A Random MTB observation/question

[benb]

Anyone know if shock absorbers need to warm up?

I had a really excellent MTB ride monday.. but the bike was seeming quite harsh early in the ride and got better and better as the ride went on. I have been riding the same bike forever so I have it pretty dialed in.

Temp was around 32 and the bike had been sitting in my unheated garage.. I rode right out of the garage. About 10 minutes on the road with the rear shock locked out. Somewhere around 20 minutes after I hit the trail I really noticed it sucking up the roots dramatically better. At some point I actually dialed the rebound back on my shock since it's super easy to do and it might have helped.

I swear my tires never really hooked up on the gravel portion of the ride though, I also wondered if that was related to the cold. (Relatively new/large gravel on top of newly wet/frozen soil)

[peanutgallery]

At 32 the seals should be fine

Its winter, nothing works really well. Spring is where its at

Anyone know if shock absorbers need to warm up?

I had a really excellent MTB ride monday.. but the bike was seeming quite harsh early in the ride and got better and better as the ride went on. I have been riding the same bike forever so I have it pretty dialed in.

Temp was around 32 and the bike had been sitting in my unheated garage.. I rode right out of the garage. About 10 minutes on the road with the rear shock locked out. Somewhere around 20 minutes after I hit the trail I really noticed it sucking up the roots dramatically better. At some point I actually dialed the rebound back on my shock since it's super easy to do and it might have helped.

I swear my tires never really hooked up on the gravel portion of the ride though, I also wondered if that was related to the cold. (Relatively new/large gravel on top of newly wet/frozen soil)

[Mark McM]

I'm going to go with it was you that was warming up and performing better rather than the bike.

That said, the dampers will warm up a bit with use and the oil will thin out a bit, but I don't know that it will be a night and day difference.

[Ken Robb]

I have more experience with motorcycle suspension tuning than bicycle suspensions but I have fiddled with viscosities of 5, 7.5 and 10 to get them dialed in just right so I would not be surprised if shock/fork oil that was just right on a 70F day was quite a bit thicker at 32F. Riding some bumps for a while would probably heat it enough to make a difference you can feel.