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Bobbing: An aggravating condition that occurs when the front or rear suspension repeatedly compresses with each successive pedal stroke.
Bottom-out: When a fork or suspension system abruptly reaches the end of its travel in compression.
Cartridge damper: A self-contained damper, typically hydraulic, that is installed inside a fork.
Compression damping: Some form of friction, usually fluid flowing through an orifice, that opposes (slows) the suspension as it compresses over a bump.
Damping clickers: Motorcycle slang for any external dial used to adjust the damping of a fork or shock.
Double triple clamp fork: (dual-crown fork) A fork, generally for downhill use, that uses an upper and a lower crown for additional strength.
Dust boots: (Dust bellows) Corrugated plastic tubes fitted externally to forks to shield their moving parts from dirt and grime.
Dust wipers: Plastic lip-seals that scrape grime from the fork tubes and shock shafts, used to protect internal seals and bearings from damage.
Elastomer stack: A generic term for a wide range of plastic springs used as main springs in many forks and top- or bottom-out cushions in shocks.
Falling rate: (Opposite of “Progressive rate”).
Fork brace: (Brake arch) A curved reinforcement that connects the lower fork tubes over the front tire.
Fork stroke: See “Shock stroke.”
Free-bleed: A tube or port that allows suspension fluid to bypass the main damping circuit in a hydraulic shock or fork. Free-bleed circuits are typically fitted with adjustable valves for fine-tuning low-speed damping (see “Damping clickers”).
Lockout: Any device that temporarily prevents a fork or suspension from operating in compression. Normally used in hydraulic damping systems.
Mainspring: The spring that supports the rider and bicycle’s weight.
Negative spring: An air or coil spring that opposes the main spring, used to soften the first stage of the mainspring’s rate.
Open-bath damper: A damping cartridge that operates completely immersed in a reservoir of fluid. There is a continual exchange of fluid during operation which keeps the system cool and lubricated.
Pack up: Slang that describes when a shock or fork’s rebound valving is too slow to allow the suspension to fully extend between bumps. This causes the suspension to remain fully or partially compressed.
Piggyback reservoir: A separate chamber attached to a shock, charged with compressed gas that is used to compensate for the change in fluid volume due to the shock shaft.
Pogo: Slang term for severe lack of rebound control that causes the suspension to bounce off bumps instead of follow the terrain.
Preload: The amount of energy stored in a fork or shock spring when the suspension is completely extended.
Progressive rate: When the suspension’s spring or damping rate increases faster than the rate that the suspension is traveling in compression.
Shock stroke: The maximum distance that the shock can be compressed, including the bottom-out cushion.
Speed-sensitive valving: A hydraulic damper that provides a different damping rate at low or high shaft speeds (the velocity that the fork or shock moves).
Spring rate: The amount of energy the spring can store in a given amount of travel, usually measured in pounds per inch. (A 300-pound spring will store 600 pounds of energy if it is compressed two inches.)
Straight rate: When the spring or damping rate remains proportionate to the suspension travel.
Suspension linkage: Any system of levers that drive the shock remotely from the swingarm. Linkages are generally used to increase wheel travel or alter the rate of the suspension.
Suspension travel: (Applies mainly to suspension forks.) The distance the wheel travels in the same plane as the suspension.
Rebound damping: Some form of friction (see “Compression damping”) that opposes the mainspring as it returns the suspension to its extended position.
Rising rate: (See “Progressive rate.”)
Sag: (Negative travel.) The measurement of the amount that the suspension is allowed to settle under the rider’s weight when the bike is at rest.
Sliders: The lower, moving section of a telescopic fork.
Stanchions: The upper part of a telescopic fork that is firmly attached to the crown.
Stiction: Suspension tuner’s lingo for the “static friction” of a fork or suspension system when it is at rest. This occurs at either end of the fork and shock stroke. Less stiction is better.
Top-out: When a fork or suspension system extends abruptly to its maximum limit.
Tripleclamp: Literally, a type of fork crown with fittings that clamp both the fork tubes and the steerer tube. Now, another term for a fork crown.
Washer or valve stack: One or more thin, flexible steel washers that block the flow of suspension fluid in a hydraulic shock or fork. Fluid must bend the washers to pass. The stiffness of the “washer stack” determines the amount of damping and the configuration of the washer stack changes the damping rate at various shock speeds.
