I am riding a Giant Talon 1 29er and I am a complete rookie to mtn biking. Giant gives you the crappiest most general manual not at all related to a specific bike. So I was playing with the shocks, one side has a lock which i figured locks the suspension, but the other has a preload which no matter where its turned seems to feel the same. So how can I set up the suspension so it has minimal travel or takes a lot of effort to make it move since I am a heavier guy?

What model fork is it?

Since there is no air preload on (what I presume is) that Suntour fork, you are stuck with getting a heavier spring for it or living with it.

Spring preload does just as its name implies: it preloads the spring to be a bit stiiffer in its initial part of the stroke, lessening initial suspension sag. It does nothing to increase the spring's manufactured spring rate. I have to ask - - are you actually bottoming the suspension out? Or does the 'squishiness' of the fork just bother you? If it's the latter, give yourself some time on it. If you are actually bottoming the fork out, go back to your sbike shop, tell them the problem and see if they can order you a stiffer spring for that fork.

The Fork is a SR XCT 29" with lockout and 100 mm of travel. Its made custom for Giant Bikes. The problem I am having is that when I do unlock the shock the front end just sinks down. I have never had that problem before, I have owned several bikes with shocks and never noticed the shock to be so sensitive to any weight.

Trouble is, there are so many versions of the XCT 29, depending on the year, that it's hard to diagnose over the internets without knowing that model's features/specs. At this point you're better off going to your LBS, describing the problem and have them look it over.


and it's a fork, dammit.

Its a spring loaded suspension fork, dagnabit! Sometimes we like to say shock for shock value.