Bike sounds (bad ones)

This is my database of creaking and other unpleasant sounds:

1. Seat collar creaks! It seems that the sound comes out of handlebar, pivot, crank, chain, pedals, BB. You freak out and think you bike is falling apart. It may be that it is your seat-post collar that is the culprit for this nerve-wrecking experience of yours! Symptoms:
1. Stand up and pedal- no creaking
2. Stop and push on handlebar- no creaking
3. Compress suspension while moving and not pedaling-no creaking
4. Tighten seat bolts- still creaking
5. Take of seat-post collar, lightly grease it and try now. No more creaking? Then the culprit is the seat collar!
2. You hear a loud single click when starting pedaling up a steep section or putting a lot of torque on your crank trying to go over an uphill obstacle
1. It is possible that your freehub (if it is an XT hub) is loose or your freehub broke down (Hope). In either case, the freehub may jam and you will have to walk.

My lights setup

As it gets dark early, lights are mandatory to ride after work. My setup?
Magic shine 1000 lumen from deal extreme on the handlebar (battery mounted on the toptube)
Serfas 1000 on the helmet (battery is in the backpack)

So far this setup works really well for me.

Suspension setup order, compression and rebound damping

This page is made up from quotes from two articles. It reflects what I think is important to know

According to FOX published in Pink Bike article quoted here verbatim
Source:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/To-The-Point-Rebound-Damping-2013.html


The order of setup should always be: measure sag, adjust spring until proper sag is attained, adjust rebound, adjust compression damping. This follows the order of importance of each element: the correct spring rate is the most important, then the correct rebound setting, then
the compression setting.[end quote]



 ABOUT REBOUND
Don’t trust that the person at the demo booth or shop did it correctly. If they ask you for your weight, and don’t measure sag, they are doing it wrong. If they change the spring pressure and don’t check rebound, they are doing it wrong. And don’t forget to check the tire pressure! Tires can have a huge impact on how suspension feels. [end quote]

If rebound is set too fast, it will result in your wheel falling into more holes, instead
of skipping over the top of them, as it should. It will result in a bike that feels skittish and
uncontrolled, and will be scary off of jumps. You will get bucked, you will bounce upon
landing (even if you kept it rubber-side-down), and it will be a wild ride. At high lean angles
it can result in loss of traction. [end quote]

If rebound is set too slow it can “pack down,” where successive hits result in the wheel
getting deeper and deeper into the travel. This will result in not having enough travel to
deal with subsequent hits. Most people don’t realize that a symptom of too much rebound
damping is harshness on compression. This is due to the bike riding deeper in the travel,
and your hands and feet working against higher forces in the springs. A common fix for
harshness is to reduce compression damping, but if you are packing down, it will exacerbate
the problem. Another symptom of slow rebound is your bike sitting too deep in turns
(especially fast berms). If your bike has the rebound set properly, you won’t be thinking about
rebound while you are riding.[end quote]

There is a very limited range of rebound velocities that result in a good setup. Some
people may prefer rebound on the slower side of this spectrum, and some on the faster side.
This is worth repeating: the useable spectrum for a given rider is only about 3 clicks wide. [end quote]

...in general, rebound damping is much higher than compression damping and rebound shaft velocities are about one-third of compression velocities. [end quote]





 Ok that FOX article was great but........

Second article  http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_9608_tech/viewall.html

From the second article:
The fundamental difference between compression and rebound velocity profiles is due to the fact that compression is forced by the shape of the bump, while rebound, though affected by other forces, is pushed mostly by the spring. [end quote]

This means that, for compression damping, the shape of the bump is far more important than its size. A square-edged bump results in extremely high shaft velocities, while even a big dip will typically cause fairly low velocities. [end quote]


Now definitions in the third article: 
http://www.cyclemonkey.com/suspension_101.shtml#Compression%20Damping

Compression Damping

Controls the speed at which the fork collapses or compresses as it encounters an obstacle. Too little compression damping (fork moves too fast) and the fork will go through all its travel on smaller sized bumps and bottom out. Too much compression damping and the fork will feel harsh and will not achieve full travel. Some forks offer this as an external adjustment while others are pre-set from the factory. Those forks without external adjusters can usually be adjusted internally if necessary. Additionally, many of the forks on the market intended for more aggressive riding will have two external compression adjustments: high and low speed.

High-Speed Compression Damping
Controls the motion of the fork during high shaft velocities such as large impacts or sharp/sudden impacts. This adjustment can be used to reduce bottom out (higher/slower setting) or reduce spiking during sudden impacts (lower/faster setting).

Low-Speed Compression Damping
Controls the motion of the fork during low shaft velocities such braking and small bumps. This adjustment can be used to reduce brake dive and wallowy feel (higher/slower setting) or make the fork more sensitive to small bumps and track better in loose conditions (lower/faster setting)

Rebound Damping

Controls the speed at which the fork opens or rebounds after it has hit an obstacle. Too little rebound damping (too fast) and the fork will open too quickly, possibly bouncing the wheel off the ground, throwing the rider off balance, or providing poor traction. Too much rebound damping (too slow) and the fork will not open fast enough to respond to the next impact and will give a harsh ride. It will not have reached full extension before the next bump and will move further and further into the travel until it gets to the end and has packed up. Try adjusting the rebound knob so that the fork is as fast as possible without feeling uncontrolled. Alternatively, have a friend watch you ride off a curb, seated, and adjust the rebound so that the fork bounces exactly once.

 

TROUBLESHOOTING

http://www.foxracingshox.com/help.php?m=bike&ref=footer

Islands of Safety

Ruben from Endless Biking via Fred tip:

Recognize islands of safety as you ride. On such safe stretch of the trail you can:

• Safely brake
• Abort the maneuver
• Get low and push on the pedals for emergency stop