Amateur Vs Pro MTB Suspension Set-Up | Which Is Faster?
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- čas přidán 10. 03. 2023
- Roots, rocks, huge jumps and ridiculous speeds - Pro mountain bikers and their MTB suspension setups have to deal with a lot to withstand the serious hammering their bikes go through, so surely we should all use the same settings as them right!?
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I love tinkering with suspension. It makes a huge difference when tuned right for your riding style.
For sure! Your bike can feel rubbish when it's not setup right!
What’s cool is, in the slow mo, you can see the tyres taking a lot of the impact. Goes to show how important they are. Great video. Thank you.
Couldn't agree more! Thanks for watching!
50 psi ALL DAY SON!
Not going to share the times?
Get the impression they didn't do a timed/top to bottom run. They filmed in sections, given how many cut aways they have and how often you see the GoPro on and off.
What a brilliant video, thanks so much you've really helped me understand what's going on!
Never tried a pro bike setup. But I'm on a short travel bike (110mm/115mm travel) and I do have mine setup more towards the firm side of things. I run 19mm front/20mm rear sag, and I have reduced the air space of the air chambers for more spring progression. In general, I keep the compression side of the dampers slightly firmer and the rebound slightly more open, though these change pending on trail and trail conditions.
It depends on your fitness as well. Generally the stiffer the suspension, the faster the bike is. Only if your fitness can handle it. What pro riders do is to do train their best to run the stiffest setting they can handle.
I generally like to have mine slightly stiffer, not a lot, than the recommended settings for my weight. This is because I like to jump a lot. I add a couple of extra volume spacers so I don't bottom out as easily.
Because I also do a lot of regular singletrack riding I like to have that small bump compliance. So I do like the higher end suspension parts that allow for that sort of adjustment. Like the DVO Off The Top and other forks with positive and negative air cambers.
I just started running DVO still working on dialing in the settings.
I like a firm ride but I also suffer from carpal tunnel.
So far I'm liking them more than the lyrik
Thats one o the reasons i like manitou, you can basically make it impossible to bottom out but still have great small bump, just gotta deal with the "whys ur fork on backwards " but its worth it for the ridiculous amount of tunability
"Don't kill me" 😂😂😂 that's my riding mantra too.
😂
Keep it fairly plush as I’m not hitting anything as fast as a pro so I prefer not to shatter my arms!😂 always good when G man is on the channel!👍🏻
Yeah, the pros setup is by no means recommended for your average rider. It goes to show why MTB DH athletes need to be so fit. 😅
Love this, reminds me of ski racing. If you skied my downhill race skis on a casual day of skiing you would be terrified, they were built to be pushed hard.
One of my bike has a pro setup in the rear ( hardtail lol) but generally I set my suspension for all my bikes is that of someone who weights 200 lbs and I weight 165. I dont want my bike to wallow and dive. Bike feels good at the speeds that I ride it at, and I can swap back and forth with my 200 lbs friends bikes and they can ride my bikes no problem.
going to use my shockwiz and try firmer setup this week. Good to know what pro riders use. Great content as usual!
How do you get on with that bit of kit?🤔 seen them advertised but bit pricey if you only use it once then your sorted? I know you can hire them but I’m interested to know whether it’s worth it? Cheers Rob
@@RobHill00 if your type of person who set it up then forget, then you just need it once so just rent. But if you like changing your suspension setup according to the terrain your tackling then buy one. It is very helpful. Specially if your suspension got HSR, LSR, HSC, LSC and +/- volume spacer. And also you can lend it your friends and charge them lol.
Just bought a gmbn hoodie to wear at bpw this weekend! Reppin 👊🏻
Legend! Have fun! 👊🤘
My first enduro bike came with rock hard race suspension and when it started to work and smooth everything out, then that was my signal that I was riding faster than my ability!
I like my suspension a bit harder because I’m 95 kilos and don’t like feeling the bike wallow too much. I ride a hardtail on the same trails as my full sus and can tell the difference but love the challenge on the hardtail. Full sus is obviously easier, but riding the hardtail helps me progress quicker.
I'm a large mufuh, I run anywhere from 110 to 130psi in the front and 310psi in the back. Compression and rebound somewhere in the more progressive, faster half. Doesn't seem to make much difference tho.
As an average rider when I had mine set up set up for jumps i used max volume spacers, more psi and firmer settings for fox40 and extra psi with firm rebound on the shock to reduce the slop taking momentum away and take the hit better. Another day out I left them alone and half way round Cannock chase trails I was feeling nakkered so I had to back it all off to soften it up, it made the rest of the trail seem way more comfy, smoother, faster and less tiring and overall more enjoyable.
I remember Jessie Melamed settings completly opposite, pretty quick but also very soft, often botoming and he is fast a.f. I think it is so in enduro. Many pros do not set the bike stiff.
