So, you've bought your first full
suspension bike. You've been on a hard tail. Obviously, they've got more
moving parts and things to keep on top of. So here are five things to look out
for on your first full suspension bike. ♪ [music] ♪ Obviously one of the biggest differences
with your new bike compared it to the hard tail is this rear shock. They do need
servicing so try and keep on top of that. Check for the condition of the shaft.
Make sure it's not got any scratches on it and there's no oil coming from this seal.
If either of those things are present, then get it serviced. In normal sort
of running of the bike, just make sure it's nice and clean and you don't let mud
and dirt build up around that seal. Shocks have bushes in the ends where they
mount to the frame. They're like plastic sleeves. The bolt goes through and they
move around when the suspension moves, so they do wear out. So to check those,
a really easy way is just to hold the back wheel onto the floor and just pull up on
your seat. There shouldn't be any movement or any knocking in there. We'll just
bounce the bike on the floor and put your finger on that bolt and on the shock, and
again, you shouldn't feel any movements. There's one at the top and one
at the bottom on this bike. They're nice and tight which means
the bike is going to feel nice. The next thing to look at is your
suspension set-up, and we've done a really advanced video on that exact thing
and the link to that video will be in the description below this video
so check that one out. But simply put, you want to set the sag
and the rebound of that shock. To set the sag, I'll use the
rubber ring that's on there and slide it all the way up so it touches
on the shock's main body and to lower myself onto the bike so all my
weight is going through that rear wheel. And you're looking for about 30% sag so
you're going to have to play around, the air pressure in your shock,
so that's about 30%. Next thing is rebound. So you want the
shock not to just spring back without any damping. You want some control on that
rebound. Too slow and it won't rebound in time, but too fast and the bike will be
really kicky so play around with that dial. On this bike, it's this red dial up
on the shock. Clockwise winding it in will slow that shock down. Anticlockwise will
speed it up, so just play around. So the rear swingarm that moves
the shock will move on bearings, so there's bearing in each pivot.
So there's something else to look out for and just to keep on top off. A good
way of checking the condition of those bearings is to grab the bike, hold onto
the saddle and to wobble that rear wheel. You need to make sure the rear wheel is
nice and tight, all those spokes aren't flexing about. And then I'm just looking
for any movement in the rear end, looking against this linkage against the
frame, and there really isn't any movement in there so I know my bearings are
in really good condition. So give that a wobble. There shouldn't be much play
at all, side to side, in that rear end. An easy way of checking each bearing
individually is just by taking the rear end apart slightly so that you're
isolating each bearing so that I'm moving one. You know, sometimes you can
just take the one shock bolt out, just so that swingarm moves nice and freely,
and just feel the frame as you're moving them to check there's no rumbling or any
roughness in those bearings and make sure they're all nice and tight while
also doing this. So this feels really nice and smooth. Like I say, you can work
through the pivot. Let's do that individually and check that all those
bearings are in good condition. Something else to bear in mind with full
suspension bikes is you may get a little bit of chain growth. By that, I mean when
the suspension is going down, that can sometimes pull the chain tighter.
And it depends on the design of the rear suspension you have, but it's
worth bearing that in mind. Obviously the hard tail, this affects rear ends.
The chain won't grow at all, but just double check.
I've let the air out in my shock and I'm just pushing
down with it in the lowest gear. I need to make sure that I still have
enough chain that the chain doesn't go fully tight before I've bottomed out that
rear shock. The same goes for cables and hoses. I've got a rear brake hose
and my gear cable down there and I need enough slack in those to allow
for that rear suspension gear. And finally, a lot of shocks now have
extra technology that are really going to help you out. This RockShox Monarch
has got a lockout lever that goes from open to middle, to firm.
And the firmer you have it, the better that bike is going to pedal.
It's not going to bob around quite so much, so that's really good. If you're
doing long climbs, you can whack it all the way up to locked. Sometimes, you can
have that mounted on the handle bars. You don't have to reach down to do it. As
well as that, my Canyon Strive has this Shapeshifter technology that actually
moves the geometry from steep which is good for riding uphill, to slack which is
much better for riding downhill. So there you go. There's five things
to look out for when you buy your first full suspension bike. And if you found
this video useful, give us a big thumbs up down below. That'd be great. And for more
videos from GMBN, you can click up here for our Suspension Set-up Explained video,
or click down here for How To Descend Like A Pro,
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