06 GT Real world shock adjustment.. help

[Murse]

Ok so here is the deal, last season I rode on a multitude of groomed trails and realized when the trails got beat up my monoshock skid with the Ohlin's shock seemed to get very stiff and did not feel like it was doing much at all. It bothered me so much I almost sold my sled. Instead I sent the shock to Hygear with some good ty members advise and low and behold I got the dual rate spring kit and new valving. The shock is back to stock form plus an upgraded dual spring. The shock was received and put back on the skid as is from Hygear which I am hoping in terms of adjustability it is ok like that for now. What I am looking for is real world adjustment while trail riding. With the 06 GT I have a handlebar adjustment to make the shock softer and stiffer which is called what exactly? Now my issues are that I adjust it and leave it most times which I am sure is the WRONG thing to do. Currently I feel the shock has more travel when just sitting on the sled which is great because before the Hygear work it did not move at all. So now my questions comes in the form of trail riding. I currently have the handlebar setting at the softest because I want the shock to be "softer on the bumps" I have been doing a lot of research and watching videos on adjustability and I am very confused on what to do. SO when trail riding on smooth nicely groomed trails with very little bumps then setting the handlebar shock to mid stiff or stiff with increase handling right? When the trails get beat up should I be softening this setting or making it stiffer and IF I feel the suspension feels to stiff and the bumps are beating me up on a bad area of trail should I adjust rebound on the shock to increase rebound by loosening the adjustment or increase rebound from tightening the adjustment? Plain and simple I put a lot of money into the shock and I want to use it to its full advantage and I feel the adjusting and leaving tactic is not doing me any justice for comfort and performance.

Please someone or everyone give me some adjustment advice for groomed beat up trail riding and all of the above. Clear up my confusion if possible. I feel the more I watch video's and read on shock adjustment the more confused I get.

 

[WinderFab]

Murse it takes a lot of fine tuning to get it where you want it, I'll try to give you a few things I learned..

Have you measured and adjusted your sag with the new springs?

If you are after comfort like I was try to keep your transfer as close to minimum as possible, the more transfer you have the less travel in the rear suspension you will have while riding, think of having full transfer and going down a trail and you giver some throttle the rear will couple down to give you that transfer so now you just lost inches from your suspension travel that's why so many people complain of the rough ride, just keep in mind less transfer will increase steering effort so you will have to find that spot that you are comfortable with, I'm 180 lbs and found 1 or 2 lines towards less transfer from the middle setting worked best for me,

I've also found that less rebound is better for a smoother ride (black knob on shock), I started with almost full rebound and work towards less and the ride got better and better, I noticed even more improvement with rebound after I got the revalve done, just think of rebound as how fast the seat will come back up after the skid compresses, the faster the seat comes up the more you get beat, I'm pretty sure I have mine about a 1/4 way or a bit more out from minimum (less rebound),

The handle adjustment is compression, how slow or fast the shock compresses, that will also change with a revalve, you should feel a bigger difference from all the way down to all the way up, of course this is the easiest adjustment to do so play with it while riding, just because trails get rough doesn't mean you have to keep it all the way up or hard,

You can always tighten or loosen the spring just a bit at a time if you feel it's too hard or soft just to find tune it for you,

Only adjust one thing at a time and make small adjustments except for the handle bar control which you can always play with on the fly,

My cottage is less than a minute ride to a top trail so I've spent a lot of time playing with the mono, its a great suspension but takes some time getting there ,

Hope this helps

 

[stevewithOCD]

I have Hygear rear dual spring on 07 gt. First of all for trail riding i recommend pulling limiter strap up one notch. Next set sag. Lift rear of machine off ground & measure shock. Then with half tank gas with you & your gear (plus your bags & tools, etc.) sit on machine. Have buddy measure shock. Looking for 40-45mm diference. Adjust the black collar closest to reservoir to achieve this. There is a set screw, do not overtighten. It has rubber tip to hold from turning. When the SAG is set, adjust the middle collar about 5/8 to 3/4 of threads. When this gap is decreased the shock gets stiffer DEEPER into the travel. Increase gap softer, but harsher bottoming at end of travel. Next is rebound knob at top of shock. Little black knob. Turn all the way in then 18 clicks out. This is rebound. In is stiffer & reacts slower. The electric is compression. Get suspension close @ 4 bars then adjust to conditions or mood. 1) sag to 45mm 2) middle collar to 3/4'' gap 3) rebound 18 clicks out 4)handle bar compression/button in middle 5) transfer rod in middle for now. This is good start. Make 1 adjustment @ a time or you'll explode...

