written by Nick Lawson
There was a great turnout for the clubs first event of 2010. Steve from Gate 3 started by demonstrating how to check the sag on a bikes suspension. Firstly he made a mark to act as a reference point above the bikes rear axle, which as the sidepanel area where the race nunber would go. The process was:
Measue the axle to a reference point front and rear. Our example bike was 370mm front 485mm rear.
The bike was bounced a few times and the measurement repeated in order to measue static sag. The example bike was 350mm front and 445mm rear giving static sag of F 20mm and R 40mm.
A club member sat on the bike, in a proper setup this step should be done with a fully fuelled bike and the rider with all usual gear on. The measurements were taken again and they were 323mm front and 375 rear. By subtracting these figures from the first set the rider sag was 47mm front and 110mm rear. These figures should then be checked against the manufacturers manual.
Adjusting the sag at the rear is easy, just by turning the adjuster on the bottom of the rear shock but to alter the front it may be done by adding or removing frok spring spacers or may mean different springs. From the factory most bikes are set up for a 80kg rider.
The attendees asked Steve quite a lot of questions and some of the answers are below.
A good starting point for adjustment screw that have been fiddled with by someone alse is half way.
For Enduro use fork oil should be changed every 20 - 30 hours.
Rear shock adjusters, inner screw does low speed damping the the outer bit does high speed damping adjustment.
The club would like to thank Jim and Steve from Gate 3 for running the evening and the biscuits and drinks were well received.