Tuning Tips: Forks

Upon receiving your suspension after service, they are ready to bolt on to your bike. The oil will be set at a level which should be close for you. The compression and rebound adjustments will be within a few clicks in either direction. If no revalving has been requested your oil level and adjustment positions will be returned to where they were upon arriving at Faultline.

The oil level has been set correctly but if your forks are allowed to lay flat, oil may drain from the cartridge rods. To remedy this, before installing the forks on your bike stand them up straight and pump them about ten times, this will force oil back into the cartridges.

When installing your forks be sure not to overtighten the triple clamp bolts as this may keep your forks from operating properly. Always follow the manufacturers recommended torque specifications. Before tightening the axle pinch bolts, compress your suspension a few times to align your forks on the axle. Failure to do so may also cause your suspension to work improperly and possibly cause internal damage.

Setting the Compression

While you ride your bike your suspension should travel smoothly over each obstacle you tackle. While adjusting your suspension you should find a section of the trail or track which you feel your suspension could work better over, make adjustments and ride the same part of the trail or track. This should eliminate some of the variables which make suspension tuning so difficult.

High Speed vs. Low Speed Compression

High and low speed compression refers to the amount of travel used with respect to time. Using a lot of travel in a short period of time (like landing off of a supercross triple) would be considered high speed compression. Using a smaller amount of travel per unit time (like braking and acceleration bumps) would be considered low speed compression.

Now that you have selected a series of obstacles to focus your attention on you can begin fine tuning your forks for you. If your forks seem harsh over small bumps adjust your clickers to decrease the amount of compression damping, usually backing the adjuster out. It's recommendable to move the adjuster in three to four click increments at first so the difference is noticeable. If your fork bottoms harshly over large obstacles you may need to change the oil height or spring rate. Remember that ideally your fork should bottom on the largest obstacle you are tackling.

Setting the Rebound

Rebound is the speed at which your wheel returns to the ground after an obstacle. Ideally your wheels would never leave the ground. Rebound will affect your bike in a straight line as well as in corners. Find a good corner and, preferably a short sweeper. The forks should compress as you set up for the corner as you use the front brakes. The rate at which your front end rebounds can keep your front end stuck to the ground or make it wash out like a maytag. Use your rebound damping clickers so that your front end comes up slow enough to keep your wheel on the ground but doesn't settle in and not come back up.

By tightening the rebound adjustment you will slow the forks rebound down, by loosening the rebound adjustment you will increase the rate at which the front end comes back up. Now that your forks work well in turns make sure they also work well on jumps and bumps. Keeping in mind what adjusting the rebound does, make sure that your wheel returns to the ground quickly after an obstacle but does not bounce off berms or jumps.

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