Rebound adjustment on 04 & 05 MC and EC

FFRDave

New member
I have an 04 MC 250 and an 05 EC 250 (recently 300).

I noticed that my MC is actualy easier to ride than the EC. That MC just flys around corners, but on bigger hits the rear shock rebounds too quickly, smacking me in the butt.
I know that the knob/wheel under the shock controls rebound, but the book only tells me to turn it clockwise for an adjustment. If your perspective is above, then clockwise is one direction, but if your under the bike, then clockwise is the opposite direction.

If I knelt on the therottle side facing the bike, which direction (forward turning or reverse turning) would slow down the rebound. In this scenario, forward is moving the knob from left to right (or Counter clockwise as veiwed from above). Thus, reverse turning would, be from right to left (or clockwise as veiwed from above).

MY EC should gain manuverability if I set up the suspension just like the MC (except the MC has 50mm shocks and the EC only has 45mm shocks).

MY EC has about an eighth of an inch of shock extending above the top tripple clamp. I have about 4" of sag at the rear end (I know thats way too much). I think If I run the forks level in the top of my triple clamp, I can reduce the rear sag. Then, If I copy all of the compression and rebound settings as found on the MC (minus some rebound speed as noted above), I should be pretty close.
I may want to compensate for the smaller fork tubes by adding a couple clicks of stifness to the front shocks.

I have the EC set up mainly for long (like 20 or 30 miles long) sandy whoop trails and some sand dune jumping. I have owned the MC for two weeks, and just love the way it handles in regular soil. My sand dune area has been closed due to disputes with farmers, so I have no clue how the MC will run in deep sandy whoops with ist current set up.
 
Talking to myself... AGAIN

... at least I know who I am dealing with.

A little help from OUTSIDE MY HEAD might be helpful too. :confused:

I checked the 04 MC settings.

The rear shock rebound was either 3/4 open or 3/4 closed (that was what my last post was about). I dont know which way to turn the wheel for SLOWER rebound. From stop to stop there were about 57 positions. I set it at the center point at about 27. This was copied on the EC.

The 17mm nut was found on the MC at 3 & 3/4 turns out. This was copied on the EC.
The small brass clicker in the center of the 17mm was found on the MC at 22 clicks from fully closed. This was also copied on the EC.

Up front, the MC compression was set at 17 clicks from fully closed, and rebound was at 21 clicks from fully closed. These were also copied on the EC.

I have yet to set or even measure the sag on either bike, but I am closer than I was last night.

Now both bikes are set exactly alike.

What will I need to do in order to compensate for the 5mm diameter diffference between the EC and MC?

Which direction on the rear rebound adjustment wheel will slow the speed of the rebound?
 
turning the adjuster clockwise with you on the right side of the bike, reaching under the swingarm, will slow the rebound
 
Exactly the same now... almost

The Ec has 26" between the axle nut & fender without a rider and 3 &1/8" of sag with me on it.

The MC has 24" between the axle nut & fender without a rider and 3 &1/8" of sag with me on it.

I made a mark 4" behind whe seam of the rear fender(as mu upper mark), and the other point (lower mark) was the top of the axle nut.

I weigh 185 lbs.
 
EDIT. So. What that should tell you is , all things being equal , that the mc has a heavier spring on it. remember in order to get that race sag #'s that you got you had to really crank down the ec spring to achive the same race sag as the mc therefore raising the back end higher the ec, 26 inches. Now with the bike, ec resting on the ground under its own weight ,full gas, no rider, when you lift up the back end you prob have less than three quarter inch slack or free sag, correct? There should be more slack, free sag on the mc because we suspect it has a heavier spring and required less pre load allowing the bike to sag more under its own weight.The axel to subframe height is not important, what is important is that the race sag, with you on the bike should be 4 or more inches, and with that number that you still have at least one inch to one and a half inches of slack as mentioned.
 
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