Understanding Motocross Bike Suspension – There is nothing like the feeling of riding with telepathy when everything works in harmony and man and machine become one. Proper suspension settings are the key to that balance. A few hours of work can transform your dirt bike from a bucking bronco to a tough triathlete, ready for action, ready to roll.
Power and torque don’t mean jack if they can’t make it to the ground. If your dirt bike doesn’t react to the terrain and communicate it effectively, you won’t be riding at your peak ability. But suspension adjustments in the shop are inconvenient and expensive. There’s no reason why you can’t do it for free! Dirt bike suspension tuning is for every rider.
Understanding Motocross Bike Suspension
This handy guide explains dirt bike suspension adjustments from a hobbyist perspective. And as you’re about to see, a little work can pay off big.
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If you feel like your bike sometimes gets out of hand, if you wish it was more controlled in certain spots on your favorite trail, or even more wild and uncontrollable, you have the power to make that happen. Follow this guide the first time and you’ll soon find out what adjustments can be made without thinking.
Before we begin, you should be confident with a wrench and be okay with working on critical areas of your bike. Mistakes here can easily cause the bike to lose control, potentially causing an accident. That is what our lawyers have said. Continue.
In general, you don’t need any special equipment; A hammer and punch will usually do the trick. Keep crescent wrenches, box wrenches, sockets and screwdrivers handy. Finally, a good penetrant such as PB Blaster will help dislodge the adhesive.
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You may be tempted to play around with the suspension settings of your dirt bike, but this will not result in better handling. It’s best to make suspension adjustments for each terrain style you encounter, even making small adjustments throughout the day to get the most out of certain sections of the course. But for now, there are 3 main factors in motorcycle suspension:
This is the most important aspect of getting your dirt bike feeling right. Free sag is how far the bike sags under its own weight and rider sag is how much the suspension compresses with the rider on board. Changing the sag changes your ride height and suspension stiffness. Less sag creates a more steerable bike that is less stable at speed, while more sag does the exact opposite. Sag is changed by adjusting the spring preload.
This refers to how much the spring compresses when at rest. In other words, preload is how much tension the spring always has. More preload results in a stiffer suspension because the spring wants to constantly expand. Naturally, less preload makes for a softer ride. Go too far either way and your dirt bike’s handling will fall somewhere between a cheap go-kart and your grandpa’s Lincoln.
Something has to keep the springs in check – damping controls how quickly the shock and fork react to the riding surface. A slower shock is optimal for rolling hills, while a faster shock is better for rough terrain. These are commonly referred to as low-speed and high-speed damping, respectively.
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Damping is the product of compression and rebound. Compression controls how quickly the spring compresses; Rebound controls how fast it expands. You should see the letters C and R with arrows somewhere on your shocks and forks – if you don’t, these settings can’t be adjusted on your hardware.
Dirt bike suspension consists of sag, preload, and damping. Successfully adjusting these key areas will increase performance across the board. This job takes minimal effort and best of all, it costs nothing.
First, measure rider sag. Place your bike on a center stand and, using a tape measure, measure a straight line from somewhere on your rear fender or mud guard to the center of the axle nut. Then put on all your riding gear (including helmet), remove the bike from the stand, and stand on the pegs. Bounce a few times to work out any stiffness, then help measure the same distance again. Subtract the small from the large and viola, you have your Rider Sag figure. Look for a number between 95mm and 115mm, or about 33% of the total possible rear travel.
Change the sag by loosening the lock ring and adjusting the spring preload ring using a hammer and punch.
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Repeat the process of measuring, sitting and measuring until you reach the desired bag. The owner’s manual, a shop, a friend, or forums can help you determine the optimal sag settings for your needs.
Next, off the stand, measure the free sag by measuring the same line while the bike is sitting on its own. Look for a number between 25mm and 45mm to confirm you have the correct spring rate. A figure near or below 25mm means you need a stiffer spring. Closer to 45mm or higher says you need softer for optimal performance.
If your body weight falls on either side of what is considered average, the need for a different spring is normal. You may also need a new spring if the shock’s preload has to be dialed in extreme to get the correct sag, or if the dial is dialed out and the sag still isn’t quite right. And given enough time, the springs just go out. Companies like Racetech make aftermarket front and rear springs of various rates.
It’s worth mentioning that they make tools for measuring sag, like the one pictured above. It is not necessary to have one but it will make life easier on the road.
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Adjustment points will vary depending on your bike. Öhlins make it easy as you can see, and if your bike doesn’t have such points your hardware may not be adjustable.
As far as numbers go, check the web for recommended settings for your bike. Those figures make a good baseline to work from. The goal is to maintain enough compression to avoid bottoming out and enough rebound to maintain traction while avoiding a bouncy ride.
Preload adjusters are usually found on the top of the fork and are changed using a wrench, wrench or screwdriver. Most modern forks allow for preload adjustment, but many older models do not – find your model-specific details online. If your forks don’t have an external way to change the preload, it’s probably impossible without internal modification.
In general terms, your dirt bike’s fenders and free sag should be the same front and rear. They don’t have to be the same, but a large difference will upset the bike’s balance and lead to poor handling. As with the rear, if your front sag and free sag values are off or your forks are dialed to extremes, you may want to buy new fork springs to better accommodate your weight.
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Many modern dirt bikes have forks that are very different from the previous generation. In the old days, both forks had springs and damping components. External adjustments were often limited and both sides had to remain the same. Many machines today use separate function forks, where one fork holds the spring and the other controls the damping. High-end forks take it even further by using compressed air instead of springs and controlling the damping with oil (cold damping).
Getting the right balance of compression, rebound, and preload is difficult. But like anything else, it will become second nature before you know it.
Most dirt bikes come from the factory with middle-of-the-road settings. It’s best to verify that you’re in the middle and go from there, noting how each change affects your bike’s handling. Know those effects before you go ball-out on fresh suspension settings – you don’t want the bike to get out of hand when you least expect it.
Why keep all that fun away from the road? Suspension tuning for a street legal dirt bike is the same process, but the goal is very different. But before you can even wrench on your bike you need a title and tag to be street legal. That’s where we come in. Call or click to find out how we can make your dirt bike street legal or get your money back. That, or let us call you:
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About the Author As an automotive journalist, motorcycle racer, SCCA member, and collector of anything with wheels, Justin Deck makes a living as a professional car nerd. As a former Missouri state employee, he knows how complex and complicated state procedures can be, and that experience underlies his role as Dirt Legal’s editor.
With a population of only 64 in the entire county, Loving has the lowest population density of any county in the state. In fact, there are fifty counties in Texas that are made up of 100% rural land. By these standards, street-legal dirt bikes would be a shoo-in in Texas, right? Well, not exactly.
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