With more folks getting time on the HD3/X2 combo, I thought a dedicated tuning thread was in order. Weight, riding style/terrain, and any ride feedback. I find a good place to start is the base tune table published by Fox; setups below refer to adjustments relative to these suggested base tunes for a given rider weight: http://www.ridefox.com/2016/dl/bike/605-00-141-FLOAT X2 Tuning Guide-JD.pdf
Me: 200lbs ready to ride, XL HD3 w/ Pike up front. Mainly fire road climbs to flowy-to-rocky cascade singletrack descents. Enduro racer, occasionally ride burlier DH-type tails.
Setup 1: I followed Ibis's suggestion and went with the Fox suggested damping settings, but biased HSC to the firm side, 2 clicks less open than Fox suggests for my weight. I think this is to compensate for the falling rate at the end of the HD3's stroke; that's designed with a lower-volume and less linear air shock in mind, so you have to add HSC to avoid bottoming the high-volume X2. Set sag to 30% (~205 PSI for me). I found this to give a very controlled ride feel, but I was bottoming the shock on any drop over 2' to flat. Adding additional HSC made the shock feel stiffer in repeated hits (e.g. fast rock gardens) than I wanted.
Setup 2: Added 10 PSI, yielding 25% sag. Backed off HSC to the low end of Fox's suggested range, and reduced HSR and LSR to the lower end of this range too. This yielded a VERY plush feel, with ability to absolutely mow through rough stuff. But the shock was also really bouncy when climbing, and the bike felt a bit less controlled than I like over G-outs and jumps. It lost the taught, poppy feel I love with the HD3. I was also still able to bottom it on harder hits.
SO, current setup:
Setup 3: Added two volume reduction spacers, so currently with 4 out of 5 possible. Set spring to 30% sag (200 PSI for my weight). Backed off HSC to 4 clicks faster than Fox's suggestion. Set LSC to 2 clicks slower than suggested to control pedal bob & keep it high in high-G corners. HSR and LSR in the middle of the range. THIS setup I like. It feels like a much better version of the DBInline. Great small-bump responses, plenty plush, but ramps up well and doesn't bottom. Controlling bottom-out by adding spacers instead of dialing up HSC is more my speed. Great pedaling too. I haven't done a ton of jumping with this setup, and I may slow down rebound a tad for that application. I may also remove one spacer, going with 3 instead of 4.
Me: 200lbs ready to ride, XL HD3 w/ Pike up front. Mainly fire road climbs to flowy-to-rocky cascade singletrack descents. Enduro racer, occasionally ride burlier DH-type tails.
Setup 1: I followed Ibis's suggestion and went with the Fox suggested damping settings, but biased HSC to the firm side, 2 clicks less open than Fox suggests for my weight. I think this is to compensate for the falling rate at the end of the HD3's stroke; that's designed with a lower-volume and less linear air shock in mind, so you have to add HSC to avoid bottoming the high-volume X2. Set sag to 30% (~205 PSI for me). I found this to give a very controlled ride feel, but I was bottoming the shock on any drop over 2' to flat. Adding additional HSC made the shock feel stiffer in repeated hits (e.g. fast rock gardens) than I wanted.
Setup 2: Added 10 PSI, yielding 25% sag. Backed off HSC to the low end of Fox's suggested range, and reduced HSR and LSR to the lower end of this range too. This yielded a VERY plush feel, with ability to absolutely mow through rough stuff. But the shock was also really bouncy when climbing, and the bike felt a bit less controlled than I like over G-outs and jumps. It lost the taught, poppy feel I love with the HD3. I was also still able to bottom it on harder hits.
SO, current setup:
Setup 3: Added two volume reduction spacers, so currently with 4 out of 5 possible. Set spring to 30% sag (200 PSI for my weight). Backed off HSC to 4 clicks faster than Fox's suggestion. Set LSC to 2 clicks slower than suggested to control pedal bob & keep it high in high-G corners. HSR and LSR in the middle of the range. THIS setup I like. It feels like a much better version of the DBInline. Great small-bump responses, plenty plush, but ramps up well and doesn't bottom. Controlling bottom-out by adding spacers instead of dialing up HSC is more my speed. Great pedaling too. I haven't done a ton of jumping with this setup, and I may slow down rebound a tad for that application. I may also remove one spacer, going with 3 instead of 4.
