Front Rebound setting

[Beemer]

I have read where u guys suggested that on the stock front forks, the Rebound should be set to 9. Please can someone explain a little more in detail the reason for this? Also what would the consequences be if you set it lower(softer). Thanks.

[Godzilla]

The rebound damping controls how fast the fork extends after being compressed, for example when you go over a bump. If the rebound damping is too low the forks will extend to quickly after then bump. If you go over a series of bumps the forks will extend a bit more over each bump, in worst case senario it could lift the front wheel off the ground causing a loss of traction.

[dazoo]

Nobody can dictate what anyone else's suspension setting should be without testing! Having said that, the rebound damping on the standard front forks is poor and in most cases is pretty much out of adjustment from the factory - ie ideally you would like more damping but the standard setup does not provide it.

In basic terms, without adequate rebound damping, when the forks extend after compression, they will rebound too fast, and you get a 'yo-yo' effect where the front of the bike takes several compression/rebound strokes to settle back. Ideally the bike absorbs the force (braking, bumps) and sets the bike back to the neutral position in one go.

To test this, pump the front forks up and down a few times then watch how the bike returns to the neutral position. If there is any 'bounce', you need more rebound damping. But remember, nothing works alone and every positive change to any aspect of suspension can have an adverse affect on another aspect.

This was the first setup done on my bike, with maybe 1600 road miles on the bike. First number was stock, second was what it was adjusted to:

FRONT
Static sag - 27mm, 27mm
Comp - 5, 9
Rebound - 5, 10

REAR
Static sag - 9mm, 9mm
Comp (h) - 5, 5
Comp (l) - 5, 7
Rebound - 5, 8

So the rear shock is actually a fairly good one, it has recently been adjusted by Mick Grant and is still ok - although he did say it was difficult to find a setting which was spot-on as one click was throwing things quite far out.

Needless to say that the front internals have been binned and an Ohlins cartridge installed.

HERE is a link that will explain things better than I can, Ohlins publish some good material too.

[Beemer]

Thank you so much guys, I understand much better now.