Dual Air Suspension Settings for Road Use (recommendations?)

[hillzofvalp]

My rockshox reba wasn't working right.... I just recently learned that the bushings are going bad and realized I actually had to replace the oil every 1000-1500miles. So I cleaned it out (dirty oil inside) and added the recommended amount of oil (5wt Maxima from motorcycle shop) and now it's night and day difference.

BUT, I WANT IT BETTER!

My bike has about 22 pounds in the triangle. I weigh 195 lbs. I pumped up the shock to 150psi in the positive chamber, and 140-145psi in the negative chamber. This range of pressure is recommended for riders over 200lbs. But THAT'S for mountain bike riding I would assume. What do you guys recommend for the pressures on the road? I've been locking out about 50% at 150/140. I think the thing feels a bit stiff over bumps even with no lock out, and sometimes it likes to stay sagged at 50% at least from my limited view looking down while riding.

 

[motomech]

Sounds like you need a new shock.
On my Fox Float, I keep the pressure around 125 psi[it's hard to know exactly, the Heisenburg Principle of Uncertainty applies when checking high pressures in small volumes], which equates to less than a third sag[total travel is 5 inches]and a taunt but comfortable ride. That setting is rather high, but I weight 250 Lb.s and need to maintain ground clearance.
The suspension, both the Dirt Jumper forks and the Float rear end are high-points on this old Rocky Mountain X-county. The rear actually feels like a long-travel dirt bike much of the time.
I guess a testimony of how well it works is that the settings are not all that crucial to comfort for moderate speed street riding and I would think your system should be likewise.
Changing fork oil on a bicycle every 1000-1500 miles seems rather anal. A routine interval on a Motorcycle might be 10,000 miles or yearly. Oils break down as a function of heat and pressure, something a motorcycle is going to provide much more of than a bicycle.

 

[hillzofvalp]

I think the seals on mine must be bad then because the oil was filthy and there was hardly any in the lowers. I read in a mtx forum that you are supposed to check the oil quality every thousand miles... Another person said every 20 hours. Of course that's a different style of riding. I got this fork used on eBay but with new enduro seals.. When I opened it up the oil sponge was clean. I'm leaving it out because it's a pain to put back in... Someone also said there is no pint to it since it dries out quickly.

There are bushing and rebuild kits I will try before a new fork. I'm looking to go down from 29" eventually anyways.

In addition to the pressure ratios, I wonder what rebound and damping others set their shocks for the road. I was just playing with pressures over a very bad street and found a sweet spot but then forgot it when I changed pressures a few more times. I have found that 170psi in positive keeps me at 15-25% sag (80mm total travel)

 

[MadRhino]

Suspension tuning and maintenance is different for every bike, rider and terrain.

I change the oil every week in my Boxxer WC Air fork, and rebuild the Rocco WC Air shock every 2K miles. Air Suspensions are well known to require much more maintenance than spring loaded ones. My Boxxer WC Ti has 5K miles and never been serviced, and my 5th Element shock usually does a whole season.

If you ride the street with a DH rig, you can set some extra sag and slow the rebound. This will make it more comfortable, and it also cuts on maintenance when you set the suspension to be less aggressive.

 

[hillzofvalp]

How many miles do you ride a week....? Do to to primarily off road?

Also, how do you approach keeping the stanchions lubricAted? The little foam ring in mine was a bitch to get back in without taking out the wipers so I just left them out. I'm reading some people put some kind of thick grease in the groove where the ring would go....

Wouldn't overfilling the air spring lower compartment with say 20mL of oil instead of the recommended 15mL trend to keeping the stanchions lubricated once fully compressed? No. That's not right.

One more thing.. Do you obsess about getting lint in the chambers when you disassemble the fork?

 

[MadRhino]

Unless I don't like the stock fork operation, I never do any mod and strictly follow the manufacturer's instruction manual for maintenance. I modded some crap forks in the past, but now I only buy DH racing forks that work fine without the need of any mod, and maintain them properly.

Shocks are a different story. I have a professional rebuild and upgrade them as needed every winter, and usually ride them a few years. I always start a new season with half a dozen shocks ready to ride and just replace them when needed.

I ride more than twice the mileage in the mountain trails, as I do on the street. My total mileage per year is about 15K miles, that is shared on 3 bikes unevenly. My favorite mountain rig can see over 500 miles in a summer week when conditions are ideal, and my daily commuter can see as low as 75 miles in a bad winter week.