FRA or Compression adjustment ?

[NY_Nytro]

Question: Is there a rule of thumb about when or what order to adjust concerning the FRA and shock compression on RXwarrior or older RX-1 suspensions?

Say your FRA is set to medium and the compression clicker is set to 7 (from soft), after riding for awhile you notice the suspension is bottoming more than you would like, do you bump up the FRA or the clicker ?

 

[monker]

Think of it as the FRA being a big adjustment and the clicker being a fine tune adjustment.

When I ran the stock warrior suspension, I would run the fra in the middle in the morning with fast trails and small studder bumps, then stiffen it up in the afternoon with big G bumps and pounding on the trails with a click here and there on the shock.

How many miles are on your sled? It sounds like the shock is about beat if it looses performance.

 

[LazyBastard]

I wouldn't say that... they are two totally different adjustments. The FRA "Full Rate Adjuster" determines how quickly spring tension builds, whereas the shock clicker determines the resistance to movement.

Now the problem with all these adjustments is that you don't just adjust one of them, they have to be BALANCED, and it can be extremely difficult to determine a reasonable balance. With the 03/04 RX1's, there was no adjustment to the shock, just the FRA and preload. For them I recommended maximum FRA and minumum preload. It tended to be somewhat soft on smaller bumps, but with the high FRA it would resist bottoming on big bumps. Throwing in a third variable can make your head itch. If the shock is too stiff, it will affect ride ALL THROUGH the stroke, whereas the FRA has more effect on the DEEP END.

 

[monker]

ok, doesn't spring tension provide resistance to movement?

 

[NY_Nytro]

This was more of "hypothetical" question. Just trying to get an idea on what does what so when the snow flies I can make adjustments that make sense.

I have 2300 miles, the rear Ohlins only has about 1600. I have a lighter spring coming from Pioneer as the stocker on the ohlins was too stiff for my 175lbs. Bruce at Pioneer said to try the FRA at medium, but I may be able to get away with the light setting.

"doesn't spring tension provide resistance to movement?"
According to my Ohlins book it says rear spring preload should only be adjusted for ride height, never adjust preload to counter a stiff or soft ride.

 

[LazyBastard]

ok, doesn't spring tension provide resistance to movement?

There is a significant difference that is difficult to explain. Theoretically, the function of the spring is to *hold you up*, whereas the function of the shock is to *slow your descent* when the spring force is exceeded. The shock absorber will absorb inertia. If you take all the shocks out of your sled, but leave the springs, you could bottom it out just by bouncing on it stationary.