This week's Tuesday Tune follows up on the last episode's focus on High and Low Speed Damping and delves into some setup concepts to be aware of. We take a look at the practical ranges of velocities that adjusters actually affect and how to understand that in a way that translates to relevant on-trail adjustment. Also covered is the process of bracketing, which is a relatively foolproof method of setting up each adjuster individually. Bracketing can be used on any external adjuster irrespective of how much you know about the effects of that adjuster - all you need to do is decide whether each change is better or worse than the previous setting. Easy!
There's a few things we need to put out there as well about using this information:
1. Obviously any changes you make to your suspension will change the behaviour of the bike. Be smart about this - don't make big changes then go and immediately send it off the biggest jump you can find without spending time getting used to the setting first.
2. Time matters a lot. Keep the time between changes to your suspension to a minimum, so that you have the best memory possible of the previous setting. Multiple adjustments in a single run are a good way to do that. Comparing setups hours or even days later is a really easy way to confuse yourself.
3. Trust your FIRST impression of any change - it is usually the most accurate one. You'll get used to anything over time, and what felt terrible initially may begin to feel normal as you get accustomed to it... even though it was terrible.
4. Getting someone else to make the changes for you, without telling you what they changed in order to eliminate placebo effects. Then re-read point number 1 above.
5. This is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive coverage of all possible setup methodologies. We do simplify and cut out information just to be able to squeeze it all in. If your on-trail experience does not agree with what you expected based on something we've said, your on trail experience should always take precedence as there's almost certainly a rift in the theory as it has been communicated or understood. In other words, trust your own perceptions.
6. Check your tyre pressures. They make a lot of difference.
Also, our apologies for missing the Tuesday Tune last week - the Luftkappe product launch left us swamped with too much other stuff to do!