Can someone suggest the best way to tune or setup the Suspension on my Raptor to fit me?

I'm not understanding the best way to go about this and looking for the differences between:

Preload
Dampening
Compression
And whatever else is adjustable

Where do I start?!?!?!

The bike seems to ride a little on the rough/hard side and the thing that comes to mind is messing with the pre-load because I'm not sure what the others do. Feels like the fronts are too stiff.

I typically ride in the sand dunes and some trails. No MX-Racing or serious jumping.

Thanks,

Jason

 

(Preload Adjustment)

By turning the large nut at the bottom of the spring you can adjust the springs tension to suit your body weight. To properly make this adjustment you will need to measure the "ride height sag"


REAR SHOCK

1) lift the rear wheels up off the ground.
2) With the wheels off the ground, measure the distance from the top center of the rear axle to some point straight above it on the ATVs frame. Write this dimension down.
3) With all your riding gear on plop your butt on the seat with your feet on the pegs in your normal riding position. Then have somone measure the distance again in the same place as the first measurment. The difference between the 2 measurments is called the "ride height sag".
4) Adjust your preload so that your "ride height sag" is about 30% of your total suspension travel. Example: If you have 9" of total travel you should have about 3" of ride height sag.

FRONT SHOCK

Use the same procedure EXCEPT your "ride height sag" should be about 20% of your total shock travel.


(Compression Adjustment)

Adjusting the compression of the shock determines how fast the shock "compresses" together. This adjustment should be made according to the type of riding you plan on doing. The real trick here is set the suspension at the point where you use all the travel of the shock without bottoming out hard . With the setting too soft the suspension will feel "mushy" and you feel like it's "floating". With the setting too hard, You'll feel every little bump you hit because the shock isn't absorbing the bumps like it should. You can start by setting the compression at full soft. Ride the ATV for a short while .Then begin to ride over small bumps. Begin to adjust the shocks to absorb the bumps without feeling mushy. As you adjust the compression on the shocks, gradually begin moving up to bigger bumps and jumps. Every time you progress to larger jumps and bumps readjust the shocks. Keep doing this untill you reach the point where you have reached YOUR personal limit of bumps or jumping safely while using all the travel in the shocks. (It's even ok if you allow the shocks to bottom out "slightly" as you land your largest jump)

(Rebound Adjustment)

The rebound adjustment is the setting that determines how fast the shock returns to its normal position. Setting the rebound at full soft allows the shock to return to full extension more quickly. At this setting the ATV may begin to experience a pogo effect. As the rider speeds over bumps, a shock that returns too quickly may rebound right back up and smack you right in the Butt,sending you right over the handle bars. Setting the rebound at full hard slows the return of the shock to it's normal position. At this setting as a rider speeds over bumps the shocks may not return to position fast enough causing the shocks "pack up". The more the shocks "pack up" The less travel they have untill they have a chance to return to their normal position. The best way to set the rebound on your shocks is to find a set of"whoops". A series of rolling hills two feet high and six feet apart. With the setting at full soft, ride through the whoops at a slow pace at first . Then each time you ride through the whoops go through a little faster adjusting the rebound untill you reach your fastest comfortable speed and the ATV is returning to its correct position without bucking you off.


Hope this helps!

 

<< Can someone suggest the best way to tune or setup the Suspension on my Raptor to fit me?

I'm not understanding the best way to go about this and looking for the differences between:

Preload
Dampening
Compression
And whatever else is adjustable

Where do I start?!?!?!

The bike seems to ride a little on the rough/hard side and the thing that comes to mind is messing with the pre-load because I'm not sure what the others do. Feels like the fronts are too stiff.

I typically ride in the sand dunes and some trails. No MX-Racing or serious jumping.

Thanks,

Jason >>



Pre load is the adjustment of the shock springs from a minumum adjustment to compensate for an unusually heavy load. It compresses the spring to add additional load, hence the name. It does nothing so far as compression is concerned.
Compression adjustment takes place inside the shock body thru the means of nitrogen or air, together with valving in order to control the degree or speed of the shock's compression to absorb impacts.
Dampening is the actual absorption of the shock which is controlled by compression and also rebound.
It is probably is a good idea to adjust &amp; test ride each adjustment one at a time until that item is to your satisfaction before going on to the next adjustment if it is in fact even needed or necesasary.
I would first start with the preload..if you're not exceptionally heavy, I'd start with zero preload, that is, the minimum adjustment.
Next, I'd try to determine if the front shocks seem to be over- stiff for your style of riding, keeping in mind that when set up for vigorous riding at speed, the shocks will often appear quite harsh at low speeds. Unfortunately the OEM shocks don&quot;t have adjustable compression so you are pretty much locked in to the factory set compression.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]
At the rear, the shock does have adjustment for preload, compression, and re-bound
I'd adjust the preload to the minumum as in above, with the same reservations.
For compression..if you aren't happy with the factory setting, that is, bottoming out on jumps or too stiff, you can twist the remote resoirvoir's adjustment **** to correct the problem..clockwise adds compression; counter-clockwise decreases it thru a series of audible and tactile clicks. To do any adjustment, first rotate the adjuster counter clockwise to the stop point while listening &amp; feeling the number of clicks which were initially set. Then you can dial in the approximate change you wish to make &amp; test ride.
In my case, I run about ten clicks of compression on all three shocks. (I run TCS shocks on the front)
Rebound..this is the speed that the shock returns to a normal condition after an impact such as a jump, whoops, etc. The adjuster on the rear shock is a large slotted screw located at the base of the shock. It is adjusted the same as the compression if any adjustment is indeed necessary for your style.
In riding over rough terrain, if you find the rear end coming up and hitting you in the seat of your pants, you'll want to add aditional rebound to slow the rebound process.Trial &amp; error in all of these adjustments...that's why you do only one at a time.
I run 10 clicks of rebound on the rear shock.
Others will no doubt use different degrees of adjustments on these things, depending on their riding styles and/or skill levels. but that's why the adjustments are there in the first place.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]