for the reply!

I'm going to try to remove all (or 1 by 1 as I'm currently running 2) and see how much it improves the ride. Guess i'll not mess with the fork besides the token.

As for the shock, Do you think I should jump straight to something like Redline's Like water or their extralight? Or will you recommend something else for the shock?
I'll also go and read up on how I can take apart the shock and tune the shim stack as it would be expensive to pay a mechanic every week or so to test out different shimstack / oil.

 

[Track_Master]

Avalanche open bath cart and be done with it.

 

[Jayem]

Avalanche open bath cart and be done with it.

I don't think anything other than a revalve or the cart will really do it, and with a revalve you are kind of shooting in the dark if you are doing it yourself.

 

[Rootsboy]

Yeah I agree with Jayem. My current ride was my first full suspension bike after a hard tail for a few years.
I spent 2 years playing with learning about it, and advancing on the trails. Then when it was time to send of for the 2nd full service I decided in the fast upgrade,was double the cost of the service.
Made a big difference, I also spent some time tweaking that. But mostly ended up at close to the original settings. Maybe one click change.
It was only the other day when I thought I would loose all the tokens to see if I would get full travel on big hits.
Worked fine.
The other move I made which changed the bikes feeling a huge amount was to swap the fox ctd shock for a cane creek inline.
This took a while to tweak but right out the box it felt miles better then the fox.
And all the tuning done via Allen key adjusters.
If you buy from a service Center they will pre set it for you, but there is lots of info online. On cane creeks website. And a great little book explaining it all.
One important thing though. Is just take time with it all. Get out and ride your bike, feel and learn it all bit by bit.
It took me a long time to get a feel and understand how it all works.
It's good to find a spot with say a rock garden and some jumps and drops in a very short space, where you can adjust and repeat a lot to get a good feel.