Full Suspension Mountain Bike Maintenance Tips

10 Aug Full Suspension Mountain Bike Maintenance Tips

Maybe you bought your first full Suspension bike. You’ve been on some critical points. So here are the top things to look out for on your first full-suspension bike.

Shock Condition

Obviously one of the biggest differences with our new bike to the capacity of the hardtail is this rear shock.

They do need servicing So try and keep on top of that check for the condition of the shaft. Make sure it’s not got any scratches on it, and there’s no oil coming from this seal.

If either of those things is present, then get it serviced in normal sort of running as a bite. Just make sure it’s nice and clean and don’t let modern dirt build up around that seal.

To keep away from all these problems you should know the details of hardtail vs full suspension.

Shocks have bushes in the ends where they mount to the frame. They’re like plastic sleeves. The bolt goes through and they move around when the suspension moves.

So, they do wear right and to check those really easy ways just to hold the back wheel on the floor and just pull up on your seat.

There shouldn’t be any movement or any knocking in there. We’ll just bounce the bike on the floor and put your finger on that bolt and the shock and again, you shouldn’t feel any movements there’s one of them.

One at the bottom on the spot they’re nice and tight, which means the bikes in feel nice.

Suspension Setup

The next thing to look at is your suspension setup, and we’ve done a really advanced post on that exact thing.

So, check that one eight, but simply put you want to set the sag and the rebound of that shock.

I will use the rubber ring that’s on their slide all the way up. So, it touches on these shocks’ main body and to low me onto the bikes.

All my weight is going through that rear wheel and you look in for about 30% sag so you’re gonna have to play around with the air pressure in your shock so that’s about 30%.

The next thing is to rebound so you want the shot, not to just spring back, anytime pin. You want some control on that rebound too slow, and it won’t rebound in time, but too fast and the bike will be really kicky.

So, play around with that dial on this bike and It’s this red dial-up on the shot clockwise winding it in. We’ll slow that shock down see clockwise. We’ll speed it up.

Bearing

The rear swingarm that moves the shock will move on bearing there’s bearing in each pivot.

So, there is something else to look out for and just to keep on top of a good way of checking the condition of those bearings is to grab the bike, hold onto the saddle, and wobble that rear wheel.

You need to make sure the rear wheels are nice and tight, all their spokes aren’t flexing a bite. And then I’m just looking for any movement in the rear.

Looking against this linkage against the frame and there really isn’t any movement in there so I know my bearings are in really good condition.

So, give that a wobble there shouldn’t be much play at all side to side in that rear-end an easy way of checking each bear, and individually it’s just by taking the rear end apart slightly so that you’re isolating each bear and so that I move in.

You know sometimes you can just take the one shock bolt eight just so that swing arm moves nice and freely and just feel a frame you’re moving them to check there’s no rumbling or any roughness in those bearings and make sure they’re all nice and tight whilst you’re doing there.

So, this feels really nice and smooth. I would say you can work through the pivots, do that individually and chat. All those bearings are in good condition.

Chain Growth

Something else to bear in mind with full suspension, bikes is you may get a little bit of chain growth by that.

I mean, when the suspension is going down that can sometimes pull the chain tighter and it depends on the design of the rear suspension you have but it’s worth bearing that in mind, obviously, the heart house affects rear ends.

The chain won’t grow at all, but just double-check, I’ve let the air out my shock and I’m just pushing down with it in the lowest gear.

I need to make sure that I still have enough chain that the chain doesn’t go fully tight before was bottomed out that rear.

The same goes for cables and hoses. I’ve got a rear brake hose and my gear cable down there, and I need enough slack in those two for that rear suspension.

Finally, a lot of shocks, no half extra technology that is really going to help you out. This Rock Shox Monarch has got a lockout lever that goes from open to middle.

It’s a firm and the firm, you have, the better that boat’s going to paddle. It’s not going to bother around quite so much.

So that’s really good and If you’re doing long climbs, you can walk it all the way up to locked. Sometimes you now have that main it on the handlebars. You don’t have to reach down to do it as well as that.

My cannon strive has this shape-shifter technology that actually moves the geometry from steep, which is good for riding uphill to slack, which is much better for riding downhill.

Conclusion

So there you go and there are top things to look out for when you buy your first full-suspension bike and if you find this article useful, give thumbs up and you can also visit OutdoorXsports for biking tips and tricks.