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Well I figured I will start from the beginning. Full extension with wheel off ground is 260mm. Ideally I want 25-30mm sag per Ohlins so that would drop to 235-230mm. I will start there and center compression and rebound and see what I get. Very possible I did it wrong, hell I'm half blind and deaf anyways. Plus it will give me something to do over the weekend. Ill post my results later. Also will be mounting my go pro to see the shock movement on a ride. A lot of helpful information in this post. Thanks to all who took the time to read and offer advice.
Sounds like a plan
Regarding rebound and compression....
I had also started with the midpoints of both rebound and compression, and making 1-2 clicks up or down. I believer there are 30 total clicks for each. I had caught Fuel Moto's suggesting of rebound = 8 from zero (softest) and compression = 4 out from zero (softest), and found this is a terrific starting point. Using the midpoint of range adjustment had me far from a plush ride.
Was out over the weekend, and had experimented with rebound and compression again, and wound up back to rebound = 8 out from zero, or softest, and compression 4 out from zero, or softest. Never got close to bottoming out and I hit some walloping bumps.
It should get close to bottoming on walloping bumps.
Well today I ran the collar back to 3mm which gave me 24mm sag. I kept the compression at 25 clicks and the rebound to 12. Took for a ride with the go pro mounted to watch the shock. It did bottom coming out of my driveway and I only went through the neighborhood. I think the key may be in the comp/reb adjustments.
It should get close to bottoming on walloping bumps.
Thankfully, that hasn't been the case.
When I had ordered my shocks, I went through Ohlins USA. The gent I spoke with (IIRC, his name was Jerry), basically loaded my weight, passenger weight and assumed luggage loads into their online calculator. Based on that, you can see the recommendations below, and although I use 1mm vs zero for solo, and 8mm vs the recommended 11mm for 2up, these settings are close to ideal.
From the Ohlins USA online spring calculator
Originally Posted by SSG_B
Well today I ran the collar back to 3mm which gave me 24mm sag. I kept the compression at 25 clicks and the rebound to 12. Took for a ride with the go pro mounted to watch the shock. It did bottom coming out of my driveway and I only went through the neighborhood. I think the key may be in the comp/reb adjustments.
On the clickers for the compression are you 25 clicks out from softest and 12 from softest for rebound? I stupidly was going the wrong way for up and down. Over the weekend I realized this, and backed down on the rebound. Soft is counter clockwise and harder is clockwise.
For the hell of it, try 8 out from softest for rebound and 4 out from softest for compression....who knows???
Edited to add: Just noticed your bike has a tour pack? I'm guessing that weighs 40-50lbs. Based on the snippet from the Ohlins calcuator above, and if you're 220lbs, 3mm might be a touch light on preload, but in the ball park.
If suspension is adjusted properly on a dirt bike it will bottom lightly (tap not bang) at least once around the track. This assures you are getting the benefit of using all the travel you have.
Now... On a street bike... I have no idea of how that translates but lightly bottoming on a large vertical drop or square input like a driveway transition does not seem unreasonable to me.
If you have NN inches of travel but never use all NN inches during certain rare instances chances are your suspension is not adjusted properly (too much hi-speed or too much low-speed compression damping).
Last edited by VortecCPI; Jun 3, 2024 at 06:39 PM.
Well I got that backwards, had to watch another video, The rebound ( bottom adjuster ) was at 25 clicks to the left ( looking at them from the rear of the bike ). The compression ( res ) was12 clicks Clockwise from soft.
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