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I have some very general and probably stupid questions that I am hoping some experienced folks can help provide some input on.
When tuning suspension for someone who is not fast- what are you trying to achieve? (Is it the same as tuning for a very fast rider?) Is it safe to say that the overall goal you are trying to accomplish is to make the bike as comfortable (plush/ soft?) and predictable as possible without it ever bottoming out? I understand there is probably much more in regard to the overall chassis to alter that comes down to rider choice with whatever they are comfortable with... But for the average person who is not scary fast on a motocross track- they arrive with a brand new bike, bone stock, sag is set, tire pressure is set, sprung to their weight, they are warmed up and ticking off laps. What is the next step? Is it all just rider preference from that point forward? What are you looking for in particular? How do you know what is too harsh through breaking bumps? Or how much dive is too much dive when braking, etc?
I have read from other threads, one of the best things an inexperienced person can do when trying to learn how to tune their own suspension is to crank up or down some settings and go ride a few laps just to see what they do. But that idea always sort of weirded me out.
Am I better off just keeping all clickers down the middle and focusing on riding enough that I can clearly identify what I am wanting out of the bike before making any changes?
When tuning suspension for someone who is not fast- what are you trying to achieve? (Is it the same as tuning for a very fast rider?) Is it safe to say that the overall goal you are trying to accomplish is to make the bike as comfortable (plush/ soft?) and predictable as possible without it ever bottoming out? I understand there is probably much more in regard to the overall chassis to alter that comes down to rider choice with whatever they are comfortable with... But for the average person who is not scary fast on a motocross track- they arrive with a brand new bike, bone stock, sag is set, tire pressure is set, sprung to their weight, they are warmed up and ticking off laps. What is the next step? Is it all just rider preference from that point forward? What are you looking for in particular? How do you know what is too harsh through breaking bumps? Or how much dive is too much dive when braking, etc?
I have read from other threads, one of the best things an inexperienced person can do when trying to learn how to tune their own suspension is to crank up or down some settings and go ride a few laps just to see what they do. But that idea always sort of weirded me out.
Am I better off just keeping all clickers down the middle and focusing on riding enough that I can clearly identify what I am wanting out of the bike before making any changes?
My take would be to start at a normal starting point which is what you mentioned: Tire pressure set, bike properly sprung for rider weight, forks at OEM height in clamps, sag set, bars & controls at comfortable position for the rider and clickers at OEM stock settings.
I don't see much use in 'tweaking' things right away for a slower rider. They start to know what they need as they gain speed and confidence.
Ryan
From there, we found a setting that gave that balance of rigidity/hold up vs plushness, cornering vs stability, etc. Similar to what your wrote, the blind changes were usually on a big scale; lots of clicks in or out, lots of turns on the low speed on shock, and so forth. I also got a copy of the "suspension bible" and have listened to things from ML512.
Some bikes too are sensitive to sag measurements, so we went through what that felt like as well (AER forks and some of the Yamaha 450Fs of previous years in regards to pitching or weight transfer). Just do your research.
The fact is MOST stock suspension on modern bikes will get the average rider within 90%, save for changes with springs. Yes, some limitations to AER forks and the BFRC on Suzuki, otherwise you can get close without spending a ton of $$$, just understanding what particular changes do to the bike and some simple physics.
The Shop
Stiffer suspension will inspire confidence and make you want to push the bike. The actual feeling you get when a fork is too stiff is when you skate around in turns and on lean angles. Shock is too stiff on the low speed when you feel it being slippery. Again, harshness is usually from something being too soft. Lack of traction is too hard.
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