Hello everyone. Just had a question about rear sag, I read up on it. It says it should be 15 to 25 % of rear travel depending on your riding.
I rode whopper the other day and it felt fine, good travel. But as the day got colder and biking back on the road notice my sag almost doubled. I have about 190 psi in the shock.
So my question is does the cold effect the travel or is there not enough air in it or bad shock. Thanks
The short answer is yes, your shock will have a lower pressure in colder temps and therefore more sag. Assuming your shocks seals are intact
If you set you shock pressure in your warm house and then ride in sub zero temps the air (gas) in you shock will contract effectively decreasing the psi in your shock. Same thing happens with tire pressure.
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Another thing that could happen is the contraction and hardening of seals in cold temps could cause an air leak. But is less likely given that the temperatures we’ve been having lately aren’t really that cold. It needs to be crazy arctic and you need to be out for extended periods for this to really become an issue. But If your seals are really beat and on the verge of leaking under normal temps there’s a chance it could be happening.
just check your shock pressure once your bike warms up again to eliminate this problem. Just remember that you can, (depending on what shock pump you have) often loose 10 or more psi in the reading just by hooking up your shock pump.
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@Chris_Dwyer-perkins posted a handy chart showing the effect of air temperatures on tire pressure that might help with the shock pressures.