- You guys have joined me on one really special day
because I'm in the shuttle van,
we're going to the top of the hill to do some runs,
but I'm not on my enduro bike;
I've got my downhill bike that is brand new,
and it's been a couple of years
since I've actually ridden one.
It's my Scott Gambler, it's got aggressive geometry,
210mm of suspension.
It's gonna be one flying machine.
What we're gonna talk about today though,
is how to set up, and how to get it dialled in.
(intense electronic music)
We're up at the top of the trail now,
and I cannot wait to ride this beast.
I've spent quite a bit of time getting it dialled in
and set up, back home.
So, I've thoroughly built the bike up out of the box,
checked all the bolts, checked the wheels,
and made sure that everything is running sweet,
and the first thing that I've come to adjust is bar roll.
Now this is just the position that your bars are in.
For me, I've got them a little bit rolled forward,
and then I set up my levers, and the shifter,
and the grips so that everything feels really comfortable.
You can also do things like your stack height;
you can put spacers above or below your crown,
and likewise with the fork,
you can actually push or pull that through,
and this is just gonna change the head angle of the bike.
Now, the Scott Gambler is slightly different
to a lot of downhill bikes, in the fact
that you've got some adjustability here,
and if your bike has this too,
then you've got little chips here,
where you've got high and a low setting,
and a short and a long setting.
In the longer setting, it's just gonna be
a little bit more stable, likewise in the lower position,
'cause you've got a lower bottom bracket,
and a slacker head angle.
On this bike I've got air suspension,
which makes it really easy to adjust your sag.
Since this is a downhill bike, I've gone for 30%,
and that is just give or take, it's a rough estimate
that really, once you get out into the trail,
you can test that and fine-tune it.
Now, I've gone for it to be a little bit harder on the front
than the rear, just to give me a really stable position.
And then with those compression adjustments,
I've put them right in the middle
and I can adjust and fine-tune them
depending how the bike is feeling and reacting,
same with the rebound.
Tyre choice comes from Continental,
and I've got 24 PSI in the front,
and then 28 PSI in the rear.
This rear tyre has got a slightly thicker casing
than the front, just so that when I'm really ploughing
through rock gardens, that it's not gonna ding out
on the rims, and hopefully it'll prevent any punctures.
Run number one, let's get to it.
(upbeat electronic music)
So without adjusting anything,
drop in, and do three runs back-to-back.
Doing these, subconsciously think about
how the bike is reacting and working with the terrain.
Things to ask yourself are:
grip, do you have enough grip?
Where is that traction coming from?
Is it the suspension, or tyres?
Suspension, are you using all the travel?
Is it just right, soft, or hard?
Are you blowing through the travel too fast?
How's the rebound?
Is it sticking to the ground, or bouncing off?
How do you feel the compression is working?
Have you got enough support?
Consider all of these for both the fork and shock.
Tyres, have you got grip?
Do you feel you could add or remove pressure?
Cockpit, do I feel comfortable with
my set-up and position on the bike?
(upbeat electronic music)
Woo-hoo!
This thing is like a rocket ship.
I gotta say, that is so much fun.
Done three runs,
and already the bike is feeling pretty dialled.
But, there's a few things we're gonna adjust.
We're gonna head back to the van,
get some tools, and change them real quick
before doing some more laps.
Okay, so my two adjustments I'm gonna make
to really dial in the bike,
I'm gonna take a little bit of pressure out of the fork,
and add some rebound, just to slow the fork down
and give me some extra traction.
But, some of the thing that you could adjust
if you've not got it quite dialled in,
is, start thinking about the tyres.
Have you got enough grip?
If you don't, then take some pressure out.
If you're actually going through the tyre too much,
or it's rolling, then you want to add in some pressure.
With the shock, there's two things you can do here:
you can add some pressure, or change a spring,
or you can add in some volume spacers
just to make it more progressive.
And then, one key thing, one key area
that can really be missed, is bar roll,
and your stack height.
You can actually roll your bars further forward,
and that's just gonna allow you to get onto
the front of the bike a little bit more,
giving your front wheel grip,
and the same effect if you actually do that
by lowering your stack height.
One key point though,
just make sure that you adjust your levers
back to the perfect position that you like.
And, I'm gonna do those changes,
head back on up to the top,
and do some more runs 'till I've got my bike perfect.
The premise of this, is really just to do run,
after run, after run, to get the bike absolutely dialled in,
and that is exactly what I'm doing.
I'm going back up to the top of the hill,
and I'm probably gonna do one or two,
maybe 10 more, we'll have to see.
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