Plain English rear shock setup?

publicenergy

I've got a Fifth Element 5 Way on my bike - the 5 way in the title
refers to the 5 different points of adjustment. Has anyone got any tips
on setting things like this up? There are so many variables and the
help I've found so far is far from perfect. For example, when I first
started adjusting it, it felt like I was being launched in to the air
every time I hit a bumb - there was an amazing amount of force lifting
me up, very quickly. So, would increasing the rebound dampening slow
that down? And, if it did slow it down, would that result in a lot of
bobbing because it's allowed to go up and down more times?

I'm confused - and that's only talking about 1 of the 5 adjustments so
far!!

So, any tips / links very gratefully received

Tony Raven

publicenergy wrote:
> I've got a Fifth Element 5 Way on my bike - the 5 way in the title
> refers to the 5 different points of adjustment. Has anyone got any tips
> on setting things like this up? There are so many variables and the
> help I've found so far is far from perfect. For example, when I first
> started adjusting it, it felt like I was being launched in to the air
> every time I hit a bumb - there was an amazing amount of force lifting
> me up, very quickly. So, would increasing the rebound dampening slow
> that down? And, if it did slow it down, would that result in a lot of
> bobbing because it's allowed to go up and down more times?
>
> I'm confused - and that's only talking about 1 of the 5 adjustments so
> far!!
>
> So, any tips / links very gratefully received
>

I know the problem. I had Tim Flooks at TFT set mine up for me. Asked
me lots of questions about me and my riding style and then set it up to
settings way off the recommended start settings. Its been pretty much
perfect so that I've felt no need to adjust it and as for bob there is
essentially zero despite having the rather active Heckler frame. If you
haven't bought it from him it will probably cost but well worth it.
Otherwise he has some setup tips on the website.

http://www.tftunedshox.com/

Tony

publicenergy

Cheers for that - the bike is second hand (a Santa Cruz Bullit) and the
shock did come with paperwork from TFTuned from a recent service/setup
session - but the settings on there I suspect are specifically aimed
towards the previous owner who was lighter than me and also used the
bike for more downhill type stuff than cross country stuff (albeit
quite serious cross country stuff ).

I think I'll have a go with the tips and spend a few days out adjusting
as I go and if I can't sort it, he'll be seeing it again