Dialing in Ohlins

[stephen914]

Okay so I have been dialing in my Ohlins. I have been keeping a note pad but its not right in front of my so bare with me. I think in there rear rebound there are something like 60 clicks and I am 34 from the softest setting. On the front if I recall there are 44 total and I am 22 from the softest. I haven't touched compression in the rear at all yet. I think its set at the softest but I am not positive. Under normal riding the bike is nice and smooth, turn in is quick, and it responds well. When riding it fast (mind you I am no knee dragger but the chicken strips are small) over a bump or dip in the road I get a couple up-down motions. Do I need more rebound dampening in the rear? How and when do I knwo when to adjust compression. Everything I've read say to get rebound dialed in first.

[cloudy]

Just finally got mine dialed in to where the bike feels like it's on rails; i.e. holds it's line in turns at steady throttle, line tightens on decel and widens on accel, but can also easily reverse line tendency with steering inputs so that I can basically get away with whatever line I want so far with a pretty good level of confidence.

The secret in my case was setting static sag to use exactly 25% of stroke at both ends when sitting on the bike. This required substantial increase in preload for front shock and several turns on rear. I set all rebound settings at stock and ended up 2 clicks less on each once I was done, and left compression on rear at stock recommended setting. Any changes to compression and/or rebound settings at either end produces a very noticeable change, so I think I'm pretty close at least for my 200# weight.

Don't know if this helps, but until I set static sag this way, nothing I did worked anywhere near as well as it does now for the various road conditions we have in the mountains around here..

Cloudy

[cloudy]

For what its worth mine is the R12S, but have had the same setup experience/results doing it this way with my Wilbers equipped 11XX Honda, as well as a few others I have.

Static sag settings should always come first, but I was lazy with the R12 at first due to the difficulty of accessing the front shock spring.
Cloudy

[stephen914]

I will go back and verify the sag.

[bradzdotcom]

after you set sag, try this as a baseline for spirited riding:

front bottom knob (compression) about 8 to 12 out. the front is very senisitive.
front gold knob: about 9 out.

in the rear: compression (the top clicker): 12 to 14.
on the bottom, (rebound) 14 to 16. on the FCK (fat chick knob), start with about 12 to 15 out.

these adjustments are for low speed (shock speed, not ground speed). the mid to high speed travel of the shock is mostly determined by the shim stack (valving).

as always: to measure, turn the clicker all the way in. then go one click out. that is "zero".

to further confuse and confound, see: suspension notes

[roger albert]

Definitely Sag 1st. Though 25% is a little low on sag unless you're riding flat roads or lots of (c&R) iteratively for most suspension units. If you get rebound perfect, and then need to move compression much, then rebound will be off. I had a unit in just yesterday that looked like it needed at least 2 less clicks rebound. After compression was set right, it needed 1 more instead. I'd have taken it in exactly the wrong direction if I hadn't set them as a system. Note, these were on factory shocks, with many less/coarser clicks than on Öhlins. I.e. those would have been more like 2-5 clicks off on the Ös

Brads numbers look pretty good to me.
NOTE also how he specifies # of turns out (not In) That is the only reliable and repeatable way to make the settings. In from full out is a very poor reference.

[stephen914]

Originally posted by bradzdotcom
front bottom knob (compression) about 8 to 12 out. the front is very senisitive.
front gold knob: about 9 out.

I don't think my Ohlins have front compression. I think they just have rebound and preload.

Originally posted by roger albert

Brads numbers look pretty good to me.
NOTE also how he specifies # of turns out (not In) That is the only reliable and repeatable way to make the settings. In from full out is a very poor reference.

I did note his setting and I will go back and reset my notes based on clicks the other way. I will also try his base settings after re-checking my sag.

[bradzdotcom]

yea roger, i forgot the other cardinal rule:
mess with one clicker for more than 2 clicks, always assume you have to mess with the other.

ying/yang, compression/rebound.
when ya fiddle with one, you've got to make sure the other one is still happy.