What can I externally adjust on my bike?

Different bikes will have different available external adjustments, often coinciding roughly with the design intent of the bike. Note that none of the terminology below is intended to say that any of these bike classifications are bad, they just serve different needs for different people. Not everyone needs cone valves and a Trax shock, and many casual riders may never click a clicker or spin a preload ring.

No matter the bike or the suspension, the tires are what connect it to the ground. All load is transferred through those knobs and contact patches, making tire compliance and pressure the first critical adjustment available for every bike. Mousses can also vary pressure feel by drilling holes to make them softer or inserting wedges or wrapping the mousse in a tube to make it feel stiffer.

Internal adjustments are covered separately. This section focuses on changes that can be made from the outside without disassembling the bike.

• The most basic motorcycle suspension may not have any external adjustments on the forks, with the only externally tunable front end parameter being the position of the forks in the triple clamps. The shock may also not have any damping adjustment, but likely does offer a basic spring preload adjustment to set sag.
• The next level up is a bike like the venerable XR200R, or entry level dual sport bikes like the CRF250 or Yamaha XT series. The top of the forks may add a Schrader valve that allows additional pressure to be added for basic spring rate adjustment, and the shock may add a rebound clicker adjustment.
• Moving into bikes that start getting into competition intent, or higher end bikes from the late ‘90s or early 2000s, more adjustments become available. Most forks remove the Schrader valve air adjustment and add in compression and rebound clickers at the front end, and add a single compression damping (low speed) adjustment to go with the rebound clicker on the  shock.
• The top current typical bikes have the same features as above, but will also have a high speed compression damping adjustment on the shock. This is most modern competition bikes and higher end dual sport bikes. In some cases, they will also have preload adjustment on the forks, or will have an air sprung fork.
• “A-kit” suspensions often don’t bring any additional external adjustments, though the world of kit and aftermarket suspension is broad. Some variations include inertial damping (Trax), high, mid, and/or low speed compression adjustments on the forks instead of just low speed, low and high speed rebound clickers on the shock, and fork spring preload adjustment. In many cases, though, these higher end suspensions don’t add adjustments. They are instead focused on higher quality components, materials, and coatings, and may have more complex and expensive hardware inside to provide specific damping characteristics.

In addition to the above, chassis and ergonomic adjustments can dramatically impact how a bike rides. This includes everything from major changes like bar bend and lever position to small tweaks like engine mounts, bolt torques, and chain length/axle position in the swing arm. On a truly well set up bike, all of these little details work together in harmony.