YZ 450 fork settings

[couch]

Recommended fork rebound and compression settings? Haven't ridden it yet and snow is a ways off. Wondering what initial setting works well ...

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[SnowSkull]

You'll need more than settings for the snow,. Depending on riding style & terrain, springs, airpro, valving, etc...

 

[GKR]

There are a few ways to tackle this as stated by SnowSkull but you will need to do something as the stock forks will not work well, the bike will be super soft and "divey" in the front end and you will not get anywhere near the potential of the bike.
The Air Pro is likely the simplest install, lowest cost, and allows you to quickly adjust between summer and winter or even tweak pressures on the trail to suit the conditions. Works well to stiffen the fork overall but will still have soft valving. This will be effective for most riders I would say unless you really like to jump, ride whoops, or snowcross type tracks. In deep soft pow this air pro option works pretty darn good.
A simple spring change ( suggest heavier fork oil too) is effective and works good but will require seasonal changing back and forth (unless you get a second set of forks which is actually pretty nice for changeover)
Third option is full blown springs and snowbike specific valving which is going to give you the best possible performance at a higher cost than springs alone.
There is a fourth option with the Timbersled Trio which is a third add on shock which is effective as well but expensive.

 

[couch]

Working on homemade airpro - have fittings ordered from Ackland Grainger - pretty simple to make - air hose fittings are only $4-$5 apiece total cost to build about $35 ....just waiting on shipping ...
So if reports are to believed that it (airpro) works for most riders as well as a full spring upgrade ....where is the best place to start re shock settings?

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[GKR]

If you are not going to change to a heavier fork oil then you will likely find the forks stroke easily thru the stock valving so you will want to stiffen both the comp and reb. As far as how much that will depend on you primarily. Try riding with stock clicker settings, run a set loop, then go full stiff on your comp clickers, ride the same loop, see the difference. Try the same process with rebound. Likely end up much stiffer than summer but will depend on rider preference, how much pressure you have in Air Pro, how your bike balance is set, etc. If you plan to jump or run rough terrain you will likely not get it stiff enough without further changes to valving or oil. If you ride deep pow you will be just fine.

 

[couch]

New to the bike set up - likely will be used for snow only. Will try stock and go from there.

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[tek9tim]

I have a Husky FC450 (motocross bike in case you aren't familiar), just to get that out there first. Second disclaimer, I am nowhere near a suspension expert. But I've made enough mistakes in dirt settings to know some things that don't work well.

Last year I ran stock springs and 10wt oil about 15mm higher than stock, no airpro. I ran my compression clicker full stiff, and my rebound full soft. This worked fairly well considering the soft MX springs but I did get a lot of dive when I'd chop the throttle. I learned to partially mitigate it with riding position, but it wasn't great. I stepped up to .62 springs this year and 10wt about 20mm higher than stock. Obviously no snow yet in north central Washington, so no idea how it's going to work.

Adding damping to my rebound is something that used to get me in trouble on dirt. You don't want a pogo stick by any means, but there are 2 benefits to quicker rebound. First, if you're hitting more than one bump and your rebound is slow, the fork isn't extended as you hit subsequent bumps, and you work into the harsher and harsher compression valving as the fork gets lower with each hit. Second is front end traction. If you hit a bump, and the forks don't push the ski back into the ground quickly, you lose traction with the ski. Definitely test the extremes, with the 10wt I had plenty of rebound damping with it backed off all the way. Only time I changed it was to test if I actually had my head screwed on straight with my thinking. It worked best for me backed off. YMMV

 

[L.Hughes]

Working on homemade airpro - have fittings ordered from Ackland Grainger - pretty simple to make - air hose fittings are only $4-$5 apiece total cost to build about $35 ....just waiting on shipping ...
So if reports are to believed that it (airpro) works for most riders as well as a full spring upgrade ....where is the best place to start re shock settings?

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Can you make a thread with how you’re doing this?? I would definitely go this route!

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

as the newer kits have gotten closer to correct or usable rear suspension setting, the issue with the fork springs has gotten less critical.

As I kept revalving and playing with spring rates on my
TS kit I found the air in my forks less of an issue and even with now no air in the forks, not near as divey as out first 011 kits when soft stock forks felt extremely uncomfortable. Meaning, unbalanced suspension is always unbalanced suspension. Bad suspension on one end overworks the suspension on the other end and oh boy the world is out of whack.

 

[M5-]

I'm one of those non typical guys who doesn't like stiff forks. There are so many factors that come into play, rider size, riding style, terrain, bike, kit, setup and the list goes on. I bottom my forks maybe a couple of times a season, the kits all bottom first and more often. I've ridden lots of bikes with stiff springs and to me they plow too much for my liking, you do get more face shots with soft forks but I don't mind that. Each to his own I'm not a believer that there is a "One solution fits all answer" out there for forks or any setup for that matter. Try your setup first figure out what is good and what is bad what you like and don't like then go from there.

 

[couch]

Can you make a thread with how you’re doing this?? I would definitely go this route!

Thinking its pretty straight forward. Line from each fork to a tee with a schrader valve. Simple air line tube and fitting rated to 150 psi which is more than adequate. Ordered the fittings for the fork from Ackland Grainger. Should have them later this week and can confirm fit then.

https://www.acklandsgrainger.com/en/product/MALE-ELBOW,45-DEG,4MM,TUBEXR(PT)/p/WWG36X263


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[needpowder]

I run .62 fork springs in my Yamaha. They might be too stiff for my riot. We will see. I also like to run a little air pressure when I jump. Going air ride this winter because im tired of my air pro leaking. I’m sure you could build them for cheaper but I don’t have the time. Not trying to talk **** on air pro because as far as I know I’m the only one who’s leaked. Don’t care about warranty just want something that works the same every time.

 

[eric82930]

I just like adding tons of oil so they never bottom out. they ride lower in the Stroke than truck springs but that is usually OK as long as you have your strut and rear springs dialed so your not jamming all the weight forward. If I have a dedicated fork I'll also do a quick hack revalve. perfect shim stacks aren't necessary for snow just add more shims if you have some or take out the smallest shim to increase the pivot size and make sure it's a straight taper stack.

 

[powdermuncher]

Before you go crazy on the mods. Get the balance right, I move the foot pegs back 1.5 inches use 2" riser and bring them back at a 45 degree angle to move rider weight back more on to the track set the skid shocks up properly.
Most units are to soft on the frond skid shock
Crank compression dampening all the way in and adjust rebound to your liking now ride and see how it feels , 10 weight oil with an inch higher level is all I need. You can run a seriously lousy setup with super stiff forks and it will sort of work. A balanced bike does not need that much extra fork stiffness.