Hey guys, for the guys who don’t know me – I am SD and I run the largest setup providing service on MXB.

I get lots of questions regarding bike setup and how to actually make it half decent, so here is some information and tips on suspension.

P.S. I will be updating this as I go along…

==================================================

— Forks —

Spring –
This is the ‘weight’ of the spring, in MXB this is used for fine tuning the suspension rather than accommodating different rider weights like IRL.

Bump –
The bump is the Compression IRL, it is used to control the rate at which the forks compress.

Rebound –
The rebound is used to control the rate at which the compressed suspension returns to full extension.

Preload –
This is used to control the stiffness of the forks giving a greater depth of fine turning settings in game. The preload also effects the sag of the bike.

Oil –
The oil is the amount of oil that is in the forks, the more oil there is then the stiffer the forks will be. –IMPORTANT FACT– The Oil is measured weird! The mm measurement is the distance of the oil from the top of the fork, so decreasing the mm of oil will actually be increasing the amount of oil in the forks thusly making it stiffer!

— Shock —

Spring –
This is the ‘weight’ of the spring, in MXB this is used for fine tuning the Sag rather than accommodating different rider weights like IRL.

Slow Bump (Slow Speed) –
This is used to control the stiffness of the ‘slow speed compression/rebound’. Now the slow and fast bump is not about the speed in which the bike is travelling at, it is about how fast the shaft of the shock is moving. For example – You are going 50mph over some really smooth and low rollers, this would be using the slow speed compression and rebound because of the shock moving slowly. However say you are going 20mph on Lierop in a really rough and steep wavy section, this would be using the high speed rebound and compression because the shock is compressing and rebounding really fast.

Fast Bump (High Speed) –
This is used to control the stiffness of the ‘high speed compression/rebound’. Refer to my statement above for the explanation.

Rebound –
Effects how slowly or fast the shock returns to full extension.

Preload –
This effects the overall stiffness of the rear of the bike and is used to set the Sag along side the Spring.

Tips –
— When setting Sag, I recommend a race sag of 65 front and 105 rear.

— When setting Sag, I recommend changing the spring value before changing the preload as this will affect the stiffness of the rear end.

— How to tell if you need to change fast or slow bump? –
If you are dropping down hard or casing a jump and it feels like the bike is bottoming out, you can stiffen (decrease) the fast bump which will make the shock compress less in those situations.

If you are coming in or out of a corner and you feel it is ‘stiff’ when hitting the chop, you can soften (increase) the slow bump which will make the shock compress more and softer.

— How can I tell if I am being kicked because my rebound is too fast? –
This is a problem because most people will automatically stiffen (slow down) the rebound however there is a large possibility you are being kicked because of the shock being at the bottom of the stroke. When the shock is at the bottom of the stoke it has bottomed out and then it has no where to go, so inturn it kicks the bike around.

You should try to soften (speed up) the rebound as this will keep it higher in the stroke and further away from bottoming out.

— How can I can I tell if I should speed up or slow down my rebound? –
A good way to tell is if you are coming out of a corner and you hit the first acceleration bump, if the bike kicks straight away it could mean that your rebound is too fast and then you should slow it down.

But if it feels good for the first couple bumps but then starts to feel harsh, it could be that your rebound is too slow and that you will need to speed it up.

As I said before, I will be adding to this and please feel free to add in the comments to my post if you disagree or have anything to add to my stuff.