A General Guide to Mountain Bike Suspension Terms and Set-up

Today's mountain bikes are potpourris of technology. Nowhere is this more evident than in the suspension department. While many riders find themselves lusting after the most feature-rich forks and shocks available, not nearly as many understand exactly how much control they have over the way the suspension performs or how it's performance can affect handling.

Let's start with the basic suspension controls, what they do, and why you should adjust them.

Preload: This adjustment controls the tension of the fork or shock's spring(s). Most forms of suspension rely upon the resistence of a spring both in action and at rest. Controlling the spring preload stiffens or softens the suspension directly and immediately. Gains are made if the suspension blows through it's travel on small impacts (requiring increased preload) or rides too high in it's travel, decreasing small bump sensitivity (requiring a decrease in preload). Generally speaking the preload adjuster should be the first on your tuning list.

Compression Damping: As the name suggests, the compression setting controls the internal shaft's ability to compress as the damping process (the transfer of oil through resistant openings) takes place. The main benefit to fine tuning the compression adjustment lies within the boundaries of being stiff enough to absorb big hits and square-edge bumps (without bottoming out) while, at the same time dipping into it's travel enough to allow the bike to corner low and level uneven terrain.