All Mountain bikes like the Specialized Enduro, Santa Cruz Blur LT or Yeti ASR-7 are very versatile machines, capable of performing well in a variety of riding situations, disciplines and styles. But all of the possible adjustments can be intimidating if you don’t understand how they affect your ride.

We’ll talk a little about shock setup. Shocks absorbers and suspension forks, regardless of whether they are air sprung or coil sprung, generally have 2 main adjustments:

• Spring Preload: this adjustment affects the stiffness of the shock or fork, and to some extent determines ride height. Higher preload will make the shock more resistant to travel in response to bump forces.
• Rebound Damping: this adjustment determines how quickly the shock or fork returns after being compressed by bump forces. “Slower” rebound settings cause the shock to return more slowly to its original position.

Higher-end shocks may also have:

• Compression Damping: slows the shock’s response to bump forces, and also may be used to “lock out” the shock so it firmly resists all bump forces.
• Compression Gate: adjusts the point at which compression damping resistance is overcome, allowing the fork to move through its travel in response to bump forces.
• Travel Adjustment: changes ride height of the fork or shock, which affects both the travel length of the shock and the geometry of the bike.

Sag is a measurement of how far the shocks compress when a rider’s weight is on the bike at rest. Shocks perform their jobs best when they are sagged properly; this is adjusted by either decreasing preload, or on more expensive shocks, by adjusting a negative spring which pushes against the main spring.

Here’s a great article from MBUK that details how to adjust your bike‘s tire pressure, fork height, shock sag and seat height for everything from dirt jumping to cross country. Read On »