On vacation this week and today was probably the last day of good weather for a while. After lunch decided to head out to Pachaug to try some settings adjustments on jetting and suspension. I rode the same trail repeatedly out of the campground area. Good singletrack with lots of planted rocks and roots. Did about 10 miles of testing.
First I worked on the jetting/air screw. There's still a little bobble just off idle. I went another quarter turn out...that means it's now all the way out: 4 turns. I'll need to go to a smaller pilot jet.
Suspension: Looking to get things just a little softer without losing the "athletic" feel the bike has now. First I tried the front. I thought that slowing down the rebound would calm things down like it did on the rear. I went 3 clicks slower and immediately noticed packing that almost threw me off the trail when the front bounced off a few medium-sized rocks. Went back to the prior setting. Next I tried the compression. I lightened the compression by 2 clicks. This felt better in the front but it didn't seem balanced with the rear. The rear was noticeably stiffer then the front and this made it feel like the front was riding the rocks while the rear was skipping. So, I went one click stiffer.
Next, the rear: Both the low- and high-speed compression are already on full soft, so nowhere to go with those. A few rides ago I slowed the rear rebound down by 2 clicks and it made the rear feel calmer. I decided to try 3 more clicks. In the less gnarly stuff it felt good but in the tougher stuff you could feel the rear grabbing the rocks and slowing the bike down. I went back out two turns to end up just one stiffer then prior.
In general, the settings from Gilles were pretty darn close.