UKC

Back in August I ordered and paid for a full sus bike (my first one) through Alpkit - Bike arrived about a week ago.

I have no experience with rear suspension and hoped (assumed) the bike would be good to go out the box, this might not be the case? 

The rear suspension is a 'Rock Shox Deluxe select +' no manual/user guide came with it so I started looking online which has made me more confused (!) I'm now thinking i've got to set it up pressure wise with regards my weight? I was hoping for something like an 'idiots guide/quick start up guide' but not found anything like that yet.

Before I get lost in youtube videos any help/advice?

Many thanks!  

Yep you'll need to set the pressure appropriate to your weight. Will need to google an online manual to get the right settings. Hope you enjoy the bike. Full sus is great fun.  

thanks - ridden a h/t for years but thought I'd make the move - would I also need any specific tools/gear - or is a standard track pump used/sufficient? 

cheers 

You probably know this already but...you will need a shock pump to set up your suspension (in case you don't already own one).

Also, take the shock pump with you on your first few (short!) rides so that you can fettle the air pressures and get closer to whatever works for you (front and back if required).

Finally, when you get it all dialled make a note of the pressures that work for you (so that you can get it dialled quicker in future).

Finally finally...treat all on-line tutorials and manuals as a 'starter for 10' - you have to find the setup that suits you and whatever you ride (obviously keeping within the bounds of safety!)

Easy way to set it up. Ride it in your useuall style, if the suspension bottoms out put a bit more pressure in. If your not using most of the travel let a bit of pressure out. 

Back when I used to race I set the bike up to use 80% of the travel on a typical ride leaving 20% for that opps I didn't see that drop off / rock. 

I don't know if it's right of not but it always worked for me. 

nope - didn't know about shock pumps (and so don't own one) right this is going to take a bit longer than I thought....

I had about 6 months to prep for the arrival of this bike lol - just wish I'd asked these questions a while ago! 

That's been very helpful though - many thanks! 

Finally, finally, finally (sorry)

Don't forget to experiment with the rebound settings (front and back)

Shock pumps are great - you'll be working with high pressures and small volumes of air (compared to tyres)  Shock pumps also have a small 'air bleed valve' which mean that you can put slightly too much pressure into a shock then bleed it back down to the correct pressure.

ta mate, sitting on the bike I think it's at max pressure as I'm hardly making the rear move at all - so figure I'll be letting more out than in, I'm like 9.5 stone for what it's worth! 

I think I can figure out what you mean there, but I've no idea what (or how) that's done - I'll need to go to a bike shop at this rate.....and hardtails were so simple!

I was, and probably still am fairly clueless about shock tinkering, but you'll probably find some sort of factory settings on the rockshox website which will probably be fine getting you started. It took me years to be able to notice that I probably had my shock pressure a bit too low, my skill level simply wasn't good enough to notice!

If you cant sort it yourself I'm sure your local bike shop will help if you maybe buy something else (a shock pump?) At yhe same time. 

Good luck, and enjoy the rides!!

Check that you haven't turned on the 'lock out' on!

Totally agree - if all this seems too complex, take it to a trusted local bike shop, buy a shock pump and ask for a bit of advice.

yep - that's the plan tomorrow - if i'm on the ball I might manage a ride in the afternoon too! 

aye - that I do know about!  

Forks can have rebound (and compression damping) settings too.

The current SRAM (who own Rockshox) suspension setup manual is here: https://www.sram.com/globalassets/document-hierarchy/tuning-manuals/gen.000...

Rear shocks aren't really any different to forks. Just set to about 25% sag by adjusting the air pressure, then go for a ride and twiddle the rebound to suit. Basically, if it's feeling rough, turn rebound up and if it's bucking you over jumps, turn it down.

And probably check your fork settings on the hardtail if you've never used a shock pump before... you could be about to realise how good your hardtail really is! 

You'll probably know this already, but there will be a maximum pressure for the shock - useful to know this before you over-do it.

Not necessarily so, my giant is designed for zero sag, it has top and bottom pressures which you set by weight and then tinker with to eliminate and bob.

Also, because of the way the bike uses the shock, it's not the same as the shock setting from the shock website.

Don't forget you will also be able to run less pressure in your rear tyre than you were used to on the hardtail! Unless you had a lot of pinch flats. (Think I ran about 30psi with the full sus and about 40psi with the Stiffee rear if it was a bit of a rockfest   )  Experiment with this a bit before finalising your rear shock pressures....

Happy riding.

Anyway, as stated, get yourself a shock pump and take it with you. Old school wisdom was to set the initial "sag" (how much it dips when you just sit on it) between 1/4 and 1/3 of the travel and adjust from there to suit your riding/terrain.

There should be a rubber ring/plastic clip on the piston that tells you how much travel you're using - adjust pressure accordingly. Push it up against the shock at the start of a ride and see how far it's moved at the end. If no ring, put a zip tie on it, but not too tight.

Edit to remove comments about lockout.

This might work, but isn’t really the right way to set up suspension! For non-aggressive riders it’s likely to lead to the bike sitting way too deep in the travel (you see this a lot). As mentioned, the correct way is to set the sag (typically 25-30%) and then adjust the compression/rebound dampening from there. Most modern forks/shocks have volume reducers which you can add/remove to alter how progressive the travel is if you’re bottoming out regularly/not using the full travel.

G.