Wheel travel: (Almost the same as “suspension travel.”) The maximum distance the wheel travels on the vertical plane.
Bottom-out: When a fork or suspension system abruptly reaches the end of its travel in compression.
Cartridge damper: A self-contained damper, typically hydraulic, that is installed inside a fork.
Compression damping: Some form of friction, usually fluid flowing through an orifice, that opposes (slows) the suspension as it compresses over a bump.
Damping clickers: Motorcycle slang for any external dial used to adjust the damping of a fork or shock.
Double triple clamp fork: (dual-crown fork) A fork, generally for downhill use, that uses an upper and a lower crown for additional strength.
Dust boots: (Dust bellows) Corrugated plastic tubes fitted externally to forks to shield their moving parts from dirt and grime.
Dust wipers: Plastic lip-seals that scrape grime from the fork tubes and shock shafts, used to protect internal seals and bearings from damage.
Elastomer stack: A generic term for a wide range of plastic springs used as main springs in many forks and top- or bottom-out cushions in shocks.
Falling rate: (Opposite of “Progressive rate”).
Fork brace: (Brake arch) A curved reinforcement that connects the lower fork tubes over the front tire.
Fork stroke: See “Shock stroke.”
Free-bleed: A tube or port that allows suspension fluid to bypass the main damping circuit in a hydraulic shock or fork. Free-bleed circuits are typically fitted with adjustable valves for fine-tuning low-speed damping (see “Damping clickers”).
Lockout: Any device that temporarily prevents a fork or suspension from operating in compression. Normally used in hydraulic damping systems.
Mainspring: The spring that supports the rider and bicycle’s weight.
Negative spring: An air or coil spring that opposes the main spring, used to soften the first stage of the mainspring’s rate.
Open-bath damper: A damping cartridge that operates completely immersed in a reservoir of fluid. There is a continual exchange of fluid during operation which keeps the system cool and lubricated.
Pack up: Slang that describes when a shock or fork’s rebound valving is too slow to allow the suspension to fully extend between bumps. This causes the suspension to remain fully or partially compressed.
Piggyback reservoir: A separate chamber attached to a shock, charged with compressed gas that is used to compensate for the change in fluid volume due to the shock shaft.
Pogo: Slang term for severe lack of rebound control that causes the suspension to bounce off bumps instead of follow the terrain.
Preload: The amount of energy stored in a fork or shock spring when the suspension is completely extended.
Progressive rate: When the suspension’s spring or damping rate increases faster than the rate that the suspension is traveling in compression.
Shock stroke: The maximum distance that the shock can be compressed, including the bottom-out cushion.
Speed-sensitive valving: A hydraulic damper that provides a different damping rate at low or high shaft speeds (the velocity that the fork or shock moves).
Spring rate: The amount of energy the spring can store in a given amount of travel, usually measured in pounds per inch. (A 300-pound spring will store 600 pounds of energy if it is compressed two inches.)
Straight rate: When the spring or damping rate remains proportionate to the suspension travel.
Suspension linkage: Any system of levers that drive the shock remotely from the swingarm. Linkages are generally used to increase wheel travel or alter the rate of the suspension.
Suspension travel: (Applies mainly to suspension forks.) The distance the wheel travels in the same plane as the suspension.
Rebound damping: Some form of friction (see “Compression damping”) that opposes the mainspring as it returns the suspension to its extended position.
Rising rate: (See “Progressive rate.”)
Sag: (Negative travel.) The measurement of the amount that the suspension is allowed to settle under the rider’s weight when the bike is at rest.
Sliders: The lower, moving section of a telescopic fork.
Stanchions: The upper part of a telescopic fork that is firmly attached to the crown.
Stiction: Suspension tuner’s lingo for the “static friction” of a fork or suspension system when it is at rest. This occurs at either end of the fork and shock stroke. Less stiction is better.
Top-out: When a fork or suspension system extends abruptly to its maximum limit.
Tripleclamp: Literally, a type of fork crown with fittings that clamp both the fork tubes and the steerer tube. Now, another term for a fork crown.
Washer or valve stack: One or more thin, flexible steel washers that block the flow of suspension fluid in a hydraulic shock or fork. Fluid must bend the washers to pass. The stiffness of the “washer stack” determines the amount of damping and the configuration of the washer stack changes the damping rate at various shock speeds.
Wheel travel: (Almost the same as “suspension travel.”) The maximum distance the wheel travels on the vertical plane.