I had an 07 200 EXC and now an 06 300 EXC. Never really did this basic suspension work, just rode them hard - tonight I'll be watching your video again and using the manual to begin getting my 300 perfect! Thanks mate!
Just rebuilt a 2002 EXC 200 and I'm taking it out this weekend for the 2nd time, hopefully I can set it up properly after seeing this and reading the manual!
Great vid. Just a quick note ... the same correction made to the shock rebound portion of the vid ( to "increase" rate of rebound turn counter clockwise) should also have been made to the shock compression portion of the vid ( to "increase" rate of compression turn counter clockwise). Nothing made sense to me with suspension until I realized all the suspension engineers think in terms of "DAMPING". To best understand DAMPING think of one of those self closing hydraulic doors. You open them and then they close kind of slowly. If you added MORE DAMPING to that system that door will close slower. If you took away DAMPING that door would close faster. Why? B/c there is hydraulic fluid being pushed through small valve holes to create and control the rate of the door closing. Same with dirtbikes. The smaller the holes of your "valve stack" inside your fork/shock body means the MORE DAMPING, or RESISTANCE, you will create b/c it's harder to get the same amount of fluid through tiny holes. And just the opposite is true ... the bigger the holes the LESS DAMPING, or RESISTANCE, there is ... the fluid just pushes right on through. For example, on your rear shock imagine you've gone to full compression. You flat landed a big double and you bottomed out the bike. The "REBOUND" portion of your rear shock will control how fast you spring back to fully suspended. If you INCREASE your rebound damping (clockwise on your rebound clicker) you will SLOW DOWN the rate of rebound ... or how fast you get back to being fully suspended. If you DECREASE your rebound damping (counter clockwise on your rebound clicker) you will SPEED UP how fast you get back to fully suspended. Same thing goes for compression. If you INCREASE compression damping (clockwise) on compression you will SLOW DOWN how fast you compress b/c you've added hydraulic resistance. If you DECREASE compression damping (counter clockwise) you will INCREASE how fast you compress down b/c you've decreased hydraulic resistance. Another way to help understand your internal valving (DAMPING) and how it can control or influence your bike's suspension, is to imagine you actually had no valving at all. Imagine all you had is SPRINGS. If you eliminate valving then really all you're doing is riding on an uncontrolled spring. But, by bringing valving and DAMPING into the picture you can now control how fast, or slow, that spring either compresses, or rebounds and gets you to where you need/like to be. It's all pretty bitchin when the light bulb goes off and I know b/c I rode for 20+ years before that light bulb ever went off. I just slung a leg over the bike, started it up, and rode! It's a whole new world now. Have fun.
Great video,I just bought a used 2006 KTM 450xc,The last owner was a big guy like myself,He upgraded the spring but the settings were way off,Now after returning it back to factory settings and tweaking it a bit its a whole new bike.
Good stuff. Everything clear for me now, thanks! I just measured my sag, I had static 50mm instead of 33-35, and riding 140 instead of 105-115. And I was so angry all season what was wrong with my bike, so poggo jumping :)
I want something that can be street illegal in Ontario but still go for lots of offroad and some track ,around the 350cc mark,what KTM is best for me? Thanks!
hello there. i have a ktm 450 exc and i have stock rear spring and i think its too lose for my weight (265 pounds 120kg) i was wondering if you have any tips about buying new tighter spring for my weight because i dont know nothing about suspensions in general. Thanks in advance
Hmm..there are a couple of more adjustments that require a wrench on the forks and the rear shock that was throwing me a curve ball...I got the rear shock speced out, but the front forks, I am not sure I am to loosen the bolt that the manual says to loosen..but it was pretty easy to tweek the compression once sag is set correctly.
Hello Juan, I have a question for you. The nuts below the clickers on front forks... what do they do? I turned them and the clickers moved too. Any info will help. Thank you. Mark
+blancolirio I also had a question about those nuts below the clickers on the forks. Should they be tightened all the way down? When I checked mine on my 250sxI had to give them a good 10-15 turns before they were tight. The only reason I tightened them was because there was a little bit of oil leaking out on the right fork. A reply would help tons, couldn't find anything in my manual.
