Your bike could ride so much better!

Be honest - when was the last time you really adjusted your suspension? If you're like 90% of riders, the answer is: never.

I also slacked off for years. I did the bare minimum, according to the sticker, and went for a ride. Did it spring? Yes. Was it right? I didn't know any better...

It wasn't until I finally pushed myself to dive into it properly that my eyes were opened. Now I don't understand how I could have ridden "blindly" for so long. That's why I'll show you how to set up your suspension quickly, simply, and effectively – without telemetry.

Last year, I had a rather unpleasant fall where both my wrists took a hit. And since I'm still not fully fit, I set myself the goal of fine-tuning my bike to be as comfortable as possible and to minimise the strain on my hands. This means adjusting the suspension, but also other things like riding position, cockpit, and pedals.

In this article, I will focus mainly on air suspension, but the principles can also be applied to coil suspension, and we will briefly go through all the basic terms.

The Basics? Functional Suspension

There's no point in adjusting something that doesn't work. Is your fork neglected, dry, and hasn't been serviced in two years? First, service it. Then, adjust it.

The Biggest Myth: Soft = Comfortable?

I've met many people (and I made this mistake myself) who thought that soft suspension was comfortable suspension. However, this is a big misconception.

Air suspension can be simply divided into three zones:

• 1st third - smooths out small bumps
• 2nd third - medium bumps - for example, larger roots and rocks
• 3rd third - biggest impacts - drop landings, large compressions

It's important to realise that air shocks are progressive.

In layman's terms, this means that the more you want to compress the suspension, the more force you need to apply. This implies that it is most sensitive in the first half of the travel, because even a relatively small force can move it. If it's too soft, you'll very easily blow through this zone and ride, so to speak, in the harsh end of the travel, which is uncomfortable.

That's why SAG is crucial. It's the measure of how much the suspension compresses when you're on the bike in full gear and just standing still.

I've also encountered the question: "What's SAG even good for? It just reduces my travel." You need to realise that trail irregularities aren't just in the form of roots and rocks, where the suspension compresses, but also in the form of dips, where you need the damping to extend to follow these "negative" irregularities.

📌 Disclaimer: Write down all your settings and changes, so you can go back if you get lost after a while. This is extremely important. How you write it down is up to you. The table I use can be found at this link. I stole it from Jordi Cortes, who is a suspension guru from FOX.

Set your SAG at home (in under 10 minutes)

You'll need a shock pump, a ruler or tape measure, and a calculator.

1. Dress as you usually ride – helmet, protectors, backpack, water, keys, phone, basically everything you carry when you ride, and weigh yourself.
2. On the fork or in the manufacturer's manual, you should find recommended settings for your weight. Inflate the suspension to this value.
3. SAG is measured with all settings at minimum, meaning compression open and rebound fastest.
4. Place the bike on a flat surface and get into your riding position (ideally, have someone hold you, or lean against something).
5. Compress the suspension and push the O-ring on the stanchion all the way down.
6. Slowly dismount and measure the distance to the O-ring. RockShox has a scale on its stanchions. If you don't have a scale, measure with a ruler.
7. Calculate your % SAG - Formula:
   (Measured sag in mm / Total travel in mm) x 100
• Fork: ideally 15–25% of total travel
• Rear shock: 25–30% of total travel

If you have too little SAG, the bike will be stiff and unwilling to "conform" to the terrain. Too much SAG, on the other hand, means you're constantly at the end of the travel and the suspension isn't working effectively. I usually stick to the formula: 25% for the fork and 30% for the shock, and then I go from there.

Add or remove pressure in the air chamber and try again. Feel free to repeat this 2–3 times until you get it right. This is the foundation.

Dials on the Fork and Shock: What do they do?

On the fork and shock, you'll find various small rotary adjusters – often coloured and with clicks. Each of them affects how the suspension reacts. Originally, clicks are counted from closed/slow towards open/fast.

Essentially, it doesn't matter how you count them, but you must always do it the same way. It sounds complicated, but when you know what they do, you can get much more out of your bike.

Rebound

Rebound is divided into low-speed and high-speed. Riders often think it's about how fast they're going on the trail. That's not entirely true. You can go 50 km/h on a flow trail and never even reach HSR. It refers to the speed at which the damping piston compresses.

Low Speed Rebound (LSR)

Suspension's reaction to slow compression and release. This mostly involves rider movements: pumping, rebounding off jump take-offs, riding over smaller bumps.

