Ride height for a "heavy" rider?

[Vampire2800]

I weigh 185lbs which puts me in the "heavy rider" class. My ride height is still set to the day I drove it off the showroom floor. After a little bit of research I found that most people generally run 7.5" in the front & 7" in the rear. What about us "heavy" guys, though? I mostly ride trails that are worn down so there's nothing that I need to clear, like logs & junk. It's just like you driving down a dirt road. About that smooth.

Also, the only steps to adjusting the ride height are:

1. Remove the plastics
2. Turn the rings at the top of the shocks to desired height
3. Replace plastics

Right? Just want to make sure that I'm not making this more complicated than it really is. Seems simple enough.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

[Dave83]

No matter what your weight is,your ride height should be close to the same as any other guy weighing any other weight.I would start by setting the race sag on the rear shock,basically pick your quad up by the grab bar until the rear wheels are off the ground and measure from the grab bar bolts to the axle,write that measurement down.Then stand on the foot pegs and bounce the quad to settle the shocks and have a friend measure at the same place you did earlier.Subtract that # from the one with the wheels off the ground-your looking for about4 to 4-1/2 inches on most 450s.Adjust spanner nut on top of spring to get the right height.Then start measuring the frame and adjusting preload on the front shocks for ride heaight.the 7 or 7-1/2 measurement is a good starting point no matter what you weigh,a heavy rider will have to add more preload than a light rider to get there,but in the end both riders quads will be setup to fully use all the travel possible.Try ****tech.com for pointers and I think Fox hocks has online manuals.

[Vampire2800]

Ride height is currently 8", which is stock. I did read about the sag, but I can't seem to understand why it's important. If the shock has 11" of total possible travel, & I'm sitting 8" off the ground (bottom of the frame), then the sag would be the remaining 3". 11-8=3. Just having trouble seeing how sag is important. Open for explanation, though. Also, how do you get to the spanner ring on the rear shock without taking the shock off?

I did figure out why I'm bottoming out so hard, though. We're landing on a flat surface instead of a downslope.

[zowdy]

dave83 nailed it.that is your best course of action.if it is smooth as you say,and you are not that aggressive of a rider;set your sag around 4 1/2".it is all about riding it and seeing how you like it.
i would guess you will have to take some preload out to get to where you need to be.185 is not that heavy.i am a lite weight at 200.been racing at around this size for around 10 years.

[Latemodel32]

How to measure ride height.

There are 2 places you need to measure from the bottom of the frame to the ground (with rider standing on the pegs):

1) Right at the foot pegs

2) 22 inches forward from foot pegs

To measure ride height - the rider must be standing on the foot pegs and the measurement needs to be taken from the bottom of the frame to the ground at the 2 points mentioned above.



3. How to measure race sag.

1. Race sag is the amount the quad settles from fully extended with the rider on board. First, put the quad up on a stand, measure the distance from the axle (vertically) to some point on the sub frame (make a mark if you need to).

2. Take the quad off the stand, put the rider on board standing on the pegs, have the rider hold onto something for balance, bounce up and down a little to stabilize the rear end. Now again measure the distance from the axle to the point on the sub frame where you took the measurement in #1.

3. Now deduct the measurement from #2 from the measurement in #1. This is your Race Sag.

4. To adjust Race Sag tighten or loosen the preload adjusting collars. If you have too much race sag, you need more preload, too little race sag you need less preload.

[Vampire2800]

Wow. Everything I've read on preloaded & sag via Google was just summed up right there. That was awesome. Man, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the blatentness there. 8" is too high.

Last question, I promise!

What's the best way to adjust the rear spanner rings on the rear shock? Taking it off repeatedly seems tiring.

[Vampire2800]

Figured out how to adjust the rear preload. It was in the manual.

Does the preload affect jumps or is it strictly for ride-height?

[RATPACK Z400]

Vampire, you should try landing on front wheels off small jumps till you learn to do it off big jumps I never land on rear wheels off jumps unless i half too !landing on front is alot smoother landing IMO!

[TheLane]

im gonna have to disagree with that statement lol. landing on your front wheels is sucky and scary. Unless your landing on a downward slope

[Vampire2800]

I have to agree with TheLane. We don't have a downslope to land on anyway. It's all flat.