Basic suspension settings?

[cleoent]

Please pardon my ignorance, i may not use the right terminology

I haven't really dont anything with my 01's suspension since i got it. I put in the xr400 .40's springs and just a couple days ago changed out the fluid and put in new 5w fluid.

My question is, on my front forks my clicker is one click out. Is that ok? I mostly ride intermediate/hard terrain and some (avoid when possible) rocky area's. Mostly single track. Is this an ok setting?

I haven't touched the sag on the rear shock or the clicker there either, what's a good baseline starting point?

Your help is appreciated as always, thanks

BTW- i have no intention of changing the forks to KX ones, too much money. :)

[midlifemoto]

an owners manual should provide a fairly comprehensive baseline, and then just trial and error from there

[Ondatrail]

I've never touched the front clickers. Set 100mm of sag in the back.

[cleoent]

ondatrail, what are your clickers set to?

[bradf]

One click out is rather extreme. Obviously there is little/no adjustment left in that direction. But, I also know people that ride with the clickers all the way in/all the way out and they can't tell any difference when they are adjusted to midway. This is because they ride so slow and on smooth fire roads that the suspension never really works. My buddy's 03 YZ250 had to have the fork compression all the way out because of the harshness and they were still harsh. I rebuilt them and modified them and now they are fine. There was obvious reasons for the harshness. This was after a large suspension company in Florida had rebuilt them. If you are perfectly satisfied with how it is now then leave it. Maybe there is nothing wrong with them and your riding style and conditions just like one click out.

Proper rear and front sag is necessary for a balanced suspension.

[cleoent]

i'm not happy with the suspension, which is why i'm trying to adjust. I set the bike to the stock settings, 10 clicks out up front, 16 clicks out in the back for both. We'll see how it does.

1 click out seemed rather extreme to me too!

[Indawoods]

Well... If I was you... I would have used some heavier weight oil. 5w is like water.... what's the point?

[cleoent]

dunno. The search feature is so hard to use here (brings up so many replies) that i tried looking for different weight oil and never found any threads :(

Sigh.

[Ondatrail]

I used ATF in both my fork and shock, I think thats about 5w to 7.5w. 10 clicks in on the rear. The most noticable diffrence were 5mm spacers in the forks and setting the sag to 100mm.

[Indawoods]

All ya gotta do is ask!

5wt in stock forks is like going backwards. I think I used 15wt when I had my stock forks... seemed to help quite a bit.

[cleoent]

i read alot about using atf, but my local suspension shop said it was a bad idea because ATF can vary between weights and is never consistent.

i'll try out the 5w, i'm sure it's an improvement over the other stuff. If not i'll just drain and fill with heavier weight :)

[Ondatrail]

5wt in stock forks is like going backwards.

Stock forks are backwards..... Should be USD's!!!

[KarlP]

I used a mix of half and half 10 and 5 wght fork oil for a weight of 7.5, just to be different. I know a lot of people use ATF, I used fork oil 'cause it said FORK OIL on the bottle. The stock forks worked pretty well. I switched to USD so probably didn't fool with them as much as I could have.

I set the rear sag per this boards recomendations (100 mm race sag) and took it for a ride a found the front/rear "attitude" strange. I'd stop, lay the bike over and twist the spring (adjusting the sag) and ride some more. After I got the attitude where I wanted it I went home and measured the race sag: about 100 mm, go figure

I started with the stock clicker settings on the rear. After some experimenting I settled on 8 clicks OUT for compression, 11 clicks OUT for rebound.

[cleoent]

great Karl, precisely what i was looking for :D

[KarlP]

Hey, here's a great trap to fall into: Be advised that it takes 10-15 minutes of hard riding before your suspension warms up and starts working good.
Several times I'd spend a few hours playing with clickers and sag settings and think I finally got it where it is working good. Next time I take it out it's awfull and I'd immediately start playing with stuff. Patience, man!

[canyncarvr]

You mentioned shock settings..and a 100mm figure was given...but not much said after that.

Set your sag FIRST. Messing with clickers (shock-wise) with the sag out of whack isn't productive.

..and 100mm is a good place to start.