I also remember that. Same goes for Jack Moir. Essentially low compression, fast rebound, moderately high pressure and lots of tokens for ramp up.
Jack said thats his setup for enduro races, as after one training run you never really know the tracks. For his home trails he'd go harder.
For downhill I am pretty sure you know the track a lot better and can go harder.
I ride a 29+120mm ht with 3.0 rubber and normally 20% sag,any adjustments I do will be the air pressure in my tires .the terrain I ride is pretty nominal not really any drastic changes
Setup massively depends on discipline as well. For example on my downhill bike I run a 550ilbs spring, when theoretically I should be on a 375ilbs spring, but I love the 550ilbs spring because of how hard I push the dh bike. However on my trail bike I run everything nice and soft because it’s not as serious and more of a fun bike so I don’t push it so hard and it doesn’t need to be race run stiff
Might have been interesting to know the different sag measurements too. If you have them, please let us know!
Great video 😃 good to see how a professional adjusts a mtb 😎 dyfi bike park , i want to go there sometime 🤩
Thanks for the support! It's a brilliant bike park! Well worth a visit! 👊
I use a fox 34 factory and a fox float dps factory. I run 190 psi in the shock and 120 in the fork. Rebound is all the way up on both, as I have 130mm front and back. I like to have as much of my travel as possible. I would prefer more travel, but I'm on a stumpy.
Would have been interesting to see how you got on with a "halfway house" on those settings.
Worthwhile vid though 👍
So what was the time difference, did more pain mean more gain.
Would be good that you had mentioned the Sag’s of rear and front suspension.
I tryed one with shockwiz firmed and planted and it requested to fill my fox 38 up to 120psi and i just changed my mind to another set up then
Just like Moto setup, MX track bikes are super stiff feeling.. until you go race pace on a massive jump track. Enduro setup is super soft and allows the bike to track along rough surfaces better to try and have as much tire on the ground as possible.
Did I miss the times?
Yes
What ware the times? I came for that , i know it depends on an individual but ehat ware your times?
Question. Did you bottom out with both settings on that trail? If so was it less with the pro settings? If I remember I’ll adjust for the trail. Stiffen the compression rate a little and set static travel on the short side for rougher stuff.
Hey M, no I didn’t bottom out with either but I did use more of the travel more often on my own settings compared to the pro’s
What were the times on each run?
Was there any difference regarding the tire pressure between the AM and Pro Setup? I struggle greatly with finding the right pressure as I get faster. I need so much to not have my tires squirming through berms, that I loose traction due to the hard tires.
Great question Pete. No, the only setting that we’re changed were that of the suspension everything else remained the same so I could do a fair comparison. Hope that helps mate
I've never tried a pro's bike. I tend to run my pressure on the higher side (pro) yet my compression quite low and my rebound at a mid level.
Hi Rich and Gee, I have a RockShox Lyric Ultimate. I previously was running a stiffer set-up and it does make my entire arms fatigue quickly. I reduced it by about 10psi and its just sweet, reducing the psi made me feel I can ride for longer. I have used the firm and softer set-up here at the Kalamunda Camel Farm/Kalamunda Circuit, Western Australia. I'm comparing this particularly on the Cmakazi Trail about 4Kms of downhill. Its a bit tricky for me when I started for sure, I think I learned to learn and its going to be a fun process, I will build a relationship with my bike. 😊
🙌🙌🙌
I remember when decline magazine did a write up on this very topic. When they gave the settings that pros used people were getting beat up using them. Lol! The one thing atherton did say like the riders did in the article is that these were race day settings for one run. And they built up thru practice ti these settings. They didn’t run them all weekend practice because the tires would be wore out by qualifying and race day. So for all the jabronies out there thinking hard and fast settings make you better they don’t! 90%of the gravity rides out thre will never use a bikes potential at pros settings! Great video!!!!!
Set it so it’s comfortable on what you ride & forget about it. Us amateurs don’t need super settings
I would rather say, set it up to perform well for your needs. If i want comfort, i will sit on the couch :D
A bike that does exactly what i want is way more important than a bike that is as soft as possible
The idea of suspension is not set it and forget it. If that's the case then why bother with any suspension at all if you're going to set it and never adjust it then ride a rigid bike. Suspension is designed to be variable and designed to be adjusted depending on speed, terrain and riding style. 🤦♂️
@ great input well said 😂😂
@@rider65 ok Greg minnar, next time your setting up for a World Cup share your settings with me
@@yorkshiremtber7884 that all varies between different riders. What works well for you may not work well for me and vice versa. Heck, the same bike that works for you may not work well for me and vice versa.
I just ate a huge advertisement for the atherton family bicycles... wow wow. Why don't you notify him before starting the video? How much did they charge for advertising?
Do you even ride mtb, looking at your channel, just full of nonsense
Doesnt Geo Atherton own Dyfi bike park ? Maybe thats why he's the pro in the video.
