Ask the Editors: Setting the Sag
Don’t let sag intimidate you- at its simplest it is simply a measurement to determine whether or not your shock springs are in proper range for the weight of the rider and for the weight of the quad itself. The reason it’s important is because you could spend your days fiddling with the clicker adjustments on your shocks and still not achieve proper performance if the sag is off.
Measuring it is surprisingly simple. Lift up on the machine’s grab bar so that the rear of the suspension is unloaded but not so much that the tires lose contact with the ground. Measure the distance between the center of the rear axle to the fenders.
Then get on the quad and have your friend measure the distance once more with your weight in the saddle. Subtract the difference between the two numbers and you have your sag measurement. Simple, right?
So once you have that number, now what? You want to come in at about 10% percent of the total suspension travel as possible.. So 10″ of travel would be 1″ of sag.
Use the collar on the rear shock(s) to rotate in the amount of preload on the shock spring and keep measuring until you hit the mark. If you have the shock spring turned all the way in and still can’t keep the measurement because of too much weight, you need a stiffer shock spring. Conversely if you have it spun all the way out out and can’t get the rear to sink enough to hit the target sag zone, you’re a candidate for a lighter spring.
Same principle applies to the front shocks as well only this time you take your measurement from the floor to a center point on the front of the quad’s frame. You may want to make a tiny dot with a wipe-away marker so that you measure the same spot both times.
