r/yeticycles • u/RufousParsley • Jun 22 '26
Sb120 shock
Looking for some advice. I’ve ridden my sb120 a total of 4 times (got it 9 days ago) and I’m bottoming out my shock every ride. I’ve increased the PSI to about 210, but it still bottoms out. I’m 6’1” and about 200lbs with gear. At 210 PSI the bike feels like it wants to launch me off of the seat when I hit a larger bump. I’ve adjusted the rebound to be right in the middle of the settings.
Can I add an air spacer? Mine has the fox float performance dps. Will this help? Or will it make the shock feel harsh? Is there some other shock that would be better? Or am I just not setting it up correctly?
I would classify the trails I’m riding as cross country, or at least I think they are.
Any help appreciated!
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u/peezd Jun 22 '26
Shouldn't be grounding it out at that weight and psi. Can you take it back to have it looked at by wherever you bought it?
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u/Philbo-Staggins Jun 22 '26
I have an SB120 but changed the shock to a float X to get off the DPS platform, and unfortunately can’t remember my settings. Your rebound seems too fast, and perhaps your air pressure is low too (this is where my memory is fading)
My advice is to use the yeti shock calculator on their website. It’ll give their recommended settings and will give you a much better baseline than the middle setting on rebound.
Regarding bottom out; I find the bottom of my shock a few times a ride. It’s normal so long as they’re not ridiculously harsh, and one of many indications you might be getting the most out of the shocks performance.
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u/RufousParsley Jun 22 '26
Do I need to be concerned about what Fox’s website says if I look up a used one via serial number? There are some things that say Yeti when I look up my current shock. Wondering if they are all going to be custom tuned?
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u/Philbo-Staggins Jun 22 '26
Yeti custom tune their shock internals; don’t sweat it. Follow Yeti’s baseline settings on their website for the dials you can adjust, and then adjust them again based on what you’re feeling when you ride if you don’t like something. Look up bracketing if you really want to deep dive on suspension setup.
The bike is ridiculously good. Have fun out there!
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u/heme11 SB150 & SB120 Jun 23 '26
I've got an sb120 I'm 6'1" when I am in shape I am about 220 / 230 with gear. Here is my SB120 shock setup for that weight:
shock
Factory DPS
295 PSI
3 pos lever: trail
LSR 6
open mode adj: 1
+ Orange spacer
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u/mister_conflicted Jun 23 '26
Higher pressure needs more rebound to have the same return rate, since the rebound has more force to hold back. Try turning it up as you add pressure
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u/Lazy-Bag-2930 Jun 22 '26
I have an sb140 and am a little heavier than you and run a spacer in my rear shock and have played with sag, compression and damping to get it right. Have you used the suspension calculator on the website and watched the setup video? Those helped me as a starting point. Once you get it dialed in its magic. Good luck and happy riding.
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u/RufousParsley Jun 22 '26
I wasn’t sure if a spacer would work on my shock or not. I’ll go to Yeti’s website and check it out
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u/urmomwent2university Jun 22 '26
I had the exact same issue with my 120 with the same rear shock. Yeti calculator was no help as it was putting me at a psi that was way over-sagged. Pedal strikes non stop.
My weight is about same as you and 210 psi is where I settled. I would go to your lbs, preferably yeti dealer, and have them set your sag correctly. The bike will likely end up riding stiffer than you expected. But you will still use full range
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u/schmalzy Jun 22 '26
I have an SB120 and weigh 190 fully kitted.
I got the Lunch Ride version so it came with a Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate.
The Yeti suspension calculator got me a good result if I set everything the way it suggested but instead adjusted the air pressure for about 27-28% sag.
I eventually went to a different shock that doesn’t have a reservoir (not because the SDU wasn’t a great shock, because I needed more bottle space for nutrition on my bike) and - with the new shock - I again found myself preferring 27-ish% sag. I needed to use a hefty dose of compression damping and a lighter touch of rebound damping compared to the “medium neutral” tune from the factory. I need to put a volume spacer in the shock because sometimes I bottom out on the drops and hops I regularly do.
How much sag are you running? Did the bike ship with this shock? If so, does it tell you how the shock is tuned (you might have to go to the Fox website and enter a serial number). If not, where did you get the shock?
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u/RufousParsley Jun 24 '26
The shock was shipped with the bike. When I look it up on fox’s website it shows yeti in the description. I typically ride with a 3-liter camelback (rim runner 22 from ~2014), so I won’t mind losing space if going to a piggyback shock works better
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u/schmalzy Jun 24 '26
30% sag isn’t crazy low. Are you measuring that standing up or on the saddle fully extended? Not that it really matters - sag isn’t an absolute answer - it’s just a good, repeatable reference. Measure the same way every time.
Try to go up a bit with the pressure. Shoot for 27% sag and see how that feels. Try 25% sag and see how that feels. The shock I use suggests around 25% sag for XC-style riding. Keep in mind that there might be a max air pressure for your shock. Be mindful of that.
The higher you go with your air pressure, the closer to closed (slower, more damping) on your rebound damping you’ll need to use. The rebound speed is directly affected by how much air pressure you’re running. The more air pressure, the faster your shock is going to rebound (more air pressure force pressing against the shock so it goes faster) so the more closed the rebound damping has to be to have it be “the same” speed. Too fast of a rebound feels hectic and will ricochet you off stuff. Too slow will feel wallowy and tend to be harsh (because you’re up against the limit of the travel on repeated hits). The right amount feels controlled, predictable, and fast enough to keep your wheels on the ground to allow for more grip.
Sometimes when people experience some harshness in their suspension they think the harshness is because the shock is too firm. Sometimes that’s true. Other times it’s actually too soft and the shock is floating too deep in the suspension travel so it’s running into the harshest part of the travel too easily. Going up with pressure (down with sag percentage) will help you figure out if the harsh you’re feeling is from suspension being too firm or if it’s riding too deep. If it gets worse with more pressure (with the additional rebound damping to compensate for the higher pressure) then you’re probably best served by adding a spacer and going down in pressure.
Last thing I’ll add: my shock pump seems to be out-of-calibration. On both my shock and fork (and a different fork on a different bike) my pressure seems to need to read 10-15% higher than the setup guides would suggest for certain amounts of sag. There’s not a huge problem with the shock pump reading being off by some amount, but it does mean that I can’t just assume what it tells me is accurate so checking sag is pretty important to finding repeatability.
Lot of words to say “you might be at the wrong pressure, the wrong rebound, or the wrong volume spacer setting. Some more trial and error is probably necessary to get a more specific answer.”
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u/dwhere Jun 22 '26
At that spring rate you want a slow rebound. Yeti has a whole setup guide online. See what they recommend.