Now that the Olympic XCO is behind us, let's dive into the bike setup, overall approach, and tuning details. We'll focus on suspension and bike balance.
Bike balance is crucial for achieving that perfect feel on your bike and maximizing your potential. Poorly tuned suspension is a common issue, often due to overwhelming and confusing online information.
What happens with poor bike balance?
A rider may rely too much on the fork or shock, leading to issues like front-heavy feel on steep descents, excessive bobbing, poor handling, and slower speeds. Sometimes, riders find it difficult to follow the trail because the bike feels out of control.
Bike balance can be improved by adjusting air pressure, adding or removing tokens, changing IFP pressure, modifying damping oil, or physically tuning the shim stack. These adjustments are common practices, especially for World Cup bikes.
Telemetry data before and after tuning shows improved suspension efficiency, sensitivity, and positive and negative compression. It also reduces G-forces, providing a more comfortable ride. Additionally, balance lines become more consistent.
On the Olympic course, the compact terrain with numerous rock gardens and limited dirt and grass sections required a specific combination of tires, pressure, and suspension tuning. The gravel surface and pump sections needed more support to maintain exit speed, while the rocky sections required sensitivity and producing lower G-forces.
Our DT Swiss suspension featured a custom tune used by all our riders, with multiple options for different courses. The middle position was specifically tuned for larger jumps and BMX sections, while the full open mode provided excellent sensitivity and balance. For world cup racing different IFP pressure is common thing to do.
Telemetry data revealed increased fork and shock travel numbers after the adjustments, along with higher oil flow through the valves. This indicates higher-speed compression numbers and higher HSR and LSR numbers.
Our service center uses advanced software to analyze all parameters and calculate values like chain length and pedal kickback for propper racing.
Key Points:
* Bike balance is critical for optimal performance.
* Poor bike balance can lead to various handling issues.
* Suspension tuning can significantly improve ride quality and efficiency.
* Telemetry data is essential for fine-tuning suspension setup.
* The Olympic course required a specific suspension setup to handle the varied terrain.
