# RST F1rst 24 fork setup (air pressure and damping)



## jabrabu (Aug 2, 2010)

I'm curious what air pressure people are running in the RST F1rst 24 fork. My son weighs a little over 50 lbs, and I had heard that some people are running under 20 psi in the fork, but when I tried that pressure it was bottoming out easily. I put a zip tie on a stanchion to measure how much travel it was getting, and I am now up to about 45 psi to keep from bottoming out too easily. If I set pressure according to sag the pressure will be lower, but it will blow through its travel too easily.

For trail riding I like to have the compression damping fully open, or close to it, to get good bump compliance. Also, on this fork, dialing in more compression seems to limit full travel, kind of like a semi-lockout.

So, for those using this fork, what settings have you ended up with for air pressure and compression, and how much does your kid weigh?


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## DigitalBoy (Dec 28, 2016)

I'll check tonight. I've been experimenting also but don't recall what I'm running now. Initially I ran 25-30 I think (?) and then also saw he was bottoming out so upped it. But then it seemed overly firm. Right now it seems dialed spot on. I did notice that it is much more psi sensitive than my fork for a couple reasons.

1. He weighs about 60 lbs. So small psi changes are a large percentage vs his weight. So rather than 5 or 10 psi increments, you are looking at 1 at a time. Need a good pump. What I did was slightly overinflate and then manually bled pressure directly using the valve until I got it right. Hence why I don't actually know what pressure he is running.
2. Travel is much less, so just have less room to play with so to speak.

I gave up setting based on sag, just didn't seem to work well. Set based on travel usage. I have it so he just bottoms out on his biggest jump, but that leaves regular and small bump sensitivity working well.

db

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## jabrabu (Aug 2, 2010)

Thanks db. Do you dial in any compression or leave it fully open?


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## DigitalBoy (Dec 28, 2016)

Fully open. Don't even bother closing it down for fire roads unless we have long sustained climbs

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## DigitalBoy (Dec 28, 2016)

Just checked, running 53psi currently. But he is a little heavier and maybe older/more aggressive? So 45psi may be OK for you. Of course everyone is different - bike, weight, riding style, terrain etc. Ride what works for you/him.

I know I started much lower (25-30) when he first had the fork as he was used to riding rigid. But as soon as he got comfortable, he was blowing through the travel like you've experienced. What worked for me is to slightly over-pressure then very carefully dial it back until he bottoms out occasionally. With this limited travel, if he is not bottoming out, you are simply not using hardly any travel 90% of the time. Unlike a 140-160 fork where even if you only use half the travel, you still get good sensitivity.

Hope that helps

db


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## Eric_Sulit (Jun 18, 2016)

DigitalBoy said:


> I'll check tonight. I've been experimenting also but don't recall what I'm running now. Initially I ran 25-30 I think (?) and then also saw he was bottoming out so upped it. But then it seemed overly firm. Right now it seems dialed spot on. I did notice that it is much more psi sensitive than my fork for a couple reasons.
> 
> 1. He weighs about 60 lbs. So small psi changes are a large percentage vs his weight. So rather than 5 or 10 psi increments, you are looking at 1 at a time. Need a good pump. What I did was slightly overinflate and then manually bled pressure directly using the valve until I got it right. Hence why I don't actually know what pressure he is running.
> 2. Travel is much less, so just have less room to play with so to speak.
> ...


This is great to hear. I have also given up setting based on sag. Right now I have mine at 55 psi with about 10% sag based on his biggest jump. My son is 26kg w gear.

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## jochribs (Nov 12, 2009)

Have you guys tried putting heavier oil in the damper? Might help. Curious what the spec oil weight is to start out with.


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## jabrabu (Aug 2, 2010)

My son is not an aggressive rider and doesn't do jumps or drops. I put 45 psi in the fork and we did a 2 mile trail loop that had a lot of roots and rocks. The fork got nearly full travel -- about 3mm from bottoming out. I'll try 43 psi for the next ride and check the travel again.


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## DigitalBoy (Dec 28, 2016)

Looks like you're getting it dialed in. I like to have it bottom out once or twice a ride. Just to make sure he is getting full use out of it. Not a hard slamming bottom out, but full travel usage.

I honestly do the same for me. The whole rigid sag golden role thing is not perfect. It is a good start, but then need to tweak based on travel usage, progression/ramp up, compression and rebound etc. And of course it can be subjective and personal. If just obeying a sag rule, I think you can miss out on a lot. My 2c

db

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## fatchanceti (Jan 12, 2005)

Is anyone else's rebound knob on the bottom SUPER hard to turn by hand? Or is it just designed to be used/adjusted with an 8mm hex?


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