A good full suspension setup guide should start with one truth: the settings printed on a fork leg are only a starting point. Your weight, riding kit, terrain, speed and riding style all change what works. A properly set-up bike tracks the ground, holds its line through rough turns and gives you grip when the trail gets fast. A poorly set-up one can feel harsh, vague or strangely nervous, even if the frame and components are first-rate.
Set aside an hour, use a shock pump with a reliable gauge, and make one change at a time. Write your starting settings down before you begin. That way, you can always return to a known baseline if a test ride takes you in the wrong direction.
Start with the basics before touching the adjusters
Check that your suspension pivots, shock hardware and fork are in good condition. Excess play, a sticking air can or overdue lower-leg service will not be fixed with clickers. Clean stanchions, correctly torqued hardware and fresh seals give you a useful foundation.
Set your tyre pressures first, too. Tyres are the first suspension your bike has, and their behaviour affects what you feel through the fork and shock. If pressures are too high, the bike can feel chattery and lacking in grip. If they are too low, the casing may fold in turns or bottom on rocks. Get them close to your usual trail pressure before judging suspension changes.
Wear your normal riding kit, including pack and water if you ride with them. On an e-MTB, the added bike weight and the way you tend to carry speed make balanced suspension particularly valuable. The aim is not to make the bike feel soft in the car park. It is to make it controlled when you are braking hard, leaning into roots and landing slightly off line.
Full suspension setup guide: set sag first
Sag is how much the suspension settles into its travel under your normal riding weight. It creates the negative travel needed for the wheels to drop into holes and follow uneven ground. Without enough sag, the bike sits high and lacks traction. With too much, it can ride low, wallow in turns and use travel too easily.
Rear shock sag
As a sensible starting point, most trail and enduro bikes work well with around 28 to 30 per cent rear sag. Some designs, particularly more progressive bikes or those intended for very rough terrain, may suit slightly more. Your frame manufacturer’s recommendation is always the first reference point.
Slide the shock O-ring to the seal, carefully get on the bike in a neutral standing position, then step off without compressing it further. Measure the O-ring movement against the shock stroke, not the total wheel travel. For example, on a 60 mm stroke shock, 18 mm of movement is 30 per cent sag.
Add air if there is too much sag; release a small amount if there is too little. Cycle the shock through some travel after each pressure adjustment to equalise the positive and negative air chambers, then measure again. Do not chase an exact number at the expense of feel. A rider who pushes hard through turns may prefer a touch more support, while a lighter, smoother rider may want more sensitivity.
Fork sag
Fork sag is usually lower than rear sag. Around 15 to 20 per cent is a useful starting range for most modern trail and enduro forks. On a 160 mm fork, that is roughly 24 to 32 mm.
Too little fork sag can make the front tyre deflect off roots and feel reluctant to grip on flat turns. Too much can pull the bike down at the front, reduce confidence on steep terrain and make it dive under braking. If the front and rear are not working together, no amount of rebound adjustment will make the bike feel settled.
Use volume spacers for support, not air pressure alone
Air pressure primarily establishes sag and ride height. Volume spacers, sometimes called tokens, shape how the spring rate builds deeper in the travel. They are one of the most useful tools for separating small-bump sensitivity from bottom-out resistance.
If you have correct sag but repeatedly use full travel too easily on normal trails, more volume reduction may help. This makes the suspension ramp up more firmly near the end of its travel, allowing you to retain appropriate sag without constantly bottoming out. If the bike rarely gets close to full travel despite correct sag and hard riding, removing a spacer may make it more usable.
There is a trade-off. Too many spacers can make the final part of the travel feel abrupt, particularly on square-edged hits. Too few can leave the bike diving through its stroke and lacking composure on bigger compressions. Add or remove one spacer at a time, then test on familiar ground.
Set rebound so the wheels recover without bouncing
Rebound controls how quickly the suspension returns after it compresses. It is often set too slow because slow rebound can feel calm on a smooth car-park test. On the trail, however, a fork or shock that cannot recover between repeated hits rides lower and lower in its travel. This is called packing down, and it reduces grip while making the bike feel harsh.
Start in the middle of the rebound range, or use the manufacturer’s pressure-based recommendation. Find a repeatable trail section with roots, braking bumps or a rough descent. If the bike feels dead, sinks into successive hits or fails to return before the next impact, speed rebound up by one or two clicks.
If it feels springy, kicks after a compression or sends the rear wheel upwards off square edges, slow it down. Treat fork and shock separately. A rear shock that is slightly too fast is often felt as a bucking sensation, whereas a fork that is too fast can make the front tyre feel skittish and nervous.
Very cold weather can slow damping, while hot, long descents can alter how suspension feels. That is another reason to record settings and judge them over a proper ride rather than one lap of the local woods.
Add compression damping with a light hand
Compression damping controls how readily suspension compresses. Low-speed compression mainly influences rider movements, braking support, pedalling forces and gradual loading in turns. High-speed compression relates more to rapid shaft movements from impacts, despite the name having little to do with how fast you are riding.
If your bike has a simple compression lever, leave it open for descending and use firmer positions for long climbs or smooth fire roads where appropriate. A climb switch is not a substitute for correct spring setup.
For adjusters with clicks, begin open or close to open. Add a click or two of low-speed compression if the bike dives excessively under braking, feels unsupported in berms or moves too much when you load the pedals. If grip disappears on wet roots, small chatter feels sharp or the bike will not settle into turns, back it off.
High-speed compression is best approached cautiously. A little more can help prevent harsh bottom-outs on big impacts, but too much can make the suspension deflect rather than absorb the hit. If you are unsure, sort sag, volume spacers and rebound first. They do most of the heavy lifting.
Test on trail, then change one thing
Choose a short loop you know well: a corner, a rooty traverse, a steep braking section and a compression are ideal. Ride it several times at a representative pace. Make a single adjustment, then repeat. Changing pressure, rebound and compression together produces guesswork rather than setup.
Use the O-rings as evidence, not a scorecard. On a hard ride, getting close to full travel is generally healthy. A gentle bottom-out on an occasional big impact means you are using the bike’s capability. Constant hard bottom-outs mean you need more end-stroke support. Never reaching the final portion of travel may be fine if the trail does not demand it, but it can also point to too much pressure, excessive compression damping or too many volume spacers.
Pay attention to where the problem occurs. Poor grip on off-camber roots suggests a different adjustment from excessive fork dive on steep chutes. The bike should remain balanced: front and rear should compress and recover as a pair rather than one end feeling busy while the other feels stuck.
When a workshop check makes more sense
If your settings look sensible but the suspension feels notchy, inconsistent or reluctant to use travel, it may need attention rather than further tuning. Worn bushings, contaminated oil, damaged seals and incorrect damper function can all disguise themselves as a setup issue. This is especially common on bikes that have seen a wet winter, regular bike-park use or long e-MTB descents.
At Nirvana Cycles, the workshop sees plenty of bikes transformed by a proper service followed by a measured setup. It is worth bringing your riding kit and explaining the trail conditions you normally ride. A useful setup is personal, and the best starting point is built around how you actually use the bike.
Your final settings should make you forget about suspension while riding. When the bike holds traction, carries speed through rough ground and gives you the confidence to look further down the trail, you are close. Keep the notes, revisit them as the seasons change, and let your familiar trails tell you what the bike needs.