Spent the afternoon lapping Dirt Merchant and crabapple.
I’ve noticed on steep lips with high G force entrances, I’m kind of wallowing down to give myself more room to push my legs out and move the bike in the air , due to the anticipation of a buck happening.
I weigh 230 lbs and I’m riding an XL supreme DHv5. I have a previous gen vivid air I’m running at 320 psi (says it caps at 300 but I need 320 to hit proper sag). I started with 4 tokens and reduced to 1 this week, and that has helped prevent the rebound when yanking off a lip and getting into the end stroke. Instead of 4 tokens I cranked up the HBO to 3/5 and that’s kept me from any harsh bottom outs. I’m also running rebound as slow as I can get away with without it packing in brake bumps and other chatter.
I’ve also got LSC maxed on the shock, but I think at my bodyweight it does absolutely nothing.
I have the bike currently in the linear setting, but I’m thinking about purchasing the flip chip from commencal to put it in progressive. However I’m unsure if that would be overkill for an air shock.
My current thoughts are to upgrade to a current gen Vivid air. That shock has a 350 psi limit, and from what I’ve heard the compression dials actually do something, and if they don’t I will probably pay for a custom shim stack.
Trying to build more confidence off high speed compressions, any legit good riders have setup tips?
byu/Hammered-Cyclist-666 inMTB
by Hammered-Cyclist-666
6 Comments
TBH if you’re hitting pro lines like that, you are probably better than 99% of riders here and may not be able to get good advice, I know I don’t have a ton to give you.
I might suggest looking into pro coaching, something like Yoann bareli’s into the gnar. I think he does online and in person coaching.
Where are these runs?
Your form is pretty weird coming up the lip there. You’re not compressing through the transition then sucking up the lip. Look at the direction you’re going through the air. Crabs is pretty poppy and you’re just going straight through it and low.
Your setup sounds a little weird having to run the shock at max pressure and that might be contributing to the issues but there’s definitely other issues contributing as well.
Bro relax off those lips dude you’re lucky to be alive hitting this shit like that. These lips are very gentle and very chill you don’t have to do much but slowly pop over the course of the transition. Don’t suddenly crouch at the top of the lip.
For setup, I don’t know why you’re having trouble with so much air pressure and tokens but really your form needs work first
Don’t neglect tires, I was regularly running like 40psi at Whistler. Feels way better on jumps. If you want a good set up for big jumps it’s not gonna be a good setup for tech.
You’re obviously not comfortable on those, causing the crouch. My advice would be to chill out, ride a dj or bmx, on jumps, which will teach you how to properly stand and take the high g lips and not get bucked. Also buy the new shock. The damper is blown.
this is probably going to get ignored but have fun riding your face down the landing of crabapple.
Flip Chip would be the cheapest/easiest test. Should help give you a bit more early and mid support. Which might help. Worth a shot! Honestly though…if you’re going to switch shocks you might want to consider getting a coil. You’ll feel way more planted and comfortable in those transitions. Yeah, maybe you lose some pop and playfulness but you’re not even enjoying those benefits on big hits right now anyways. A dialed in coil is better than a maxed to shit air spring with no rebound imo.