Ngl, I always thought that pros ran their suspension like twice as stiff as the average person, and I'm just now finding out it's only 10% stiffer. I don't even think I would notice that. Every bike I've ever owned was probably 10% too stiff or too soft, especially second hand coil suspension (not to mention my body weight has fluctuated +/- 10% over the years)
What kind of sag% would be typically normal for the pros?
Thanks!
Hmmm, I will check next time I’m at a race, but usually about 30% rear, 25% front. Then tweaked with volume spacers
I once rode Semi-pros Transition, my god it was stiff… No way I am running mine the same…
what is a token for the fork ??
I normally set mine up for the track conditions on the day, plus how gung ho I'm feeling on the day as well,
i just pump my suspension up and mess around with the twisty things, usually does the job
Sounds about right! 😂
Hmmm, what were the times?
So ...what were the times?
Times?
Ride firm suspension with volume spacers. The best suspension is always with you... your arms and legs.
Depends on the rider!who'd have thought.
I wouldn’t rely too much on that car park bounce test. Without the weight of a rider on board, it proves nothing
True! We included this to illustrate the changes in setup. It's harder to see the difference the pro setup makes when riding out on the trail.
What about reboudn
would have been nice to get some quantitative info out of this instead of qualitative speculation. was it faster? Slower? how much?
Check out the latest episode of Neko Mullalay’s Frameworks where he’s got Jordi Cortez in to test suspension. They say that even testing with the pros is difficult because if they aren’t going at full race pace the data is only useful to a degree.
regardless,.. i think that the terrain is importend for setup also..
ha ha i weigh 125KG i am just thankful to get down in one piece!! so my fork is pretty much at max psi on my hardtail. Great vid though
For down hill you need stiffer settings to compensate for big drops but for normal mountain biking i think you don't need the stiff settings. But it's just me. 🤣😂
Off topic: are madspeed wheels ok for trail riding?
It would have been cool to see the difference in time not just feeling, you might be faster even though it's more tiring.
So this is what you were up to a few Fridays ago
👀
My “Set-Up”: More air than recommended. Zero Volume spacers. Faster rebound than normal. I HATE plush. I LOVE stiff.
Where are your times????
After about 3 years the last Keurig stopped working czcams.com/users/postUgkxBrV-RbF5Nk0Rlt9i15aao-YMzqzTG8Vf initially was able to unblock, however eventually we couldn't fix. That one was a replacement unit sent by the manufacturer after we had problems with our very first Keurig. This works fine (lol, at least for now) however I didn't realize the water reservoir was so much smaller than our prior unit. With 2 people having one or two cups of coffee each morning, it seems like I'm refilling it daily. Otherwise just happy to have the convenience of pod coffee vs. making a morning pot.
As I have started riding faster it is frustrating to have suspension that feels so rough at slow speed. But, like they said your have to have support on the big hits and high speed. I can't imagine how rough the true pro bikes feel cruising around.
how do you say "DYFI" ? defy? dai fee ? dai fai ? dee fee ?
Can we see Gee smash a bike set to ‘average joe’ settings please 😂
That would be sick! Thanks for the suggestion!
Only just got my first suspension bike with front suspension only, it's still set how the last owner had it, I don't know what I'm doing with it tbh
Hi! Feel free to check out this video over on GMBN Tech! czcams.com/video/izkmAq6kX6A/video.html We hope this helps! 👊
The firmer the suspension ‒ the less the geometry of your bike changes.
Dude, you didn’t even tell us the settings, or the reasons why the pro settings were creating more fatigue.
Why no rider feedback? No times? No nothing on the end? Felt a bit cheated tbh.
"Which is faster" and no clock to show what he actually was faster on?
*damping. Dampening is just making something wet.
Mine is defo on the side of firm.
Likely the amateur won’t have all the settings you have
Crikey it bends like a noodle without a rider on it !!!
Remember kids, absolute speed is the only metric of any importance whatsoever in mountain biking.
😁😂
Of course the pro suspension is going to be faster, they're traveling at higher speeds
GMBN's content quality just keeps dropping every video.. Was stoked on watching this vid in hopes of gleaning some useful info to use but nah nothing useful
Hey Jonathan sorry to hear your Stoke levels are dropping, we’re always striving to do better so will take any constructive criticism on board. Happy riding dude 👊
First!!!! Love the gmbn channel ❤❤
🥇 Thanks so much for the support! 👊
My shock is broken I’m to broke to get it serviced
Hard is fast soft is slow I tell people all the time 220lb and run everything firm af
Pro bikes are way way stiffer than i care for. I'm faster at my skill level softer
Dampening 🤦♂
I can't believe he's pro - I'm so much faster than him!!!! GNAR, PLAY THE GAME!
Ugh...an unweighted drop from a foot off the ground is testing absolutely nothing...omfg 🤢🤮🤦♂️
So which setup was faster? Seems like I just watched a very useless video