Revalved Marzocchi Shiver 45 for plushness.

[GMP]

GGs always like less preload/more sag.

What is your shock spring preload for 105mm?

What is your sag at 8mm preload? 10mm?

For the fork leave the 4.6s. What is your rebound stack? Bleed hole in rebound piston and comp piston?

[Nick]

Leave the .46's in front and try your soft stack. Loosen the low speed in the rear and turn the high speed to at least half way. On my 05 i was 1 turn out on high speed. On the forks i always start in the middle of the adjustment range.

[bergerhag]

Spring preload is currently 12 mm.

To achive sag of 40 mm and 115 mm race sag, with only 8-10 mm preload would suggest I need an even stiffer rear spring? Is that possible?

[GMP]

Forget about sag numbers for the moment, try this:

Back off your shock spring preload to 8mm. Ride it. Only add as much as you need to make it steer, in half turn increments, no more than 10mm. On my 250, I reached a point in preload where I could feel a definate difference in both front and rear action with just a half turn on the ring. The fork should feel better with the rear less jacked up. If it squats too much add LS compression, but not much more than half way in.

Dave suggested this, it works for me, very well. Ryno, a fast NETRA guy, tried it as well and is very happy. Our race sag#s are around 120mm and the bike still steers great. Everything feels better than it did @ 12mm preload and about 105-110mm race sag.

Sounds funny, just try it.

You never mentioned your rebound stack, I'm sure you could use more. Too little HS rebound will make the fork snap up very fast initialy after compression and feel like a deflection, its hard to tell sometimes, you have to pay close attention.

Like I said before you made such a radical shock spring change you might need valving adjustments to compensate.

[bergerhag]

Thanks alot GMP. Backing off preload made a huge difference. I just set it at a point where I got a race sag of 115mm. High speed speed comp at half a turn from full soft. Low speed at 17 out. It threw me out of some rutted turns a couple of times, otherwise it was perfect. I'll try to add a little more rebound on the forks, or I'll just move up the forks a bit in the triples.

Works precisely the way I want it now besides for the turning. But I still have my super soft base valve in the front. It works for me.

Entered in a race in the 'just for fun' class today. Look what it got me!
Thanks again all of you for your invaluable insights.

[bergerhag]

Eh, i guess i meant valuable insights. A little interference from my native language. A straight translation of invaluable to swedish means priceless. Or is it the same in english? Anyway, i appreciate your help.

[GMP]

You should be able to go in a little more on the LS comp to make up for less preload without things getting harsh. With the '07 Sachs, I'm at 14 out and its sweet in really bad rocks. Try a few more clicks until things get worse and then back off, its easy.

What you say about steering and being thrown out of ruts points to lack of rebound control in the fork. With proper damping and all else being correct, the bike should still steer well with 120mm sag.

Again, what is that rebound stack?

[bergerhag]

I do not know what the rebound stack is. I have not taken it out.

[GMP]

Thats what you need to address next, especially with 4.6 springs.

[bergerhag]

Ok have now been busy riding smooth snow ruts for a couple of months, hardly a need for suspension at all.
But last time out some rocks hade emerged from its winter sleep, and now my fork setup was horrible. The very soft base valve stack i used seemed to blow by immediately at the mere sight of a rock making the ride very harsh.
Yeah I know, you told me so .

Now, I want to get this sorted once and for all.
The '05 FSE does NOT use either bleed shim or bleed hole in the base valve. No bleed whatsoever. Is a base valve bleed setup necessary to make it supple over roots and rocks?
What I have learned from you guys is that it is a good idea to pull out the first crossover 11x10 shim. Should I perhaps place that 11x10 at the top of the stack to get a little bleed? Like:

Stock base valve:
22x10
22x10
11x10
19x15
11x10
17x15
15x15
13x20

Stiffer stock+bleed?
11x10
22x10
22x10
19x15
11x10
17x15
15x15
13x20

Or do I need even more bleed as in the EC forks? Perhaps change the 22x10's to 21x10's?
Or should I drill a bleed hole?

What exactly is the purpose of the bleed anyway? Where/when does it come to play?

Rebound piston has the same 2 mm bleed hole and same shim arrangement as the '06 EC found in pobit's post, but the FSE midvalve is a check plate/spring setup.
Stock rebound shim stack:
21x10
19x10
17x10
15x10


As I use .46 N springs I would need to add some extra rebound shims.
Also the stock setup beeing a little on the soft side rebound wise with std springs, it would call for even more rebound for me?
How much extra rebound would I need for my stiffer springs based on pobit's findings:
Pobit's rebound stack:
21x10
21x10
19x10
19x10
18x10
17x10
15x10

Please help