Suspension intervention
SUSPENSION SET-UP IS ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL THINGS TO GET RIGHT. THE BEST SETTINGS WILL DEPEND ON YOUR WEIGHT, RIDING STYLE, FRAME GEOMETRYANDFORK/SHOCK
08 TYRE CHOICE
Nail your tyre pressures and you’ll enjoy the optimum balance of grip, comfort and speed. The best pressures for you will depend on a number of factors, including tyre width/volume, casing thickness and riding discipline/ style. However, your weight is perhaps the most crucial element. Generally speaking, lighter riders can get away with lower pressures, for improved grip and comfort. This is because with less force going through the tyres, they’re less likely to‘bottom out’ on the rim, potentially causing a pinch-puncture or damaging the wheel. Online tyre-pressure calculators are a good place to start, before fine-tuning your pressures according to your preferences and trail conditions. The same general rule applies to tyre casings – female riders can often get away with running a thinner carcass, which can give a more supple ride feel and additional grip, with weight-saving as a bonus.
01
Set the right spring rate for your weight, by running an appropriate amount of sag. Your optimum spring rate is decided purely by your bodyweight (and that of any riding gear you’re wearing/ carrying), so isn’t gender- or shape-specific. First, use the manufacturer’s chart to find a ballpark spring pressure for your fork/shock. Then, adjust based on how much the suspension sags once you’re on the bike. For general riding, we’d suggest running around 20 per cent fork sag and 30 per cent shock sag.
02
Find a suitable spring curve for your riding style (how much the suspension‘ramps up’towards the end of its stroke), by adjusting the air-spring volume. Your optimum spring curve isn’t just affected by your bodyweight, but also your strength and how aggressively you ride, so is likely to be different for male and female riders of a similar weight.It’sworthexperimentingto get it right. Stronger riders may need to add one or more volume spacers to make the suspension more progressive (increasingly firmer towards the end of its stroke) so it doesn’t bottom-out too often. Slighter folk may benefit from removing one or more spacers, to make the suspension more linear and be able to access all of the travel.
03
Tweak the damping to suit your weight and riding style, by using any external compression or rebound adjusters. It’s a good idea to check out the manufacturers’ guideline settings for your bike, fork and shock as a starting point, then fine tune based on your preferences. Generally speaking, lighter riders will require less rebound damping than heavier riders in order for the suspension to rebound at the same speed.
TUNE
As female riders weigh a little less, on average, than male ones, some women’s bikes have a gender-specific suspension tune – ie. the factory-preset range of damping adjustment in the fork and/or shock is set up for slightly lighter riders. However, this isn’t always the case, and some riders may need an even lighter tune. If you struggle to get a good set-up using the tips above, it’s worth considering a custom retune. Services we can recommend include TF Tuned, Sprung Suspension Workshop and Full Factory Suspension, but there are plenty more.