Sounds like my bike is bottoming out

[oh6banshee]

Hello, I have a 06 and it is brand new. I have not adjusted anything on the suspension yet and i noticed after watching a video that every time I would come off a small mound or hit a small rut it sounds like im bottoming out. I dont intend to get new suspension anytime soon, espesially since I dont really jump that much. Should I make the suspension hard or soft to avoid bottoming out.... probably a stupid question. I weigh 170 and a friend of mine is 200. I would rather have a slightly softer or harder ride as long as it get rid of the problem. By the way, will bottoming out hurt anything. I figure that stock suspension has to be at least Ok, not the greatest , but OK, enough to get the job done for some rec riding. Thanks for the help in advance!

Edited July 29, 2008 by oh6banshee

[Paddleboy]

i'm 200 and i have only bottomed out a few times on stock suspension. that was a 5 foot straight down off side of my driveway hill. other then that i have taken it to a local track and had no problems, however i'm only getting like 3 to 5 feet off the ground with landings

[fatcracker76]

you missed the most important part. who cares what it sounds like! bikes and suspension will make noise. but you were watching a video, what does it look like is happening? are the wheels almost touching the fenders? if not then you are not bottoming out. and the biggest thing of all, what does it feel like? if you don't feel a harsh impact at the end of the shocks stroke then it's fine. ideally you want to use as much of your suspension travel as possible for the style of riding you do. think about it, if you have 9 inches of travel and only ever use 2 inches, then you are wasting 7 inches that could be smoothing out your ride. it's ok to bottom on jumps that are larger than you normally hit or if they have flat landings.