We’ve all been wondering about the best way to set suspension sag—sitting or standing?—so I asked The Man Himself: Mark Fitzsimmons at Fox Racing Shox. As Fox’s MTB race manager, Fitz does suspension testing and setup at the highest level of our sport. He is also a ripper.

Fitz!

Hey man, I hope all is well.

I have a question for you:

Should riders set sag sitting or standing? Most sources say sitting, but standing makes more sense to me—because that’s where riders are on “real” terrain. I always set mine with heavy feet and light hands.

What do you say? Why?

Thanks so much,

—Lee

Setting sag: sitting or standing?

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Hi Lee,

Just got back from a test session in Portugal last night.

For Cross Country, rear shock sag should be set when the rider is sitting. The fork standing.

For DH, the Fork sag gets measured when the rider is standing. The rear shock is tricky. I prefer sitting because if you look at the position of
a DH bike and have a rider standing on the pedals, they look centered on the bike. But because of the grade when DH racing/riding, the rider shifts his weight to the rear of the bike. Measuring sag when the rider is sitting gives a better idea of the weight bias.

In a perfect world, measuring sag with the rider sitting and standing and taking the average, would be best.

Fitz

Mark Fitzsimmons
MTB Race Manager
Fox Racing Shox

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Right on. Thanks Fitz!

To sum it up:

For XC: Set the fork sag standing. Set the shock sag sitting (say that five times fast).

For DH: Set the fork sag standing. Check the shock sag sitting and standing, then rock the average. For example: Say you want 30% rear sag. Maybe you get 25% standing and 35% sitting; that averages to 30%—sweet; rock it!

Thanks again Fitz!

—Lee

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