# Leaving rear shock in 'firm' when descending



## Pipe dreamer (Aug 15, 2017)

Hi All

Just wondering if accidentally leaving my rear shock in firm setting while doing rough downhill sections or jumping, risks damaging the shock? I have a trek remedy 2017 with Reactiv 

Cheers


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## Douwe (Jul 13, 2013)

I'm more familiar with motocross suspension in general, but typically a firm setting is better for rougher terrain and jumps. Having it too soft or if the rebound is too slow, it will lead to bottoming out (maxing out your travel) or the suspension "packing" (can't rebound fast enough before the next hit, so you're essentially wasting most of your travel and bottoming out in rough areas) and you end up with a harsher ride, which is also harder on your equipment.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

No. It won't hurt the shock. Generally, the firm setting is for climbing and the open setting (not firm) is for descending. I always leave mine in the open setting, but it's personal preference.
Douwe is correct, If the rebound is set to slow, the shock will pack up, in other words, it won't fully rebound before the next hit. Rebound is a separate setting, unaffected by compression damping - the "firm" setting. The firm setting isn't as important as the pressure in the shock in the area of "bottoming out". That too is a separate setting, though firm Vs. open can have some affect on that.

These guys talk funny, but generally are reliable


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## Pipe dreamer (Aug 15, 2017)

Hi Douwe and MSU, 

Thanks very much, that's what I was hoping  I tend to ride most of the time in the medium/trail setting but switch to fully open for certain descents and firm for certain climbs, problem is I sometimes forget until i'm bombing down the next part of the trail!

Pretty new to full suspension so just getting head around the various settings etc on the rear shock 

Cheers


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## Douwe (Jul 13, 2013)

Ya that's why I also mentioned my experience being more focused in motocross. There are a lot of differences in suspension setup on motocross bikes due to weight, speed, effect of torque and acceleration on suspension action, etc. 
My mtb experience has been on a HT with crap coil forks up until now, so I haven't learned all the ins and outs of my suspension yet.
My main point was simply that a firm setting wasn't going to damage your bike.


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## DethWshBkr (Nov 25, 2010)

You will not hurt your shock. 
They will "blow off" if in locked out mode, allowing the shock to move if an impact is strong enough. You will simply lose a ton of small bump compliance, but you will NOT hurt the suspension!



As far as the MX stuff - as a former expert class rider/racer - stiff suspension is needed as you get faster, however, stiffer in SPRING, not damping. 
What mountain bikes have, is essentially turning your high speed clickers full open (soft) for "open mode", clickers mid range for "trail mode", and if you would turn your clicker full in, and then go some more, that is "climb" mode (close off the damping circuit).

You do not want to simply crank your clickers stiffer in MX for a rougher track. You may want a stiffer spring, assuming you will go faster!


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## Pipe dreamer (Aug 15, 2017)

DethWshBkr said:


> You will not hurt your shock.
> They will "blow off" if in locked out mode, allowing the shock to move if an impact is strong enough. You will simply lose a ton of small bump compliance, but you will NOT hurt the suspension!
> 
> Cool. Thanks for the advice. Good to know I'm not going to do any damage!


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## LyNx (Oct 26, 2004)

While the others are "technically" correct, leaving your shock or fork in the climb or locked setting can, over time damage the damper, especially depending on the brand and model of your shock/fork. Some forks/shocks in the lower end use the older dampers that had an almost fully locked out setting and they could be damaged if you left it in that setting bombing a very rough DH. Newer, higher end forks generally have just firmer settings, but not actually almost locked setting, so much safer to leave it there.

Guessing since you're new to suspension you don't know how it operates and while I'm no suspension guru, I do have a general idea of it...so to get those firmer setting, what happens is the oil that flows through the damper is restricted and forced through smaller and smaller opening, so even though they have blow off features, if you leave them in that setting and are running low sag, then the pressure build up could end up blowing a seal(s).


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## FJSnoozer (Mar 3, 2015)

Lets put it this way. On a RS Monarch RT3, I have done XC races with large drops at very high speeds where I looked down and the shock was locked the entire race. No issues

Some of the chunkiest DH back trails at home where I happened to get a Strava KOM, I looked down and the entire suspension was locked since I had rolled in off the street and forgotten. No issues.

As one mentioned, some lower end forks will blow out the lockout on the fork if you do this because they are Not built to handle repeated blows. The fork works fine, the lockout just stops working. Of course your question was around shocks.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

What happens will depend on the actual shock in question. You absolutely can damage some of the lower end ones because they don't have a blowoff (or a very good blowoff).

On better quality shocks that do have this feature, they'll work, but ride quality might suffer in some situations.


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