[jamisguy]

Hey guys, I just got this new awesome AM FS bike, the Jamis Dakar XAM2.0, and I have no idea what I'm doing setting up the shock and fork. The only thing I knew to do was to put in my body weight in the rear shock(air pressure). Don't know how much to put in the fork. How do you determine? I have no idea how much rebound, speed compression, travel. Right now I have everything set pretty much in the middle of the road. Owners manual and cd are pretty much useless. I need some experienced guys hear to give me a crash course on how to set all this up. Now what is that little, I'll call it resourvour, or little shock, sitting underneath the main rear shock? How much air do I put in there. Looks like it's somekind of blow out valve. How much air do I put in there? Now the rear shock. I don't see much difference between the 'Pro-Pedal settings. I thought it worked where you either have it on Pro-pedal or you don't. It seems like all the settings are pro-pedal settings.
If somebody could at least tell me how much air to put in these shocks and fork, that would be great.

BTW, my front fork is a Fox 32 Talas- RLC and my rear is a Fox DHX AIR 5.0
Thanks!!

 

[keen]

Fox Shox has fork / shock owners manuals, online. May want to give a look there first.

 

[sethm]

Have you talked to the bike shop where you bought it? They should be able to help you out.

 

[jamisguy]

The owners manual and CD wasn't to helpful and the bike shop did help me out, but I want some real experienced riders to give me some input as to how to set this bike up. If some people can post on how they have their bike set-up and their weight, that can give me some idea on what to do.

 

[Squash]

The problem being here is that....

suspension set up is a bit more subjective than that. There are to many factors for anyone to give you pat advice on how to set up you suspension. What keen is saying is that FOX has OWNERS MANUALS on their website that give you the information that you are looking for! It would take nearly two pages or more of text to tell you how to do initial set up here!!!

Go to the Fox website and download the owner's manuals for your fork and shock and READ THEM. The Fox manuals are VERY good and will give you all the "STARTING POINT" set up recommendations for your fork and shock. Go through the manual methodically making one adjustment at a time. Then from there RIDE THE BIKE, and remember that the recommendations in the manuals are STARTING POINTS. The beauty of air is that you can set up your fork and shock to best suit your riding style with simple ari pressure adjustments. There is NO magic rule of thumb for setting up suspension. There are just WAY too many variables, everything from suspension design to rider preference, and a ton of stuff in between.

The bottom line is, download the manuals and read them, boring yes, but it will give you a better knowledge of what all the adjustments are for, and your starting points. I may have the same shock as you on my bike, but because of differences in suspension design, etc. the settings that I use might feel like poo on your rig.

I will give you one rule of thumb, the first thing to set up on any front or rear suspension is the SAG. The amount that the fork and shock compresses when you are sitting on the bike in the riding position with the bike stationary. This is accomplished by adding or subtracting air form the main chambers. And even that is covered in the FOX manuals, not usually in the bike owners manual or cd. If you already have the Fox manuals then read them, they are NOT useless, I know I've used them.

Good Dirt

 

[oldskoolbiker]

Hey when you said the owners manual was useless, do you mean the bike owners manual or the Suspension owners manuals? Bike owners manuals always suck, but the shock owners manuals should be really detailed. Check the Fox websites for owners manuals.

Now I don't have fox shocks but I can talk generically. The air in the shock and fork is usually for preload. You typically want around 20% sag in your suspension. This means when you are sitting on your bike the suspension should sag 20%. The rear shock should have a small O ring. If not use a small zip tie. On the front put a zip tie around the stanchion. Now slide the sip ties down. Get on your bike and see how much the shocks compress. Add/Remove air and repeat this process until you get what looks like about 20%.

I just looked at the specs on the bike, and I can see this bike has the air version of the rear shock I have on my Freeride bike so I can speak to the pro-pedal settings. Basically that reservoir can hold between 75 and 150 psi. And it has a dial at each end. One end is for bottom out resistance and the other is for the pro-pedal. Basically pro-pedal is additional resistance at the beginning of the stroke, and bottom out is additional resistance and the end. I would say with this just start in the middle of the road and adjust to your liking. If you are doing a lot of XC then you will want dial the pro-pedal knob all the way in. If you are bombing alot of DH then dial it all the way out, and for a mix put it in the middle. I would just leave the bottom out, all the way out and if you start bottoming out the shock alot then turn it in some.

For the front fork, besides the preload, you have your compression and rebound dampening settings. I would just go with the middle of the road initially and make adjustments as necessary.

Seriously the fox manuals should say all this stuff, so download those if you don't already have them.

 

[dan0]

Hey guys, I just got this new awesome AM FS bike, the Jamis Dakar XAM2.0, and I have no idea what I'm doing setting up the shock and fork. The only thing I knew to do was to put in my body weight in the rear shock(air pressure). Don't know how much to put in the fork. How do you determine? I have no idea how much rebound, speed compression, travel. Right now I have everything set pretty much in the middle of the road. Owners manual and cd are pretty much useless. I need some experienced guys hear to give me a crash course on how to set all this up. Now what is that little, I'll call it resourvour, or little shock, sitting underneath the main rear shock? How much air do I put in there. Looks like it's somekind of blow out valve. How much air do I put in there? Now the rear shock. I don't see much difference between the 'Pro-Pedal settings. I thought it worked where you either have it on Pro-pedal or you don't. It seems like all the settings are pro-pedal settings.
If somebody could at least tell me how much air to put in these shocks and fork, that would be great.

BTW, my front fork is a Fox 32 Talas- RLC and my rear is a Fox DHX AIR 5.0
Thanks!!

ok heres the short instructions
front fork, first tie a couple of bread ties together and around the upper fork leg( tight enough so when it gets moved up it wont slip down)
now push your bike next to a wall, now sit on the bike , reach down and push the bread ties down against the fork seal, now carefully get off. the distance between the fork seal and the bread tie is your sag. it should be 20%- 30% of the total travel (on a 100mm fork that equals 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches. if its less than that you have too much air, more = too little air.
the rear shock is the same except there is an o ring instaed of bread ties.
the dhx 5 will prob. need a little more than your weight to get the right sag
the pro pedal adjustments are trial and error, start off in the middle, when pedaling does the rear bob up and down?if so increase the pro pedal, if not decrease it untill there is bobbing, then increase it untill it stops.
the red knobs are rebound. this depends on what type of riding you do on slower bigger hits you want the rebound a little slower so the bike doesnt buck you off. on faster quicker hits you want the rebound faster to keep the tires on the ground and to keep your shocks from packing up

the fox site has trouble shooting and shock and fork manuals for download
http:/www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/tuning_tips.htm

 

[pinkheadedbug]

I just set up my shocks today. They are *really* easy compared to the Reba I have on my other bike.

Start by doing the sag test. Set the sag to 20-30% (roughly a quarter) of the shock's travel. Then go ride (with the rebound on the front set to the middle setting, six clicks from wide open or closed).

If it is too soggy, add a bit of pressure. If too hard, lose some. Once you have the feel right, you can fiddle with rebound, propedal, low speed compression and all that.

The Fox shocks are so easy because it's simply add air or lose air.