#1 Buy a set of 50mm Marazochi triples off late 90's KTM 300-380. #2 Buy a complete front end off a 96'- 98 Suzuki Rm 125-250. #3 Shim 49mm forks in 50mm triples with beer can shims. #4 Realize a front end that is better than any modded 48mm WP. #5 Find a rear of the right length of the latest model that fits your bike. #6 Spring front and rear to suit. KTM 200, in any flavor is a keeper. Reliability to rival a KDX. Have over 10 years use on both. New TPI, bikes are like a science fair project you had to do back in school. Do your research to make them run right. 200? Just ride.
@@blancolirio I just bought an 18' 250 XCW TPI. Get ready to get your degree in TPI. Crawling power is fantistic. Suzuki forks are still better. Maybe better all around than SSS on my YZ 250. 16' XCF. was also a science fair project to keep it from flaming out. It's 2-strokes from now on. Again, mediocre forks.
I had an 07 200 EXC and now an 06 300 EXC. Never really did this basic suspension work, just rode them hard - tonight I'll be watching your video again and using the manual to begin getting my 300 perfect! Thanks mate!
direct, no bullshit, educational and easy to follow!! thanks man!
Thanks!
Just rebuilt a 2002 EXC 200 and I'm taking it out this weekend for the 2nd time, hopefully I can set it up properly after seeing this and reading the manual!
The older guys always know how to explain things. Nice video.
Haaa! Thanks....
Great vid. Just a quick note ... the same correction made to the shock rebound portion of the vid ( to "increase" rate of rebound turn counter clockwise) should also have been made to the shock compression portion of the vid ( to "increase" rate of compression turn counter clockwise).
Nothing made sense to me with suspension until I realized all the suspension engineers think in terms of "DAMPING". To best understand DAMPING think of one of those self closing hydraulic doors. You open them and then they close kind of slowly. If you added MORE DAMPING to that system that door will close slower. If you took away DAMPING that door would close faster.
Why? B/c there is hydraulic fluid being pushed through small valve holes to create and control the rate of the door closing. Same with dirtbikes. The smaller the holes of your "valve stack" inside your fork/shock body means the MORE DAMPING, or RESISTANCE, you will create b/c it's harder to get the same amount of fluid through tiny holes. And just the opposite is true ... the bigger the holes the LESS DAMPING, or RESISTANCE, there is ... the fluid just pushes right on through.
For example, on your rear shock imagine you've gone to full compression. You flat landed a big double and you bottomed out the bike. The "REBOUND" portion of your rear shock will control how fast you spring back to fully suspended. If you INCREASE your rebound damping (clockwise on your rebound clicker) you will SLOW DOWN the rate of rebound ... or how fast you get back to being fully suspended. If you DECREASE your rebound damping (counter clockwise on your rebound clicker) you will SPEED UP how fast you get back to fully suspended.
Same thing goes for compression. If you INCREASE compression damping (clockwise) on compression you will SLOW DOWN how fast you compress b/c you've added hydraulic resistance. If you DECREASE compression damping (counter clockwise) you will INCREASE how fast you compress down b/c you've decreased hydraulic resistance.
Another way to help understand your internal valving (DAMPING) and how it can control or influence your bike's suspension, is to imagine you actually had no valving at all. Imagine all you had is SPRINGS. If you eliminate valving then really all you're doing is riding on an uncontrolled spring. But, by bringing valving and DAMPING into the picture you can now control how fast, or slow, that spring either compresses, or rebounds and gets you to where you need/like to be.
It's all pretty bitchin when the light bulb goes off and I know b/c I rode for 20+ years before that light bulb ever went off. I just slung a leg over the bike, started it up, and rode! It's a whole new world now. Have fun.
+Troy Nichols EXCELLENT explaination! Thanks Troy!
Great video,I just bought a used 2006 KTM 450xc,The last owner was a big guy like myself,He upgraded the spring but the settings were way off,Now after returning it back to factory settings and tweaking it a bit its a whole new bike.
Thanks!
Now I gotta follow my own advice and set up the 350 EXC-F properly.
One of the best suspension-vids I ever have seen.
Hey good! It's a fun little project.
for a young, uneducated rider it made things a hell of a lot easier. thanks
Glad it helps!
Great video! I have a 2004 EXC 200 and love it.
Awesome video, this is going to help me a lot to refer to when trying to set up my 06 250SXF for some trail riding.
Really helpful! I can read the manual, but there's nothing like watching it done; thanks!
Perfect straight to the point and very clear instructions.
