This is my first post on the forums and already I'm looking for advice.
I bought my first full suspension mountian bike this past summer. It's my third bike ever and my first bike with pneumatic suspension (my first mountain bike had an elastomer front fork, and my second bike is a road bike). I have a question about how to set up the pneumatic suspension properly. The bike is a Cannondale Rush with the lefty front, both shocks have rebound adjustment. When I first got the bike I followed the little setup book that came with the bike that dictated IIRC 70psi front and 120psi rear with mid level settings for damping.
After about a month getting used to the bike I started playing with air pressure. The rear shock has a little o-ring that basically marks the longest extent of the suspension travel. I dropped the rear pressure until that o-ring settled about 1/2 inch from the top of the shock after a rough ride. I'm now at 100psi and the bike floats over the terrain much better.
My first question: what happens if I bottom the shock? Will I know? Will there be a loud "crack" type sound? Will I damage the shock? I don't want to go too much lower in pressure unless I know I'm not going to hurt anything, yet I don't want to give up suspension travel if I don't have to.
My front shock has a boot over the shaft so I can't see it's deflection. I bumped the air pressure down a little and it feels really good now too. In that case I just jumped on the front a bit while riding and lowered the pressure until I felt it firm up near the bottom of the travel (I assume from hitting bottom) then I added pressure back until that stopped. I'm now at 60psi front.
Same questions for the front: was I bottoming the shock? Will I hear a noise? Will I damage the shock?
I'm a pretty conservative rider so I don't really abuse the suspension. I suspect that's why I'm able to run pressures so much lower than the setup guide recommends. Also I think I have the hang of adjusting the damping as I do that mostly by feel. Just enough damping to keep the bike from feeling like a pogo stick after it hits a bump, but not so much that the suspension doesn't uncompress after a bump. With the right setting the tires simply follow the earth like they should.