SAND SETTINGS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Riding motocross in sand is a world of its own. The bike sinks, the bumps change shape, and the suspension has to work constantly to stay balanced through rolling waves of terrain. Whether you’re riding deep, bottomless sand or medium sand with choppy bumps, setting your suspension correctly can transform your riding experience.

Below is your definitive guide for finding the best settings when riding in the sand.

1. Understanding Sand Bumps: Big, Round & Rolling... but not always.

Sure enough, sand always creates a different type of bump compared to hard pack, where bumps are short from face to backside, square-edged, and (usually) close together. But, depending on the type of sand, there are two types of bump patterns which require different adjustments needed to keep you safe and fast on the track. This difference is the foundation of why settings vary so much and you really need to find the best ones for each track, because each track is likely to have a unique dirt condition.

So, the first challenge for any rider is to identify the type of bump pattern. Beware of the type of bumps!

2. Deep Sand vs. Medium Sand

Different sand tracks require different rebound settings. This is obvious since every track is unique - starting with its soil/terrain type. This uniqueness has a direct impact on how bumps form thorughout the course of a riding or racing day. If that standing alone wasn't busy enough, add the changing weather conditions (dry, loamy, muddy, etc). Hey, no more worries! If you weren't already, from now on you can use Clickers MX App to save all the different settings!

A) Deep, heavy sand

• Bumps are large from face to backside and far apart

• Round‑edged, kinda like waves

• Change shape constantly

• Tracks where the rear wheel needs to “plow” rather than skim

• Rear-end should stay slightly lower for traction and steering

  
  

Lommel MX features deep, heavy sand. Anybody can tell.

B) Medium sand

• Smaller amplitude

• More square-edged

• Closer together

• Less changing, more repetitive

• Frequent impacts can make the bike “pack”

  
  

Soutwick (aka the Wick 338) has a hard base which forms square-edged bumps.

3. Adjustments and what they do.

• FRONT FORK ADJUSTMENTS

✔️ COMPRESSION FORCE: increase ( + ) %

Why: Sand tries to swallow the front wheel. Increasing compression force keeps the bike riding higher and prevents excessive diving.

✔️ REBOUND SPEED: increase ( + ) %

Why: Sand bumps compress the fork deeply. Faster rebound speed helps the fork recover quicker so it doesn’t ride too low across rolling bumps.

• SHOCK ADJUSTMENTS

For sand riding, you’ll mainly want to adjust the low‑speed compression force (LSC) on the rear shock. This is the adjuster that controls how the shock behaves over rolling sand bumps and acceleration loads. The high‑speed compression (HSC) adjuster is only used in sand tracks when the track includes big impacts or harsh G‑outs.

✔️  LSC FORCE: decrease ( - ) %

Why: Allows the shock to compress more easily, improving traction and letting the bike dig rather than deflect.

✔️ REBOUND SPEED

A) DEEP SAND: decrease ( - ) %

Why:

• Keeps rear lower

• Improves stability

• Helps load the front wheel for better steering

• Allows the bike to “plow” instead of bouncing

  
  

B) MEDIUM SAND: increase ( + ) %

Why:

• Prevents packing

• Stabilizes bike over quick repetitive hits

CHEATSHEET

Use this cheatsheet next time you go playing in the sand. Copy it to your library now!