Keep adding air until it only compresses about 20% with your weight on it. Same with the fork.

The manufacturers guidelines are a suggested starting point and by no means set in stone.

 

so keep adding until the sag indicator hits 20% max on the sag right?

 

Yes. 20% with your weight on the bike. Set compression & rebound knobs in the middle & adjust from there until it feels right.

There's tons of threads on how to dial in your suspension settings so I wont go into detail. Check youtube for video of you're still not sure.

 

okay. thanks

 

Find someone to help you set up your bike the first time and get it dialled. It's worth the cost in beer to get the most from your bike and once it's working well you have a baseline to play with the adjustments and see what they do.

 

Or, if you don't have knowledgeable friends/contacts, go to a trusted LBS and ask to pay them for their services to help you fine tune your rig. A good shop will do this even though you didn't buy the bike from them. By doing this, you will also be establishing a relationship with the shop so you can always ask for their advice/guidance in turn they will be selling you parts/upgrades etc.

If the first shop is not interested, move on as there will always be another shop that will provide good customer service.

 

If the first shop is not interested, move on as there will always be a good shop that will provide good customer service.

+1 - especially if you are carry some icy cold beers...

 

One added tip: Once you get help getting your FS rig dialed in, make sure and write down which settings and PSI used for both shocks. That way, if you play around with the settings in the future, you have your baseline settings to fall back on if you make too many changes over time and end up not liking it.

 

...and remember, you can always add or subtract air. your pressure doesn't need to be set in stone, nor do the rebound settings. Also, I personally find the RockShox suggested PSIs on my Revelation to be way high.

 

...and remember, you can always add or subtract air. your pressure doesn't need to be set in stone, nor do the rebound settings.

Just don't do what my friend did out on a trail...

He wanted a bit more squish in the rear so he jumped off the bike, unscrewed the cap and used his thumb to "uncarefully" let air out. I didn't have enough time to even yell no. He stopped so I told him to get on his bike and wouldn't you know it, slam, bottomed out immediately.

We still had about 10 miles of rocky, chunky single track descent to get back to the truck.

Doh!

 

ven though its not sagging on 20% it should be good right? the monarch r that i have, has a max of 275psi. i put some air upto 240 psi but the sag indicator still goes more than 30% sag. do you have to put maximum air on the can? i dialed back to 200psi for now

 

That sounds excessive. I have a Monarch on my bike and I know Im nowhere near that much pressure. (Im 200 lbs) Are you sure you're not bouncing or sitting on the bike "heavy"?

You wanna ease onto the bike and slowly compress the suspension with your weight. You don't want the shock to compress to the point where it rebounds like if you got on & off it quickly.

 

so by measuring the rear sag, i just have to sit down? not bouncing? lol what a newbie lol

 

You should be standing on the pedals in the "attack" position wearing all your gear with a full hydration pack.

Ideally bounce up and down a few times and move the o-ring back into the correct position.

Then get off gently so you don't compress the shock as you get off.

It's a lot easier to do if you have a friend to help you.

 

wow. thanks vik and all of you. nice illustration! by any chance, on your bike with all your gears, how much psi did you end up with? just an estimate. ill ask a friends help

 

Vic I've never heard of doing it in the attack position. Its always been seated on everything I've seen.

I don't recall off the top of my head what my pressure is set at but Im thinking around 190 psi. Different bike & suspension though.

 

Vic I've never heard of doing it in the attack position. Its always been seated on everything I've seen.

You should setup your suspension in the position on the bike you want it optimized for.

I can't see wanting it optimized for sitting down since I only sit down for smooth trails and easy non-techy climbs.

I'm standing when I hit rough trails at speed and that's when I want the suspension working at its best.

You can always try both ways and see which you like better.

 

and you have mentioned ur 200lbs on 190 psi. i see

 

thanks for all the help guys. 20% is the magic number but its personal preference as well. nice2x

 

wow.. thats some drastic moves. lol

 

so we went to the trail this afternoon after 5 days of non-stop rain in baltimore MD very slippery but fun. my set up was fork is at 100 psi (120 mm) and the rear is around 190 psi. it felt a little bit stiff for both, but i saw the zip tie indicator at front went pretty high, almost bottom up. i will try to take out 20psi on rear and maybe 10 more on the fork.