So, you've bought your first full suspension bike. You've been on a
hard tail. Obviously, they've got more moving parts and things to keep on top of.
So here are five things to look out for on your first full suspension bike.
♪ [music] ♪
Obviously one of the biggest differences with your new bike compared it to the
hard tail 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 are present,
then get it serviced. In normal sort of running of the bike, just make sure
it's nice and clean and you don't let mud and dirt build up around that seal.
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 out. So to check those, a really easy way is just to hold the back
wheel onto 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 on the shock, and again, you shouldn't feel any movements.
There's one at the top and one at the bottom on this bike.
They're nice and tight which means the bike is going to feel nice.
The next thing to look at is your suspension set-up, and we've done a really
advanced video on that exact thing and the link to that video will be
in the description below this video so check that one out.
But simply put, you want to set the sag and the rebound of that shock.
To set the sag, I'll use the rubber ring that's on there
and slide it all the way up so it touches on the shock's main body and to lower
myself onto the bike so all my weight is going through that rear wheel.
And you're looking for about 30% sag so you're going to have to play around,
the air pressure in your shock, so that's about 30%.
Next thing is rebound. So you want the shock not to just spring back without any
damping. 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, it's this red dial up on the shock. Clockwise winding it in will
slow that shock down. Anticlockwise will speed it up, so just play around.
So the rear swingarm that moves the shock will move on bearings,
so there's bearing in each pivot. So there's something else to look out
for and just to keep on top off. A good way of checking the condition of those
bearings is to grab the bike, hold onto the saddle and to wobble that rear wheel.
You need to make sure the rear wheel is nice and tight, all those spokes aren't
flexing about. And then I'm just looking for any movement in the rear end,
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 bearing individually is just by taking the
rear end apart slightly so that you're isolating each bearing so that I'm
moving one. You know, sometimes you can just take the one shock bolt out, just
so that swingarm moves nice and freely, and just feel the frame as 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 while also doing this. So this feels really nice
and smooth. Like I say, you can work through the pivot. Let's do that
individually and check that all those bearings are in good condition.
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
hard tail, this affects rear ends. The chain won't grow at all,
but just double check. I've let the air out
in 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 I've bottomed out that rear shock. 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 to allow for that rear suspension gear.
And finally, a lot of shocks now have extra technology that are really going
to help you out. This RockShox Monarch has got a lockout lever that goes
from open to middle, to firm. And the firmer you have it,
the better that bike is going to pedal. It's not going to bob around quite so
much, so that's really good. If you're doing long climbs, you can whack it all
the way up to locked. Sometimes, you can have that mounted on the handle bars.
You don't have to reach down to do it. As well as that, my Canyon Strive has this
Shapeshifter technology that actually moves the geometry from steep which is
good for riding uphill, to slack which is much better for riding downhill.
So there you go. There's five things to look out for when you buy your first
full suspension bike. And if you found this video useful, give us a big thumbs up
down below. That'd be great. And for more videos from GMBN, you can click up here
for our Suspension Set-up Explained video, or click down here
for How To Descend Like A Pro, or click on me to subscribe to GMBN.