High Speed Rebound (HSR)

How quickly the suspension returns from a large, fast impact. For example, landing a drop or hitting a large root. You'll usually only find this function on top-tier models.

Too slow rebound = bike doesn't return in time, packs down.
Too fast = bike bounces off the terrain.

Compression

If you have the air chamber pressure set correctly, but still feel that the fork dives too much, you can fine-tune its behaviour with compression.

Low Speed Compression (LSC)

As with rebound, this mostly involves rider movements: pumping, rebounding off jumps, powerful pedalling, pushing into berms, and similar actions.

High Speed Compression (HSC)

Resistance to a sudden impact – this is about how much your bike "gives" when hitting a large rock, root, or landing. As with rebound, this function is found on top-tier suspension.

Tokens: The secret weapon of progressivity

Plastic inserts that you can put into the air chamber to increase the suspension's progressivity. So, at the same pressure, it will be harder to bottom out.

They are used if everything else is set correctly, but you feel that you bottom out too often, or in places where you shouldn't. However, you need to be careful to buy the correct ones for your type and brand of suspension.

Bracketing – The (not-so-secret) technique even pros use

And now for the best part: how to fine-tune all those dials and clicks without guessing? It's called bracketing – and it's brutally simple (and effective). The best thing about it is that you get to ride!

In theory, you don't even need to know what each setting does.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Set your suspension to the manufacturer's recommended values, or start in the middle. This will shorten the testing time. If you have RockShox suspension, you can look up recommendations in their TrailHead app using the serial number.
2. Find a test trail. Ideally, one that you ride most often. There's no point in setting up your bike on a DH track in a bike park if you spend 90% of your time riding flow trails and jumps. It shouldn't be too long, as you'll be repeating it.
3. Do a few initial runs to understand how the bike behaves and to warm up. Try to ride the same line.
4. Always adjust only one parameter and always only on the fork or on the shock. Ideally in this order: LSR, LSC, HSC, HSR. Don't change anything else on the bike: tire pressure, handlebar angle, Flip Chip, brake lever angle...
5. Start with the fork settings, then the shock.
6. Turn the setting by two clicks. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.
7. Test and observe how the bike behaves. Does it ride better or worse?
8. If better, continue in that direction. If worse, go back. This way, you'll arrive at a specific setting that suits you best. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.
9. Do this gradually for each parameter. Don't worry, it's not rocket science. After a few rides, your bike will be tuned exactly to your liking – not according to some theoretical "ideal."
10. WRITE DOWN the final values. In a week, you won won't remember what you had.

Final Observations

• I have two bikes. A classic enduro and an e-enduro. I always felt that the e-bike had better, more sensitive suspension and it was like riding on a cushion. Plus, my classic enduro has a basic RS Lyrik Select. However, I tuned it better this way than the FOX 38 Performance Elite on my e-bike, which has all the mentioned settings.
• If you're riding well and suddenly feel bad about your ride after a setting change, it's not your imagination. It will be the setting, not you.
• If you don't feel a change after two clicks, try a more drastic change.
• Settings overlap. LSR and LSC also affect HSR and HSC. That's why these settings are missing on lower-end models.
• It would be good if there was at least one larger obstacle on the trail so you could test whether you bottom out or not.

To save energy, I did the setup in a bike park that has trails most similar to what I ride. The chairlift gives you time to rest and evaluate your ride.

• When you change the type of terrain and the bike suddenly feels poorly set up, DO NOT TINKER with it immediately. I set up my bike on enduro trails, and when I got to a flow trail, I felt the rebound was too fast. It took a few rides to get used to it, but then it was fine.
• A beginner will have their bike set up differently than a more advanced rider. If you're starting out, you'll gradually improve and get faster. You'll also need to adjust your bike's settings. The same applies if you significantly lose or gain weight. The advantage is that you already know what feeling you should get from the bike, so finding new settings will take less time.

Your bike can do more, it just needs a little help

And for those chasing time. Right on the first ride on my test loop, I set PRs not only on the descent but also on the climb. So there really is something to it. It doesn't matter if you ride trails, enduro, or just cruise the woods on weekends. Properly set up suspension will give you greater control, more confidence, comfort, and more fun.

And most importantly, you'll get to know your bike, learn new things, and have a full day of riding ahead of you. What could be better? 😁