Suspension help please!

[ScotiaLass]

I have just bought a hardtail. I've had a full suss for the past 8 years and as it's been all set up for me, I've never had to adjust it!
I rode the new bike 4 miles home today and found it quite 'bouncy'. How do I adjust it so that it's firmer?
I presume I just turn the dial on the fork? It also has a lock out but I'd like some play on it.
I've checked the handbook but it's worse than useless and only says that adjusting it may affect the handling of the bike!
Help!
Oh, the bike is a Specialized Myka Sports Disc 2014

 

[zizou]

You'll need to adjust the preload

Looking at the specs it is a suntour fork? When i had a bike with suntour forks the preload was the dial on the left leg of the fork with a - and + sign, turn the + to increase the preload. I should add this was about 15 years ago they might have changed how it operates since then!

 

[Cubist]

Yep, according to the spec it's an 80mm Suntour XCR.

Put a cable tie around the fork stanchion ( the shiny bit that goes in and out of the lower leg) and slide it down to the seal. Get on the bike with all your gear on, and lean on a wall for balance. Without bouncing stand up in the attack position, then carefully get off and note where the cable tie is. It should be sitting about 10 mm from the seal. If its higher, you need to turn the adjuster towards the plus sign. Keep measuring this sag and adjusting it to achieve between 20'and 25% of the exposed stanchion.

The fork doesn't appear to have any rebound damping, so that's about all you realistically can do. Trial and error may show you need to increase the preload even more to make the bike feel like you want it to.

 

[ScotiaLass]

Thanks guys, I'll do that tomorrow