OK its been raining here lately so I have been confined to the garage working on the Bomb and decided I would set the rear preload since I never have. When I take it out I notice the rear is very stiff but never thought anything about it untill I remembered who I bought it from (he was about 6'6" and about 250lbs) so i started setting it up and noticed that I had to really let up off the rear spring before it started getting to 3 1/2"-4" of rear sag and finally got it o 4" but Im almost out of adjustment (like 5 threads left on shock) and it sits WAYYYYY lower than it did. Is this normal for a rider that is 5'6" and about 165 lbs? heres what I did when I set it up, I lifted the *** end until it settled as high as it would then sat on it and measured the difference then loosend the spring and re did the procedure untill I finally came to 4 inches of sag with me on it. Now how do I di the front?

 

what you did sounds correct - you want 30% of the rear shocks travel to be sag (3.5 - 4"), which is the difference between fully extended and you on it in normal ride position on seat.

The front is similiar - I found that 2.5" of sag, 3" max (fully extended minus you on it) is needed to really combat bottoming on deep rut impacts or small nose dives off jumps. this minimal sag also increases caster angle to combat some of the infamous wondering steering. when measuring the front sag it is important to roll the bike back and forth after you get on prior to measuring because the tires have to spread for the suspension to settle.

Any change in front suspension settings will REQUIRE toe to be readjusted, as toe changes througout suspension travel. ideal toe on my '01 DS I've found to be between neutral and 1/8" toe-out. this gives good steering response for quick donuts on tight trails, while also minimizing high speed wonder about as well as can be. toe is to be measured with you on bike, measure across front of tires center to center, then across back of tires center to center (both in line with hub center). difference is toe, smaller front dimension is toe-in, smaller rear dimension is toe-out.

 

Thanks Hightower, that is what I was thinking but I just wanted to make sure. The only thing I noticed is after looking at the front shocks is that there is VERY little adjustment left in them, like 5 threads tops. So anyway I will check into it and see what I come up with. One thing I did notice is that now the bike is alot lower in the seat area after the rear shock adjustment and it feels real nice for a smaller rider such as myself and the quad now doesnt have that top heavy feeling it did before. I can wait to hit the trails and see what it does out there!

 

OK I just setup the front sag and now my "C" clips are on the second ringland from the bottom and I have just over 3" of sag. Only thing left to do is rest the toe which I will need one of my buddies to help with so that will have to wait till tomorrow.