I have the option of "More Rebound" and "Less Rebound" on my bikes front shock. What do they do?

Question

It is a Cannondale mountain bike with a Manitou Black front shock. If I wanted a softer ride for rough terrain which setting would I select?

Answer 1

More rebound should actually say "faster" rebound. This is for trails with lots of little bumps like a trail that is paved with small rocks.

The less rebound is for places with larger, less frequent obstacles such as a boulder riddled trail.

You probably won't get a much softer ride in either situation. The idea for these settings is to keep the wheel on the ground for better handling, not necessarily for comfort. That is, in fact, what suspension is for.

Answer 2

Mirage has it right. The black fork you have is a good one, but there is no big difference between the fastest and slowest rebound setting.

If you have a slow rebound, you wont feel a kick everytime the fork compresses, you will have maybe a smoother thing here. But if your riding like this, and you hit a rock, for example, let's say that the fork compresses about 80%, after this, it starts to uncompress, based on the rebound setting. If the fork has returned up to 40% before the next rock/log comes, you won't have enough distance in the fork to completely absorve it, and you'll likely bottom the fork if you enter a section with lot's of rocks.

So, the right setting is kinda balance. What I do is, set it at the middle, and see how it rides afterward.

Answer 3

Rebound is how quickly the shock returns to it's position after hitting an obstacle. More rebound will return it quickly, less rebound nmeans the when the shock compresses, it will take longer the return.

Rebound isn't exactly a 'comfort' setting. For that you would need a 'damping' control, which controls how quickly the shock compresses rather than returns, and a compression setting - controlled by softer or hrrader elastomers, or more or less air.

The best thing to do is to try it both ways, then see which way you like it better, but I'm suspecting you'll like the more rebound setting since this will return the shock to its 'neutral' position and be ready for the next obstacle quicker.

Answer 4

makes the shocks tighter or looser and you would choose more rebound