Tuning

What is Custom Tuning?

Some companies/manufacturers will call adjusting spring rates/air pressures, dialling in adjusters and changing volume spacers, "tuning". We just call that "setup", as it's a relatively simple process that you can do at home. What we class as "tuning" is taking your suspension to the next level, by tackling friction issues and revalving (changing the shim stacks) the damper to give you the most appropriate damping level range for you, your bike and your riding style. 
We're talking about stripping your fork/shock right down, addressing any friction issues by resizing bushings (we also use low-friction additives in oil where appropriate), and then changing your shim stacks to give you a different damping curve. We then rebuild using high-quality oils and additives, before setting up, testing and sending it back to you, ready to ride.
"Custom", because we tailor each tune to each individual rider/bike. 

Do I need a custom tune? 

No one "needs" a custom tune, but it sure will make the bike ride better, giving you more confidence to tackle anything on the trail. It's subjective too. It might be that the manufacturer's tune is the most suitable for your needs already, and if that is the case, we'll be 100% honest with you and say that you don't need to change the tune. 

Why can't I have a custom tune without having a piston upgrade?

There are some models of fork/shock that we don't offer custom tuning on unless you have a piston upgrade, like the WPS Podium Piston Kit. This is because we're just not

happy with the performance we can get from the standard piston. So rather than take your money for something that you're not going to get great performance from (considering the value of the fork/shock), we would rather not offer custom tuning, without having the upgrade that unlocks the performance you deserve. 
At the end of the day, we all ride and we're always thinking of how we would feel about purchasing the products and services we offer. So if there's something that's not really going to make the cut, we're either going to not recommend it or not offer it at all. 

Why are our tunes better than the manufacturer's tunes?

It's subjective, this one. There are some cases where we use manufacturers' tunes, but lots where we don't. Ohlins and EXT offer a good range of tunes, which are very well done, giving the damping curves we know work great. Other manufacturers choose to use tunes that are very compromised, mainly to cover a broader range of riders, just from the adjusters. But this comes at a cost to everyone, really. So we use our own tunes to give you what we think will work best for you as an individual, not a broad target market. 

How do we know what works, and what doesn't?

We've worked with a large number of riders over the years, from beginners up to W/Cup podium-level riders. We gather data from their bikes to help us get to the setup that makes them ride the fastest/gives them the ride they need. We then take that fork and shock and test it on our dynos to give us spring curves and damping curves. 

We can then use that data to translate it to other riders/bikes/suspension.
The key to this is working out what the forces are at the wheel. For the fork, this is fairly simple, as there's no linkage involved, but we do still have to consider weight bias. For example, if your bike has short chainstays, in relation to the distance between the front axle and your BB (front centre), you will have less of your weight transferring to the fork than on a bike with a longer chainstay, in relation to the front centre. For the shock, it's more complicated, as you have the leverage curve to account for, too. We developed our own system to calculate this, in both directions. So, once we know the forces at the wheel we need to target, we can input geometry and kinematics data to then calculate the forces we need to achieve at the shock. From there, we match that data to the closest match in our database of tunes. 

How do we design the tunes that we use?

First, we'll test the standard tune from the manufacturer. If it has good characteristics, we'll record this data (in a number of setup combinations on the adjusters) and use it. When we don't like the look of the tune, we'll get the damper apart and take a look at the shim stack and piston design (adjuster design too) to see what is causing the issue. From there, we'll use our knowledge and experience of working with many brands (MTB and Moto) for over 25 years to design a solution. Hopefully, it's a simple case of shim stack re-design, but in some cases, we need to do more. This may just be a simple modification, or it may be a complete piston redesign. At that stage, we get our in-house design team for our WPS brand involved, and a solution is designed, tested and put into production. 

What tools do we use for this process?

Starting from the development stage, we've used a number of data loggers over the years, but most recently, we've chosen BYB. We feel the system offers us the best interface for us to really dig deep into the data. In the workshop, we run a Mechatronics Labs ML-SY-100-5.5/3 dyno for damper testing and a Mechatronics Labs ML-ST-400 dyno for spring curve testing. When performing the work, we use tooling from Snap-On, from suspension

manufacturers and some of our own (made in-house). We even have our own 10-tank vacuum bleeding machine for bleeding out air and filling dampers with oil, allowing us to have multiple oil options on tap, so you get the best for your application. 
For reducing friction in bushings, we have a number of burnishing tools at our disposal - some from Ohlins, some from Fox and a whole lot of our own (made in-house). 

 

Feel like this could be for you? Check out our prices here and get booked in here. 

Any questions, please contact us here.

Check out a custom tuned WPS Podium Piston kit installation...