The Benefits of Custom Tuned Mountain Bike Suspension
Custom tuned mountain bike suspension is the process of fine-tuning stock OEM suspension components (fork and shock) of a mountain bike to suit the specific needs and preferences of the rider. This involves adjusting various parameters such as compression valving, rebound valving, air pressure, coil spring, and various other internal and external customized parts to optimize the suspension performance for a particular rider's weight, riding style, and the terrain they ride on. Some of the benefits of custom tuned mountain bike suspension the rider can experience are the following:
Enhanced Comfort: Custom tuning allows the suspension to be optimized for the rider's weight, resulting in improved comfort, traction, stability, and safety. The suspension can be set up to absorb small to large bumps, rocks, and jumps more effectively. This will reduce rider fatigue and increase overall ride comfort.
Improved Control: By fine-tuning suspension, the rider can achieve better control and handling. Adjusting compression and rebound damping helps to fine tune the bike's response to impacts, allowing for better traction and stability. This is particularly important when riding on advanced terrain and various trail features.
Increased Efficiency: Custom tuning enables the suspension to work more efficiently by reducing unnecessary rider energy loss. By balancing the fork and shock, the bike will gain support and suppleness.
Better Handling: Well-tuned suspension will greatly enhance the bike's handling characteristics. By optimizing the suspension setup, the rider can improve cornering performance, stability in technical sections, and overall bike responsiveness. This translates into increased confidence on the trail and the ability to tackle more demanding riding conditions.
Personalized Performance: Every rider has unique preferences and riding styles. Custom tuning allows Fluid Focus to tailor suspension to match individual needs and preferences. Custom tuning allows us the flexibility to achieve the desired performance characteristics allowing the suspension to be optimized for the rider's specific requirements and unlocking the full potential of the bike and enhancing the overall riding experience.
How Does Fluid Focus Custom Tune?
*We should note that changing the valving is a complex process and to do it correctly requires specialty tools such as a suspension dyno. Internally the damper needs to remain balanced to perform properly. Also, reducing friction in your fork or shock is just as important as tuning. Tuning won’t be as effective if you have excess friction from your bushings, seals, etc. OR your suspension is overdue for service *
Custom tuning refers to modifying the valving system within the shock or fork. The valving system consists of a series of small ports and adjuster needles, channels, and valves that control the flow of oil through the damper. By adjusting these valving components, the oil flow characteristics can be modified to achieve specific damping profiles.
Damping is the process of controlling the movement of the damper (or your fork and shock) by reducing or creating more oil flow. This is largely how you set the parameters of compression and rebound.
Changing the valving helps control the oil flow in the following ways:
Compression Damping: Compression damping controls the rate at which the suspension compresses when encountering an impact. It helps manage the speed and force of compression to maintain stability and preventing the suspension from bottoming out. By altering the valving, such as adjusting the size and number of piston ports or changing the valving shims, the flow of oil during compression can be increased or decreased. This affects how the suspension compresses, providing different levels of resistance and influencing the overall ride feel.
Rebound Damping: Rebound damping is how fast the suspension extends after compression. It controls how quickly the suspension returns to its original position, preventing a fork or shock from bouncing back too fast (think of a pogo stick) and causing loss of traction or instability. If rebound is too slow this will cause “packing”, which means the damper cannot extend fast enough. Packing will make a fork or shock feel harsh mimicking stiff compression. Adjusting the valving will alter the flow of oil during rebound, affecting the speed and smoothness of the extension. By modifying the valving, Fluid Focus can fine-tune the rebound characteristics to match a rider’s preferences and optimize the suspension's ability to track the terrain.
Conclusion
By changing the valving, suspension can be made stiffer or softer, depending on the desired damping characteristics the rider is looking to achieve. Fluid Focus can customize the suspension to suit the rider’s weight and riding style for the specific terrain they are riding. Stiffer valving can make your suspension feel more plush as can faster rebound speeds.
Here are a few examples to help with adjusting your suspension after setting sag to the frame manufacturers recommendation. These numbers don’t have to be set in stone but at least you’ll have a starting point and reference.
Fork or shock feeling stiff/harsh: Open rebound, suspension might be packing.
Fork or shock feeling stiff/harsh: Stiffen compression to get the fork or shock to ride in the initial part of the travel.
If you have a coil shock, you should have about 1mm of preload for optimal performance.
Are you using too much psi to achieve more support: Tune the damper to add support and regain your low-speed compliance and traction.
Using a lot of volume spacers and low psi. Tune the damper to gain more support and a supple initial feel.
Mid Stroke support isn’t real. You cannot isolate the “mid stroke” (we do not have bypass shocks in the mtb industry), but you can add damping to add support overall.
