Hi everyone,

Complete noob here...
So... 🤔 I don't know if I'm asking this the right way or if I'm even asking the right question. I was wondering about how and when to use suspension lockout - should you lock the fork while you're on the bike off? I.e. do you lock the fork and/or rear shock (if any) before you get on the bike or while you're riding? Would the front end and/or the frame sit lower if you lock the suspension out while your weight holds it down midway through its travel? If so, how does that affect handling and ground clearance? Thanks!

I typically engage the lockout for sections of pavement, then unlock for trail. My system basically increases compression damping, so you end up “un-travelled” geometry-wise.

So, "locking out" the suspension does not mean that it becomes fully rigid?

Not fully rigid, but close to it.

I lockout when I'm climbing on the fly.

Same here, short road section locked out to my neighborhood trails, than unlocked until I hit the road for the return trip home.

I lockout my fork when I'm climbing, and if I'm on pavement.

No use for lockout, ever.

Ever is a bit strong but yeah. If I'm climbing a rugged trail I still want suspension. If I'm climbing a boring long fire road then I might use a lock out if I can remember. Neither of my forks have a lock out so I just turn up low speed compression dampening again if I remember. Then I have to remember to to turn it back down again before I hit a down hill section, also hard to do. Unless you are standing up mashing the lock out doesn't do much anyway.

Rear suspension it is more useful but that depends on how good your rear suspension is. My current bike doesn't really pedal bob at all even with the shock fully open. My two older full suspension bikes bobbed a lot and even pro-pedal didn't make a whole lot of difference, a lock out would have been nice on those.

same for me, I generally rarely lock out unless for some reason I'm on the road on a mtb.
Newer suspensions have figured out the bob effect which made lock outs popular in the past. Also better setups have improved progression which makes lock outs almost completely unnecessary

The purpose for lockout is that you lose energy when the shocks are pumping while you are pedaling. So if when you don't need suspension, then lockout is useful. When you are climbing you don't want to lose energy, and when you are on pavement you don't need suspension. So both those situations are where lockout should be used.

Thanks everyone, I understand all that. But my original question was about locking up while the rider is on the bike vs. off the bike, i.e. with the suspension somewhere down its travel vs. unloaded and at the top of its travel and how much that affects geometry and handling. On a full suspension bike, for instance, could a rider fine tune the bike's handling by carefully choosing how far up or down their travel he locks out the front and rear shocks?

Most lockouts are designed to be activated on the fly (i.e., on the bike). Some via a lever on the handlebar, others with a lever/knob on the rear shock itself of the top of the fork leg.

Some lockouts are fully rigid (or nearly so) others are just very firm. And some allow you to adjust how firm/rigid it is.

Most (if not all) lockouts these days lock the shock at its most extended point. They lock the compression circuit, so the fork/shock cannot compress, but it can extend. So basically it ends up at max (or close) and stays there. So if you engage the lockout with 30% sag it will stay there if you don't move at all. But as soon as it extends to 20%, it will lock there, and so on.

There used to be ones that do the opposite (lock it down by locking the rebound circuit) but I have not seen one in a long time.

So no, you generally cannot choose a position to lock the shock in. Closest I think you could get would be a shock/fork with travel adjust, and then lock it.

If I were buying a bike for precision handling I would not get one with a suspension fork. How many fast road bikes do you see with one. When you brake, the front suspension will compress and the bikes geometry will change. Handling will be affected. This is bad news racing a few feet from another rider or fast cornering.

I think suspension forks are best used for recreational cyclist and comuters traversing bad roads, mup's and light trails and of course mountain bikes. They should not be locked out. Set up properly they have very little impact on over all speed for conditions that warent their use. In fact they will increase average speed because you can maintain a quick pace on rough roads that would be punishing without them.

I didn't want them when I bought my new bike 2 years ago because I was afraid it would adversely effect handling, But as a recreational cyclist riding on some bad mup's and trails, There is no doubt in my mind the benefit FAR outweighs any other concerns.

Like I replied, I lock out on the fly.

This is great! I see how this works now. So no matter where the suspension was when you locked it out, it will eventually work its way up to its fully extended position, bump after bump, and stay there until you unlock it again. This makes perfect sense. Thanks Kapusta