- Remove Baseline Air Pressure: I need to take some air out of the top of the fork, and go with some more sag.
- Air Spring Ramp: Now, I’m not sure what this means, and I don’t think that my SID has spacers, but when I swipe on the right arrow, I get this….
- Rebound: I need to slow down the rebound on the fork – I can do this by adjusting a red dial on the bottom of the right-hand fork leg.
- High Speed Compression: So that looks to be okay at first run….
- Low Speed Compression: Here’s what the app says about this adjustment….
- Bottom Out Resistance: Now, the ShockWiz is telling me to REMOVE Resistance, which means that, along with some of the other suggestions, I’m probably a little too stiff in my entire setup. Here’s the image showing suggestions.
Now – while this took a bit of explaining, the fact is that I was able to make adjustments OUT ON THE TRAIL, reset the app with the new air pressure information, and go back to riding. It all took maybe 5 minutes.
I repeated this many times over the next hour, and again the next day, all on the fork, to try and get the best mix of features. Finally, after a lot of “little tweaks” over the next day, I ended up with a result that looked like this:
In the end – I took out a few more psi on the upper chamber, and called it a success. My front fork was DEFINITELY absorbing more terrain, was steering better, and was just riding more comfortably on this course.
It was time to move on to the Rear Suspension!
PART II – Dialing in the Rear Suspension.
Now, I’ve read my share of magazine articles, read numerous articles, and there are even some studies that were performed in the decade of the 00’s to try and determine whether hardtail mountain bikes were faster and more efficient than dual-suspension XC rigs, and if not, then by what percentage. But as the technology flips occurred, XC full-suspension bikes got lighter, faster, and more dependable, and they’re almost certainly the equals of hardtails, and in many cases, they’re superior. But dialing in the suspension is still critical, and I followed the recommendations of the folks at SRAM via ShockWiz, and worked on the rear suspension after the front suspension got dialed in.
***Just a quick note: If you look at the time stamp on the screen captures, that makes for a handy sort of progression timeline between readings and then alterations as I tuned both shocks.
Now, again, I am bringing a “Beginner’s Mind” to this entire endeavour, and there are some settings for this shock which take some time to understand. Here’s a close-up of the shock rebound and “ProPedal” settings, all of which can be adjusted.
I used my own interpretation of the initial results on the ShockWiz app, made some adjustments, and rode another trail segment to check results. Here’s what we got:
To be honest – I was REALLY impressed with this one run, and after this, I left the rear suspension alone, declared victory, and began to focus on the trail and my ride, and using the Power2Max watt-meter, so I could determine just how well the bike rode with these new settings.
Another thing to consider; these settings were a BIG departure from the Trek Recommended settings. Those are available in a Trek archive, and I’m including them here:
NOW – let’s talk about the RIDE!!!!!
I’ve owned this bike for five years now, and under these new settings, using the ShockWiz recommendations….. I felt like it was a COMPLETELY different bike from the one I had originally purchased. Here’s a bullet list of impressions I felt….
- It was a FAR smoother ride than I had ever experienced.
- I was able to climb MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better – the rear suspension really gave me the ability to ‘grab’ the earth, and cover some terrain, seated, and with wattage in the high 400’s, at roughly 75-80 rpm, that I’m certain would have led to slipped tires, and a frustrating clip-out, then hike-a-bike. I noticed this several times. There were sections where I felt the rear suspension TRULY helped me pedal, without costing me lost energy. I think this is the most profound part of my application of the ShockWiz, and I can’t wait to explore that further.
- On the front fork, it was also a much better experience – turns were handled with more confidence; the slower rebound settings led to zero pogoing, and as you know- a bicycle tire makes a poor rudder when suspended in the air. When I braked, compression was much better, and reaction was confidence-inspiring.
- I descended faster (probably beyond my abilities), and relied more on the bike to soak up the roots, rocks, and dirt.
- On hairpin singletrack, where there was a mountain on one side, and a cliff on the other, the suspension seemed to help make that one moment of indecisiveness pass safely.
In short – I COMPLETELY FELL IN LOVE WITH MOUNTAIN BIKING AGAIN! THANK YOU SHOCKWIZ!
I was IN CONTROL of my bike. The stiffness was gone, but the slushiness or sponginess I was expecting wasn’t there, either. It convinced me that I’d been doing something wrong – for a really, long time.
I’m going to take this rig to a local trail in Dallas this weekend, and I’m going to start this whole process over again, only this time, I’m going to record laps using my Power2Max and Garmin 1000. I think there’s a link between suspension optimization, power, energy output, and speed. I think the ShockWiz can be a critical element to delivering on that pillar, and the thing is; until Shockwiz, everything was pure CONJECTURE. Just take a look at the Trek recommendations vs. the values that I ended up using.
I also think the Shockwiz can be used to tune a suspension for a specific trail or course. I know that in Texas, there are rocky courses, sandy courses, piney courses, rooted courses, flat courses, and each course has its’ own signature. Furthermore, each rider has signature strengths and weaknesses, on their bikes, on those courses, and if you’re willing to spend a day before an event just FIGURING OUT HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR SUSPENSION, it’s my belief that this will result in a higher speed for the same power output. Again, I’m speculating here, but with the P2M installed, and the Garmin 1000 recording, we SHOULD get a better idea of how everything comes together in synchrony, to enhance a rider’s performance.
I’ll report back next week, but if YOU are interested in the ShockWiz suspension system, or how wattage might be able to improve your performance when riding a mountain bike, I hope you’ll give me a call. For $200 we can spend a day at a trail with my sensors, looking, practicing, making changes, and optimizing your suspension system. I still have Ned Overend’s 1996 SRM file from a pre-ride of the Atlanta XC mtb course prior to the Olympics, and I’ve tried to study the demands of wattage for mountain bikers ever since. Who knows – maybe I’ll even get out there and race a little, myself?!
Thanks for reading.
