Two Minutes to Sag-Right

The first thing to do on any new bike is to set the spring stiffness using sag on the front and rear suspension. This establishes a baseline suspension setup that you can fine-tune on the trail. We suggest starting at 20% fork sag and 30% rear shock sag, meaning the suspension travel used by the weight of your body sitting on the bike statically as a percentage of total travel. Using spring rates in the recommended range is the first and most important step to maximizing the ride performance.

Important details to note when setting sag:

1. Weigh yourself wearing your standard kit, helmet, and shoes.
2. Include water weight in your pack.
3. Use the buddy system. Setting sag is much faster with a friend.

How to set sag:

1. Set all compression dials to their fully open positions.
2. Sit on your bike in a seated climbing position with your hands on the bars. In our experience this is more repeatable compared to measuring sag in the attack position.
3. Bounce up and down to get the suspension moving, once it stops, sit back down, then slide the O-rings around the fork and shock shafts down to the wiper seals.
4. Observe how much travel you are using and adjust air pressure to achieve the recommended 20% fork sag and 30% shock sag. A good starting point is to adjust forks in 5 psi increments and shocks in 10 psi increments until you get to the sag point.
5. When adjusting air sprung suspension, cycle it a few times after making a pressure adjustment to equalize the air pressure in the negative chamber.
6. On a coil shock you will need to use a tape measure to compare the eye-to-eye length of the shock at the sag point. The eye-to-eye lengths noted below are for the recommended sag on each model:
   1. The Smash: 210-213 mm
   2. Megatrail: 210-211 mm
   3. Shred Dogg: 212-213 mm
   4. Trail Pistol: 194-195 mm

Putting it all together:

1. You may need to check sag and adjust spring rates a few times to find a front-to-rear balance that you like. Decreasing sag on one end of the bike can increase sag on the other, shifting your weight forwards or backwards.
2. Use the spring to support the rider and the damper to control the spring.
3. Blowing through your travel even when sag is correct? Add volume spacers to increase the progression of your spring.