ESSENTIAL BIKE PREP FOR STONE KING

BRAKE PREP

Proper brake setup is essential, so before heading to Stone King, don’t forget to replace your pads and bleed your brakes.

Organic brake pads provide initial great bite, but for extended descents and unpredictable weather conditions on a tour like Stone King, you will also want to consider sintered pads. Our personal favourite, combining most of the advantages of organic and sintered, are the semi-metallic options. Make sure you take the time to bed-in your new pads before dropping in, as insufficiently/incorrectly bedded-in pads will lead to greatly reduced stopping power, as well as noise. Whichever pad compound you go for, be sure to bring spares with you on your Stone King tour. Before replacing your pads, reset your caliper pistons (and re-bleed the brake in question if possible) so that you can be confident in your brake performance from start to finish.

SUSPENSION SETUP

Suspension is something that you must have working right, to ensure that your bike is performing optimally on a big week in wild Alpine terrain. In terms of setup, assuming a new fork/shock (or starting from scratch with an existing unit) we recommend that you follow these steps :

1. Set sag

Setting sag (i.e. setting the correct air pressure assuming and air suspension) is always the first step in setting up a fork or shock. Sag is the % of travel used under static load, i.e. you on your bike, at standstill
To measure sag, and correct it :

i. be it the fork or shock you’re measuring, move the suspension’s rubber o-ring to the base (start) of the travel
ii. place your bike immediately adjacent to a wall so that you can stand upright on it without falling over
iii. stand on the bike as vertically as possible and bounce up and down a couple of times to cycle the suspension
iv. whilst still on the bike, push the o-ring back down to the lower
v. dismount your bike extremely carefully, ensuring that the suspension is not further compressed
vi. measure the distance from the o-ring back to the start of the travel (e.g. to the seal of the fork lower, or shock can)
vii. divide this distance by the intended maximum stroke of the fork or shock, and multiply by 100. THIS IS YOUR SAG %
viii. The required action is then to add or remove pressure, in order to achieve :

• • 28-32% sag for rear shock
  • 20-25% sag for your fork

2. Set rebound

Adjusting your rebound damping adjusts the speed at which your fork or shock “springs back” when no longer under load – the more rebound damping is employed, the more the rate of return to full travel is slowed down. For a given trail, and let’s say a roughly agreed upon ideal fork/shock rebound speed, lighter riders will want little to no rebound damping (i.e. red damping knob more open, or fully open, towards counter-clockwise) whilst heavier riders will want more rebound damping (i.e. red damping knob more towards clockwise). This is because lighter riders run lower suspension pressures, and so the natural spring-back isn’t too quick or violent and doesn’t need slowing down too much; whereas heavier riders run higher suspension pressures, causing the spring-back to be very quick and jolty until “slowed down” by rebound damping.

After having sorted Sag and Rebound, you’re 80-90% of the way there. They are the bread and butter of getting your bike’s suspension dialled. However, further (more personal) adjustments include :

3. Tweak LSC & HSC

If your suspension separates low-speed and high-speed compression and you can adjust these independently, then these dials are well worth familiarising yourself with.
Roughly speaking :
High-speed concerns the second half of the suspension travel, i.e. mid-sized to big hits at moderate to high speed. Adding HSC will generally just make your suspension feel a little harder and possibly more supportive in the second half of the travel, and vice-versa.
Low-speed concerns the first half of the suspension travel, e.g. small bump sensitivity and e.g. how much the front end of your bike will dive under braking load, when descending a steep slope. Adding LSC (clockwise) will reduce this dive (e.g. keep your bike closer to its intended geometry) but small bump sensitivity will be less effective.

4. Tweak air volume

If your sag is set correctly but you reach your fork/shock’s maximum travel too easily, you should add at least one air volume reduction spacer. If your sag is set correctly but you cannot reach your fork/shock’s maximum travel, you should remove at least one air volume reduction spacer.

WHEELS

It goes without saying that a high-quality, robust wheelset is indispensable for taking on the rigours of Stone King.

Reserve’s “30” range (in either alloy or carbon) is our go-to. These wheels have a solid feel without feeling harsh, are easy to fit new tyres to, and all come with a lifetime warranty.

If you wish to bring a spare rim, we recommend packing one identical to that of your rear wheel. That’s the wheel you’re most likely to break and a like-for-like rim will make the changeover easy (bring some correct length spare spokes too!)