Rear Air Shock Set-up

Place the bike next to a wall or have a assistant hold the bike while you climb aboard. Wear what you would on a ride, including filled hydration pack, armor, and such. Stand on your pedals in the attack position, centering your weight over the bike. Gently bounce a few times, then slowly reach down and push the travel indicator(o-ring) up against the shock body, without compressing the shock. A more accurate method is to have your assistant measure the eye to eye of the shock, i.e. from the top of the upper bolt to the top of the lower bolt, assuming they are the same diameter, or as close to center to center as possible. Slowly dismount the bike, moving forward, so you don’t compress the shock. With your air spring pressure set properly, your travel indicator should move 30% of the shock stroke, or exposed shock stanchion. Increase or decrease air pressure five PSI at a time until proper sag is achieved. Write down the air pressure figure that it took to reach the proper sag point for your bike.

Example: For a shock size 7.875 inch eye to eye and a 2.25 inch stroke
30% of the stroke is 2.25*.30=.675 inches (the amount the o-ring or indicator moves)
the compressed eye to eye when setting sag would be 7.875-.675=7.2 inches

Front Air Fork Set-up

Place the bike next to a wall or have a assistant hold the bike while you climb aboard. Wear what you would on a ride, including filled hydration pack, armor, and such. Stand on your pedals in the attack position, centering your weight over the bike. Gently bounce a few times, then slowly reach down and push the travel indicator(o-ring) down against the dust seal, without compressing the fork. Slowly dismount the bike, moving backward, so you don’t compress the fork. With your air spring pressure set properly, your travel indicator should move 22% of the fork travel. Increase or decrease air pressure five PSI at a time until proper sag is achieved. Write down the air pressure figure that it took to reach the proper sag point for your bike.

Example: For a 160 mm travel fork
22% of the travel is 160*.22=35.2 mm (the amount the o-ring or indicator moves)

Rear Coil Shock Set-up

Place the bike next to a wall or have a assistant hold the bike while you climb aboard. Wear what you would on a ride, including filled hydration pack, armor, and such. Stand on your pedals in the attack position, centering your weight over the bike. Gently bounce a few times, have your assistant measure the eye to eye of the shock, i.e. from the top of the upper bolt to the top of the lower bolt, assuming they are the same diameter, or as close to center to center as possible. With your spring preload set properly, the eye to eye should decrease by 30% of the shock stroke. Increase or decrease the number of turns of preload until proper sag is achieved. Write down the number of turns of preload that it took to reach the proper sag point for your bike. The number of turns is counted with the bike hanging, no weight on the wheels, from the point at which the spring starts to not rattle to the required preload turns to achieve the proper sag. This number must fall within 1.5 turns to 4.5 turns, values less than 1.5 turns requires you purchase a lighter spring, and values greater than 4.5 turns requires a stiffer spring. When looking for the new spring be sure that the spring diameter and stroke match your shock spring collars and shaft stroke. Avalanche, Rockshox and Romic springs are 1.5 inch inside diameter, Cane Creek, Marzocchi springs are 1.43 inches inside diameter and Fox & Elka are 1.35 inches inside diameter. Most 1.43 springs will work on smaller shocks, just check the clearance with the reservoir and spring wire.

Example: For a shock size 7.875 inch eye to eye and a 2.25 inch stroke
30% of the stroke is 2.25*.30=.675 inches
the compressed eye to eye when setting sag would be 7.875-.675=7.2 inches

Front Coil Fork Set-up

Place the bike next to a wall or have a assistant hold the bike while you climb aboard. Wear what you would on a ride, including filled hydration pack, armor, and such. Stand on your pedals in the attack position, centering your weight over the bike. Gently bounce a few times, then slowly reach down and push the travel indicator(o-ring) down against the dust seal, without compressing the fork. Slowly dismount the bike, moving backward, so you don’t compress the fork. With your spring preload adjuster or preload washers set properly, your travel indicator should move 22% of the fork travel. Increase or decrease spring preload until proper sag is achieved. Remove the fork cap and measure how much spring preload is added when the cap is screwed back on. Write down amount of preload that it took to reach the proper sag point for your bike. This number must fall within 5 mm to 10 mm, values less than 5 mm requires you purchase a lighter spring, and values greater than 10 mm requires a stiffer spring.

Example: For a 160 mm travel fork
22% of the travel is 160*.22=35.2 mm (the amount the o-ring or indicator moves)