What are little things you do to dial in your bike?

high speed compression adjuster is the single biggest thing I use to find that sweet spot. Most guys are afraid of it and wont touch it. Its everything to me personally 

I adjust bars and levers at home because I run them in the same position no matter what bike I ride. 

I will make sure all suspension settings are even and set to stock. I won't touch anything until I know it's broken in and will adjust from there so I know what to tell Enzo that I like and dislike about it in stock form(this hasn't steered them or me wrong yet). 

I won't replace grips or anything to my preferred stuff until I wear through the stock stuff.

I’ve been big on polishing the front axle and front fork lug so the axle finds it home easier. its a trick from jwalks suspension set up tips.

The other is what you mentioned, greasing the lever pivots, I’d even add some mothers and polishing on the pivots helps them move way easier too.

Oh and ODI rogue grips are amazing. 

Plumbers tape under clutch and brake lever perches.

Winter riding, electrical tape on levers

I won’t even ride a new bike until I put the bars I like and foot pegs I like.

I also do suspension but that’s a big thing not little. 

Unfortunately I'm a damn princess so renthal half waffle softs. Fat bar, but I've noticed I prefer different bends on different bikes / different clamp and bar mounts. I run my perches in quite far. My front brake lever is very, very close because not only am I the princess but I have the hand size of 7 year old girl. Which brings me to... preferring my throttle tube trimmed down on the lathe to lessen the overall diameter. My throttle tube and cables need to be smooth and clean and have the butter feel. I can't stand (no pun intended) when my footpegs are sloppy, I like to have the tight sturdy new feeling. I pop the pins out and clean them often and replace springs, pins and mounts (non austrian) once or twice a summer. 

I enjoy the challenge of making the bike work better for me every time I ride. Regardless if its the same track or not, usually conditions are different and require different adjustments. 

If you're new to the bike, or just got suspension done... first thing is learning the balance of the bike, how it pitches under braking and accelerating, straight line, lean angle, etc. There are many ways to adjust the balance and each way branches off and affects the next thing differently. Therefore there are an infinite number of possibilities that's why teams are literally always testing. 

Sag. For the love of god don't be afraid of adjusting this. There is no magic number. Anything a susp shop tells you is generally your baseline. Regardless of the number, its just a starting/reference point. There are many shops that have proven data that shows their setting/package works best at xxxMM but dont be afraid to adjust a half/full turn on the collar one way or the other, based on results go on, or return.

Fork height, same shit. baseline is usually 5mm. Up or down a few mm makes a huge difference. 

Using an appropriate spring rate for the weight applied is far more important than anything. 

To understand the concepts, over exaggerate it in your head...Do you want the bike "choppered out" (light weight on the front and heavier weight to the rear) or do you need more "stink bug" (more weight on the front and rear end higher) Finding the happy medium, then learning to control the action with damping . Clickers / adjusters on the outside, and valving, bleeds, restrictions in certain spots vs others, etc. Some valving may require heavier springs to work better, and vice versa. Again, start to understand the infinite possibilities here. Thats why it annoys me when people immediately shit talk a suspension company. Most have zero clue how intricate this stuff is, and how generalized suspension settings are for the general public.

 Every input (bump, braking, acceleration) is driven into the chassis and the energy needs to dissipate somewhere, controlling that, for an individuals preferences is the tough part. But I love it. Not sure if you can tell 🤓🤓🤣

I am seriously not riding fast enough to need suspension work on my YZ250 - the stock stuff is so good! (And I weigh 175 without gear - right in the wheelhouse for the springs.) 

I will tell you this, though - I ditched the stock handlebars like Fonzie dumps a chick who doesn't put out. Got my 997 bend, adjusted the stock levers to height and width as you mentioned, and swapped out the bar pad. (Color is everything - it makes you 5% faster. Facts.) I added a non-ribbed seat cover when I got my graphics, because I need more grip than stock but not so much that I can't reposition myself. The brakes are good, so the next thing I'm going to do is a pipe and silencer. If I can start riding closer to my old speed, I may need the next spring rate up, but until then I'm good. 

I always have to get ODI lock on rouge grips on my bikes. I also adjust my levers down so my elbows are out. Been doing that for years.

