hi there,
this is a question about "what's the right spring rate for me". i ride a santa cruz bullit and according to the manufacturer i should be riding a #500 spring as i weigh ~80kg. they, and also Fox (the frame comes with a vanilla RC) reckon at the same time that one should adjust the pre-load such that there is about 12mm sag when you just sit on the bike. now, i have a #500 and a 550 spring, as the bike (of course) came with the wrong spring (the 550) when i first got it. now, when i run the 500 spring, i need to adjust the pre-load by about 20 or more mm! in other words, the spring looks compressed even without anyone on the bike. it works alright, yep, but it's not quite strong enough to push me back up after compression.
the 550 spring, on the other hand, makes me feel that i miss out on travel (the frame has 6" of rear travel) as i can hit anything and it never compresses more than 70%, even when hitting really big holes or pulling high(ish) jumps.
my question to you bullit folks out there: what spring do you ride (and how heavy are you), can you recommend a particular preload, compression or rebound that works 'best'? i know it demands trying out, but i never get a chance to ride others' bullits and would simply like to see how everyone else handles this problem. maybe i expect too much of the shock and simply can't get it 'just right'?
hope someone replies.
oli
this is a question about "what's the right spring rate for me". i ride a santa cruz bullit and according to the manufacturer i should be riding a #500 spring as i weigh ~80kg. they, and also Fox (the frame comes with a vanilla RC) reckon at the same time that one should adjust the pre-load such that there is about 12mm sag when you just sit on the bike. now, i have a #500 and a 550 spring, as the bike (of course) came with the wrong spring (the 550) when i first got it. now, when i run the 500 spring, i need to adjust the pre-load by about 20 or more mm! in other words, the spring looks compressed even without anyone on the bike. it works alright, yep, but it's not quite strong enough to push me back up after compression.
the 550 spring, on the other hand, makes me feel that i miss out on travel (the frame has 6" of rear travel) as i can hit anything and it never compresses more than 70%, even when hitting really big holes or pulling high(ish) jumps.
my question to you bullit folks out there: what spring do you ride (and how heavy are you), can you recommend a particular preload, compression or rebound that works 'best'? i know it demands trying out, but i never get a chance to ride others' bullits and would simply like to see how everyone else handles this problem. maybe i expect too much of the shock and simply can't get it 'just right'?
hope someone replies.
oli