I learned more in 15 minutes than reading manual nice job THANKS
Good stuff man, thank you for putting this together. That bike looks brand spanking new, great find! My six year girl is usually my assistant.
Learned allot from this! Just wondering what setup would be best for my supermoto, gotta get things stiff.
WOW! Thanks!
Just trying to keep it simple.
JB
Straight, direct video which I found very helpful. 👍
This helped me a lot setting up my used 05 200 EXC.
Thanks Jon!
Best dirt bike suspension video ever!
Thanks i got my ktm yesterday and will setting back to factory setting tomorrow Thanks again
One of the best tutorials which i found :) Thank you
Good stuff. Everything clear for me now, thanks! I just measured my sag, I had static 50mm instead of 33-35, and riding 140 instead of 105-115. And I was so angry all season what was wrong with my bike, so poggo jumping :)
Makes all the difference in the world on these machines. Thanks!
Really good video and thanks for taking the time to make it.
Thanks 🙏 for sharing that information regards from colombia 🇨🇴
fantastic, thanks very much, really easy to follow
For once.A no bullshit very easy instructions.Couple things i didnt no.good job from Australia.
Usefull video,thanks,the shock looks the same on the sx125
I want something that can be street illegal in Ontario but still go for lots of offroad and some track ,around the 350cc mark,what KTM is best for me?
Thanks!
Thanks ... was a great help!
hello there. i have a ktm 450 exc and i have stock rear spring and i think its too lose for my weight (265 pounds 120kg) i was wondering if you have any tips about buying new tighter spring for my weight because i dont know nothing about suspensions in general. Thanks in advance
Hey Juan....can you do another vid on the setting up the shocks 350 exc-f 2014?
Good Idea, it's pretty much the exact same procedure, just slightly different numbers which are easily found in your owners manual.
Hmm..there are a couple of more adjustments that require a wrench on the forks and the rear shock that was throwing me a curve ball...I got the rear shock speced out, but the front forks, I am not sure I am to loosen the bolt that the manual says to loosen..but it was pretty easy to tweek the compression once sag is set correctly.
Little tip guys!! Remove the lower shock bolt and turn the spring and lower shock together ... this beats having to undo the rear subframe.
Bye
Hello Juan, I have a question for you. The nuts below the clickers on front forks... what do they do? I turned them and the clickers moved too. Any info will help. Thank you. Mark
markgoodier lemme double check first before I pass on incorrect info...stby
+blancolirio I also had a question about those nuts below the clickers on the forks. Should they be tightened all the way down? When I checked mine on my 250sxI had to give them a good 10-15 turns before they were tight. The only reason I tightened them was because there was a little bit of oil leaking out on the right fork. A reply would help tons, couldn't find anything in my manual.
Great Video.
Perfect! thanks for sharing!
Nice video. Good man.
Great video, thanks a lot!
Thank you!
Great vid. Thanks.
Cool vid, same apply for a 525 same year?
similar, check the actual sag numbers.
I have a 2007 200xc and I set my bike up with the slim in the tires because I only ride with slim in them
Sure!
Is there a adjustment on the forks on top for preload?
There is for the sx models I believe
#1 Buy a set of 50mm Marazochi triples off late 90's KTM 300-380.
#2 Buy a complete front end off a 96'- 98 Suzuki Rm 125-250.
#3 Shim 49mm forks in 50mm triples with beer can shims.
#4 Realize a front end that is better than any modded 48mm WP.
#5 Find a rear of the right length of the latest model that fits your bike.
#6 Spring front and rear to suit.
KTM 200, in any flavor is a keeper. Reliability to rival a KDX.
Have over 10 years use on both.
New TPI, bikes are like a science fair project you had to do back in school.
Do your research to make them run right. 200? Just ride.
Sold the 200, bought the 300tpi...
@@blancolirio I just bought an 18' 250 XCW TPI. Get ready to get your degree in TPI.
Crawling power is fantistic. Suzuki forks are still better. Maybe better all around than SSS on my YZ 250. 16' XCF. was also a science fair project to keep it from flaming out. It's 2-strokes from now on. Again, mediocre forks.
Thank you
I dont know if anyone else noticed but your wife measured from the top of the swing arm not from the centre of the axle.
Thank you, useful vid. (btw... damping, and damper.)
"Public math" lol
forgot the front
Tom Stock there is no ‘sag’ set up for the front suspension.
thank you!