Renthal half waffles paired with a softer pair of bars ODI / Pro Taper / Renthal Fat Bar. Find a clutch lever that softens the pull to keep arm pump down. YZ250s weld up beefier chain guide tabs. YZ 250 Weld up a wear plate on the subframe where your boots eventually will rub through. Add a plastic Skid Plate. Replace r brake plastic disc shark fin protector with a metal one. Take the soft side of the velcro put it on your bars as extra traction for your bar timer / swim lap timer. Take out stock tubes and put in heavy duty / tubes / moose bib or tubeless system. Adjust the brake and shifter to my liking along with bar roll and control positions for maximum leverage and min drag / stiction. Slick Honey and Silicon Spray keep the plastic throttle tube spinning free. 

New bars, cut bars down, grips. 

I put gas in it.

Grease the link, swingarm wheel bearings and steering head. Bars, grips, levers, seat as needed. Steering stabilizer. Good tires. Once I know what gearing I like, I’ll get a high quality O-ring chain and Ironman sprocket setup that moves the wheel as far back as possible. Springs for my weight, sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get the springs right. 

Tall bars and let her rip… IMO we spend too much time trying to perfect rather than adapt… 

Can you tell me more about that? I'm trying to learn how to tune a shock better. Give me as much information as you're willing to type lol.

I'm that guy - how do you use it and why ??? Cheers

To me, every bike is different and that means different needs. EXCEPT, Renthal full round soft compound grips. Sunline forged levers too, back when you could get them.

KTM last 7-8 years…Full grease of chassis, loctite certain nuts/ bolts. Gearing/ Supersprox or Dicks steel rear sprocket/ RK Mxbgu thin oring chain..my bend of bars, lever adjustment…conevalve forks…. Tuned ECU, Vortex on a 4T, Stock tuned on a 2T…

I always cut my bars down, too  

I’m surprised nobody else mentioned it  

That's what I was thinking but add, check the filter, lube the chain and check tire pressure. Go ride. Modern bikes don't really need anything.

Biggest for me, by far, are bar bend, bar position, grips I like and lever position.  After that, familiar tires and PSI.

Adjust the sag and make sure tire pressure is good. Other than that, I can make anything work. I’m not fast enough to be picky. 

Before I even think about riding the bike I install anodized and color coordinated engine plugs, master cylinder caps, clevis, axle blocks, clutch and brake lever clamps, and oil filter cover. I usually take the opportunity to install color coordinated coolant hoses and vent lines as well. Finish it off with a multi colored ribbed seat cover and decal works graphics stem to stern and she is ready to purr. My budget is usually blown by this point but sometimes I will also replace the heavy aluminum fasteners with titanium.

Fork height and swap the stock filter for a twin air, with a twin air wash cover. 

LOOK GOOD, RIDE GOOD😎

You forgot the color coordinated brake lines! Rookie.😉

for the yz's steel braided front brake cable, after riding KTM for years, I cant ride without one.

after breaking in the suspension getting it re valved and sprung(210lb)

anything other then that is just for show

well, its just a feel, kinda hard to explain but I will try. First, I figure out where i'm happy with the low speed compression. Lets just say its in the stock setting for this example. For me, I like a perfectly balance weight bias front to rear. So I will find a whoop section, I ride in the desert/off road, and try to maintain a steady speed and feel if the rear is in sync with the forks. If the rear is riding lower through the stroke, I will increase high speed to bring the rear up. Say maybe an 1/8 of a turn in, no more. Then ride the same section again and adjust accordingly. If its riding high in the rear I do the opposite. I have found adding enough high speed to keep the rear up gives me a planted driving feel and I can attack high speed sections with a lot more speed and control. Not enough high speed the bike sinks in the stroke and you end up riding slower and deflecting off chop. It literally is a game changer once you figure it out. I have tested in the mornings on my test loops very unhappy with my bike and with a little tuning of the high speed, coming home feeling like a bad ass! haha

I think of the HSC as being a parallel flow path to the LSC. The adjustment sets when the fluid is allowed metered flow through the second path. It's a little bit like a Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) except it allows metered flow.