[Grande]

I picked up a SIDLuxe Ultimate with my new bike. My riding weight is about 157lbs. I set the air pressure to 160psi. At that pressure sag is over 30%, maybe 35%. I found I like to run the rebound all the way open (toward rabbit). All in all these settings feel ok to me. It just seems sag is a bit much and I'm running the the rebound way open to find plushness. Do these settings suggest I need to increase the air pressure and increase rebound damping?

 

[thatalexguy]

I would set sag at whatever is recommended for the frame, likely 30% or less since this seems like an XC fame. Set your initial rebound rate to whatever is recommended in the shocks setup guide per the air pressure you need to set sag to 30% or whatever is recommended for the frame. Rebound controls the speed that the shock recovers from an impact. Too fast and the bike will feel like it skips over bumps and have low rear traction. Too slow and the shock will pack up and not effectively absorb the next bump also causing poor handling. Make sure when you set sag that compression is set wide open including the open mode adjustment screw if your shock has one. After this set compression. I would leave it open at first and dial back as needed to control excess shock movement due to pedaling, etc. Too much compression can make the shock feel very firm. SIDLux shocks are typically used on XC or other shorter travel bikes so it is expected to be on the firmer side than the plusher side.

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[Cary]

I would set sag at whatever is recommended for the frame, likely 30% or less since this seems like an XC fame. Set your initial rebound rate to whatever is recommended in the shocks setup guide per the air pressure you need to set sag to 30% or whatever is recommended for the frame. Rebound controls the speed that the shock recovers from an impact. Too fast and the bike will feel like it skips over bumps and have low rear traction. Too slow and the shock will pack up and not effectively absorb the next bump also causing poor handling. Make sure when you set sag that compression is set wide open including the open mode adjustment screw if your shock has one. After this set compression. I would leave it open at first and dial back as needed to control excess shock movement due to pedaling, etc. Too much compression can make the shock feel very firm. SIDLux shocks are typically used on XC or other shorter travel bikes so it is expected to be on the firmer side than the plusher side.

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This and the shock you are running is not tuned for plushness, it is tuned to have a strong lockout, which means a lot of preload on the high speed shim stack. If you want plush, you should be looking at a different shock and possibly a different frame.

 

[Grande]

This and the shock you are running is not tuned for plushness, it is tuned to have a strong lockout, which means a lot of preload on the high speed shim stack. If you want plush, you should be looking at a different shock and possibly a different frame.

Understood. The heart of the question was that given the settings (and the sag at ~35%) should I increase the spring rate while adding some rebound.

 

[thatalexguy]

Understood. The heart of the question was that given the settings (and the sag at ~35%) should I increase the spring rate while adding some rebound.

Yes, so increasing spring rate is increasing air pressure to achieve 30% sag or whatever is recommended per bike mfg. Add appropriate rebound to compensate.

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[Grande]

Yes, so increasing spring rate is increasing air pressure to achieve 30% sag or whatever is recommended per bike mfg. Add appropriate rebound to compensate.

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Thanks. I had the sense spring was too low given 35% sag. Also curious why I was liking the running shock fully open. Thank you.

 

[thatalexguy]

I found the documentation that suspension mfg have for the shock to be very useful in finding a good place to start and understanding what is available to tune. YouTube also as a wealth of informative videos on how to set up suspension that I have benefited from.

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[G-Choro]

What frame is this on?

 

[thatalexguy]

Thanks. I had the sense spring was too low given 35% sag. Also curious why I was liking the running shock fully open. Thank you.

We weight about the same and in the spectrum of things, we are relatively light riders. Less or almost open rebound would be appropriate for the shock pressures we need to be supported. Rebound is an adjustment to keep the shock from extended too quickly which is especially important with very high shock pressures.

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[Grande]

We weight about the same and in the spectrum of things, we are relatively light riders. Less or almost open rebound would be appropriate for the shock pressures we need to be supported. Rebound is an adjustment to keep the shock from extended too quickly which is especially important with very high shock pressures.

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This comment really helps. I think I may be finding I like less rebound than what is recommended and have thoughts something is wrong or setup is incorrect. Even when I'm running rebound wide open I don't get the sense the suspension is too bouncy or out of control. I'm also favoring more plushness these days because I'm getting older and am just sensitive to that harshness these days. It's also super rocky and rooty in my area. So the notion that it's ok to run with less rebound is really helpful. Thanks.

The bike is a Revel Ranger and sure it's not meant be sofa plush. However many of those types of bikes also have slacked out head angles and that doesn't work for slow, tight, old school New England trails.

 

[thatalexguy]

Congrats in the Ranger. Those are nice bikes. Another thing to try is perhaps the negative spring is not equalized to the positive. The negative spring helps to provide a plusher initial stoke by counteracting the positive main air chamber. At least with Fox, the procedure is to slowly air down the shock and then pump it back up in 25 lb increments until you reach the desired shock pressures. Every 25 lbs slowly cycle the shock several times so that the air pressure in the positive and negative equalize.

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