manitu
100 W
When the question about proper suspension setup on electrifified MTB's came up in the stealth owners thread , I realized that there's not much info here about suspension. (wich i can find , anyway)
So I've decided to make my first contribution to the forum, A suspension setup thread.
First , the basics. The spring and the shock has two different jobs to do.
The spring's job is to carry the weight of you and the bike , + to push the wheel out again , after a hit.
The shock's job is to control the wheel movement when riding rough terrain.
The compression cartridge controls the force needed to control the compression of the shock/fork, and the rebound sets the speed wich it extends at.
You can never correct for a heavy hub-motor with a firmer spring , it will only give you less sag , and make the shock/fork top out.
Setting sag.
XC bikes use 20-25% sag while DH bikes use 30-35% sag . I Think these are good values for on-road and offroad e-bikes.
The sag is adjusted with you standing on the bike in attack position for a off-road bike , sitting for a road bike.
If you can't get the correct sag , you will need a firmer or softer spring. On air-shocks , adjust the main chamber pressure.
Setting rebound.
Rebound controls the speed wich the wheel extends at after a hit. It works against the spring , to slow down the wheel on its way down , to avoid the bike feeling like a pogo-stick. on DH/freeride bikes you set it as fast as possible , without overshooting. if you get top-outs , you have to little rebound damping.
The amount of rebound your shock/fork must have is dictated by the spring. While you may have to use a firmer spring than standard , rebound should be in the range of the adjustments.
Setting compression.
Compression damping have to cope with two tasks , wich isn't allways compatible. When you jump , it must stop the suspension from bottoming out violently.
I dont imagine too many e-bikers doing 6 feet jumps to flat , so I will no get too detailed here.
The other task is a bit more difficult. The compession damping must keep your wheels to the ground , while driving over bumps and potholes.
When you hit a bump , the unsprung weight will be accelrated upwards , and the compression damping must stop the wheel from leaving the ground.
Here we easily see the problem with hub-motors. The unsprung weight at the wheel can easily be 6 times as much with a hub motor, as it used to be.
Few shocks will cope with the extra weight without modification.
Modifications.
Oil.
MTB suspension usually use a suspension oil between 5wt and 10wt. You can get oil up to 25wt, and with most brands you can mix different oil weights to get the one you need. However , since most forks and all shocks use the same oil for rebound and compression damping , there are limits to how heavy oil you can use. (this is one reason why I love my marzocchi forks. Most Marz forks have the rebound in one leg , compression in the other) But as long as you don't have the rebound at the fastest setting , the first thing to do is to experiment with the oil.
Custom tune.
Lets face it, nothing beats a custom tune.
The guys at push factories (US) and tftuned (UK) can do magic with your suspension. (se links section)
they don't service all brands , so you might be out of luck. You might call them anyway , they will tell you wich shocks that will work for your application.
For forks , you have avalanche racing , wich makes dual and tripple shimmed cartridges wich fits inside a lot of forks.
Well , let the discussion begin! I'll update this post with the important bits as the thread develops. All links will be in post nr.2
One thing. English is not my first language , so please PM me if corrections is in order.
.manitu
So I've decided to make my first contribution to the forum, A suspension setup thread.
First , the basics. The spring and the shock has two different jobs to do.
The spring's job is to carry the weight of you and the bike , + to push the wheel out again , after a hit.
The shock's job is to control the wheel movement when riding rough terrain.
The compression cartridge controls the force needed to control the compression of the shock/fork, and the rebound sets the speed wich it extends at.
You can never correct for a heavy hub-motor with a firmer spring , it will only give you less sag , and make the shock/fork top out.
Setting sag.
XC bikes use 20-25% sag while DH bikes use 30-35% sag . I Think these are good values for on-road and offroad e-bikes.
The sag is adjusted with you standing on the bike in attack position for a off-road bike , sitting for a road bike.
If you can't get the correct sag , you will need a firmer or softer spring. On air-shocks , adjust the main chamber pressure.
Setting rebound.
Rebound controls the speed wich the wheel extends at after a hit. It works against the spring , to slow down the wheel on its way down , to avoid the bike feeling like a pogo-stick. on DH/freeride bikes you set it as fast as possible , without overshooting. if you get top-outs , you have to little rebound damping.
The amount of rebound your shock/fork must have is dictated by the spring. While you may have to use a firmer spring than standard , rebound should be in the range of the adjustments.
Setting compression.
Compression damping have to cope with two tasks , wich isn't allways compatible. When you jump , it must stop the suspension from bottoming out violently.
I dont imagine too many e-bikers doing 6 feet jumps to flat , so I will no get too detailed here.
The other task is a bit more difficult. The compession damping must keep your wheels to the ground , while driving over bumps and potholes.
When you hit a bump , the unsprung weight will be accelrated upwards , and the compression damping must stop the wheel from leaving the ground.
Here we easily see the problem with hub-motors. The unsprung weight at the wheel can easily be 6 times as much with a hub motor, as it used to be.
Few shocks will cope with the extra weight without modification.
Modifications.
Oil.
MTB suspension usually use a suspension oil between 5wt and 10wt. You can get oil up to 25wt, and with most brands you can mix different oil weights to get the one you need. However , since most forks and all shocks use the same oil for rebound and compression damping , there are limits to how heavy oil you can use. (this is one reason why I love my marzocchi forks. Most Marz forks have the rebound in one leg , compression in the other) But as long as you don't have the rebound at the fastest setting , the first thing to do is to experiment with the oil.
Custom tune.
Lets face it, nothing beats a custom tune.
The guys at push factories (US) and tftuned (UK) can do magic with your suspension. (se links section)
they don't service all brands , so you might be out of luck. You might call them anyway , they will tell you wich shocks that will work for your application.
For forks , you have avalanche racing , wich makes dual and tripple shimmed cartridges wich fits inside a lot of forks.
Well , let the discussion begin! I'll update this post with the important bits as the thread develops. All links will be in post nr.2
One thing. English is not my first language , so please PM me if corrections is in order.
.manitu