The key is setting the sag right. Put a zip tie around the fork stanchion and push it all the way down to the seal. Then have someone hold your bike upright and carefully get onto it. You'll want to stand up on the pedals in your 'attack position,' which is sort of a neutral stance where you can extend upwards, compress downward, move forward, backward, and left and right on the bike. In that position you will sag the suspension a little. Then get off the bike carefully and measure how far the zip tie got pushed up. That's your sag. Compare that do the full travel of the fork. In general you'll want somewhere around 20%-25% sag. The air pressure in the fork is the spring, so that's what you'll be adjusting to set the sag.
From there you basically just turn knobs until it feels good. My guess is you'll want to run a fair amount of compression damping to keep the bike from bobbing while you pedal. Most people tend to run too little rebound making the fork feel too springy. On the trail that will feel harsh, so I recommend cranking it up a fair amount. Most people don't ride fast enough to warrant super fast rebound.
As a side note, the same thing goes for the rear end.
From there you basically just turn knobs until it feels good. My guess is you'll want to run a fair amount of compression damping to keep the bike from bobbing while you pedal. Most people tend to run too little rebound making the fork feel too springy. On the trail that will feel harsh, so I recommend cranking it up a fair amount. Most people don't ride fast enough to warrant super fast rebound.
As a side note, the same thing goes for the rear end.
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