Adjusting preload

Put a zip tie around the leg if your getting 80mm of travel or better then you have it set right.

--
J/O Trailblazer At large !!

"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

First, I want to thank the group for helping me to get a great fork. I was trying to decide
between a Manitou and a Rockshox and a couple folks suggested checking out Fox forks. I did and
got a Vanilla RL from BeyondBikes.com and I'm VERY happy with it.

I'm fine tuning it now and I wonder about adjusting the preload. I'm using it at 100mm, it has the
medium spring and I weigh about 160. The manual says to adjust it so it has about 15mm of sag when
I sit on
it. I've found this very difficult to do in practice. I get a different amount of sag every time
I try it, I guess due to variables in how I sit on it and dismount before I take the
measurment. I've also heard that one can set preload so the fork reaches 10mm less than the
maximum travel on the hardest hit I expect it to take. I've tried that and it seems to make
more sense to me and I like the way the fork feels at this setting. I'm interested in other
folks' opinions.

Thanks very much.

Preventing the fork from bottoming is not the only concern with springs. If you're a predominantly
x-c rider and don't have many big hits, you can afford to set the fork up softer if you like to have
a smoother ride. If you're a big-hit kinda rider, you need to worry about the bottoming a little
more. If you like a stiffer fork, you can spring it up and go that way. I personally like a stiffer
fork and put heavier springs in with thicker oil for more damping. I'm certain my fork won't bottom,
but it's not exactly plush. But that's good for me. Other people may like the softer fork. It's
really up to you.

Sag is usually the more correct measurement as you then know the fork is working in the correct
range. As long as the forks doesn't REGULARLY bottom out, you're better off with using sag as your
setup parameter. Again though, it's really what you like. In motorcycle racing, two guys can setup a
bike completely differently and still think it's good for them. It really depends on riding style,
comfort, whatever.

Cheers,

Scott..

S. Anderson said:

"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

First, I want to thank the group for helping me to get a great fork. I was trying to decide
between a Manitou and a Rockshox and a couple folks suggested checking out Fox forks. I did and
got a Vanilla RL from BeyondBikes.com and I'm VERY happy with it.

I'm fine tuning it now and I wonder about adjusting the preload. I'm using it at 100mm, it has the
medium spring and I weigh about 160. The manual says to adjust it so it has about 15mm of sag when
I sit on
it. I've found this very difficult to do in practice. I get a different amount of sag every time
I try it, I guess due to variables in how I sit on it and dismount before I take the
measurment. I've also heard that one can set preload so the fork reaches 10mm less than the
maximum travel on the hardest hit I expect it to take. I've tried that and it seems to make
more sense to me and I like the way the fork feels at this setting. I'm interested in other
folks' opinions.

Thanks very much.

Preventing the fork from bottoming is not the only concern with springs. If you're a predominantly
x-c rider and don't have many big hits, you can afford to set the fork up softer if you like to
have a smoother ride. If you're a big-hit kinda rider, you need to worry about the bottoming a
little more. If you like a stiffer fork, you can spring it up and go that way. I personally like a
stiffer fork and put heavier springs in with thicker oil for more damping. I'm certain my fork
won't bottom, but it's not exactly plush. But that's good for me. Other people may like the softer
fork. It's really up to you.

Sag is usually the more correct measurement as you then know the fork is working in the correct
range. As long as the forks doesn't REGULARLY bottom out, you're better off with using sag as your
setup parameter. Again though, it's really what you like. In motorcycle racing, two guys can setup
a bike completely differently and still think it's good for them. It really depends on riding
style, comfort, whatever.

I agree with the above. BUT 🙂))
- I've read that you should set them to bottom at least once per ride (a rubber band tied around the
downtube and initially set all the way down will tell you what your deepest compression is).
- In practice, I find that's too soft for my style of riding so I set them harder.

I'd use the above as a guide and tune them as you gain experience! I find firmer is better (for me)
in technical terrain, and softer is good when I'm just out for a "relaxing" ride.

David