Mountain Biking - Setting up suspension

Ok I have been trying to figure out how to set up my rear suspension. I believe I have 2.25 travel shock with a 650pnd spring (the spring is actually rated for a 2.35 travel shock...is this bad) on it. So this is what I did

1 - undid the spring completely and unweighted the shock
2 - tightened shock until snug while unweighted. This is my starting position. I have a difference in 16.4 between the top of the wheel and the back of the seat
3 - I sit on the bike. I make 2 complete turns and end up with 14.6 inches between the top of the wheel and the seat. This is 1.9 inches of sag which is around 30% of my travel in sag.

Does this sound right? and a couple of questions

1 - 2 turns is it right. So if I wanted to be able to run it stiff (allow for better trail riding for example) I would need a stiffer spring correct?
2 - Any other suspension setup tips. Right now it is set to 69 degrees and 6.3 inches of travel. I just am unsure as to how to optimize my ride.

BTW thanx for all the help this bike does rock. I love the feeling on the trail. And it eats up the trail and I might add the drops. Now I just need to sell these clipless pedals that came with it and the fork and buy something else like a z150 or something :)

seems like 30% of your travel being eaten up by sag is a bit too much... even rockshox website only recommends 20% but I've found that those measurements are way too much. I would personally go with around 10-15% sag travel.

Why would you need a stiffer spring? Couldn't you just tighten the preload further? That should stiffen up the shock a bit and reduce the sag. If you like the 30% sag then I guess you would need a stiffer spring and less preload (maybe like 1/2 a turn).

What fork did the bike come with? I may be interested...

Which shock is on it?

If you have an RC then do not forget to set the rebound (the knob that says slower , blue), which I find to be more important then the compression. If you have it to fast it will throw the rear wheel over your head when jumping or feel like a jackhammer if going fast over stutter bumbs.

:beer: :beer:

Originally posted by dirtbikedude
Which shock is on it?

If you have an RC then do not forget to set the rebound (the knob that says slower , blue), which I find to be more important then the compression. If you have it to fast it will throw the rear wheel over your head when jumping or feel like a jackhammer if going fast over stutter bumbs.

:beer: :beer:

Very good point... my bike has the rebound dampening set high enough that if I hold the bike by the top tube and let it fall down to the ground it doesn't bounce at all... the shocks eat up the fall completely. I had to set it that way because I kept getting bounced off my pedals when going over washboard-like dirt tracks. My rear shock is a Fox Float RL with the rebound set to the middle setting.

Its a Fox r (forgot that point eh) in the manual 30% is the lower range setting for extreme use and dh.

As for tightening the preload the manual states a number of times not to turn the preload more than 2 full turns. Thats why I was asking :)