 

[Bluebullet]

Murse, I have a long track version ( LTX GT) and agree with Steve and Fabio. Set the sag, helped the sled handling and ride charcteristics the most. (Base starting point) When I did mine I found it was set to a 160lb rider and I am 220lb, needless to say made a big differance. It is a slow process use their set ups as a starting point and then make one small adjustment at a time. The electronic adjustment is easy to make and really is just a fine tune adjustment. I run it full bars most of the time because I am a fat guy and am on the max weight limit settings anyway. If I have a day were the trails are flat and no bumps I will back off to no bars and just have a soft float feel on the trail....other than that I don't mess with my sled now as it took me almost 3 seasons of adjustments to get it to handle the way I like. Good luck
Blue

 

[tomanytoyz]

Everyone here has great advise on tuning the rear,! your going to have to ride and ride but eventually you will get it to where you want it or close...having the front shocks revalved for my riding style helped alot with getting the sled to feel more balanced to me.with my dirtbikes and quads the fronts are always the first to get rebuilt/revalved because they are the first to hit the bumps then the rear.i made the rear stiffer > 4 turns because i know when i push it hard the shock will fade a little. rebound i always play with cause its quick and easy.,doing this will give you a better idea of what it does and how it feels,just remember the number of turns .also painted the set screw with neon orange,easier to see when i made adjustments on the trail.my limiter strap is full loose.i had Hygear do my rear for very aggressive riding! getting the front shocks revalved helps alot imo

 

[Murse]

Went out for my first ride yesterday did 60km and I have to say the shock works very well. Night and day difference compared to last season. We were breaking trail and it was rough I could feel the difference of the small vs big bumps and I was really paying attention to what "bottoming" feels like. So I adjusted stiffer if I felt it was bottoming to much then I would loosen it when the trail had smaller bumps via the handlebar controls. This worked very well and much better than set it and leave it tactic and I really enjoyed my ride where as last year breaking trail was a nightmare. Thanks for all of the advice for now I feel the shock is set up right from hygear but I love the info and I have learned a lot and will keep in mind for when the season really starts and work with what I know now. Thank you!

 

[race24x]

Murse I bought the Hygear spring I think you have. Do you have the one that has adjustable dual rate? I thought that spring was the best thing sinced sliced bread. I have done alot to my machine trying to get it to ride decent. I started with an 03 RX1 and ended up puting a Skidoo SC10 III in it with heavier springs and revalved shocks it was pretty good. I bought the Apex RTX because the dealer thought my weight 300 Lbs with gear I should have the RTX suspension. I had those shocks revalved replaced spring etc and so on It was awful. I bought a GT suspension with the Ohlins shock and put it in and other than bottoming on big bumps it was nice. I added the Hygear adjustable dual rate spring and what a difference. I could adjust in the second rate so the first part took stutter bumps like glass and when I started hitting bigger woops and dips I would adjust the shock just above middle on the guage then turn the heavier rate spring in until I only bottomed when I hit a really big woop. I am very happy with the ride quality now. I am still not real sure on the front float shocks, they seem like you cant quite get the adjustment where you need it, but for now they will do. This year I am adding the WRP seat so I can be 2" higher. Being 6'4" tall I need to be just a bit higher and I liked the riding position of the new Apex . I think the new seat will get that for me

 

[Murse]

How much for that seat?

 

[Murse]

Hey just wanted to say thank you so much for teaching me the how to set up suspension. I played with the preload and called Hygear how to set the shock height. Information is power and my sled rides really great now I stay on the Rmotions #*$&@ in the twisties now comfortably in the rough stuff this sled rocks now! She is dialed in perfect and I adjust as the day changes. Thanks again!

 

[stevewithOCD]

So, what worked for you?

 

[Murse]

So, what worked for you?

What do you mean exactly? Well I learned to feel for bottoming and that it is good to bottom out once in a while to eliminate being too stiff but if she bottoms out all the time to adjust via handle bar control to a stiffer spot. The hygear dual rate spring is great on fast studders I turn counter clockwise on the preload adjust to allow the shock to not make me feel like I'm being bucked off and to adjust clockwise when the trail smooths out for bigger whoops and to adjust in increments of 10-15 clicks. What works for me is start the day off from previous settings what I do is run till the first stop to assess the trail which for the most part will be like that for the rest of the day and then during a stop reach under and play with preload settings. During riding at stop signs adjust stiffness via hand control. I also learned that springs sag especially new springs. I always lift track off the ground when parked in the garage but now I have learned that the shock has to have 40-45mm of transfer from full out to rider sitting on it for maximum shock travel of 9 inches which I will be adjusting frequently buy moving the spring adjustment and measuring 40-45mm when sitting on sled. I definitely notice that after a long day riding now I get home and I am not so beat up and also that I can keep up with my buddies doo in the rough stuff where as before he would leave me behind. Is that clear enough lol makes sense in my mind.