Unlock Factory Performance (Without the Factory Budget)
- clickersapp
- May 2
- 2 min read
Take a look at the image. Those are high-end, "A-Kit" style fork caps, and that "COMP HIGH" dial is the holy grail of tuning.
On a fork like this, having a dedicated High-Speed Compression (HSC) adjuster is a game changer. It allows the fork to stay plush and sensitive over small chatter while providing a massive "safety net" for the big stuff—over-jumped triples, flat landings, and those nasty square-edge holes that usually send a jolt through your wrists. It gives you total control over how the fork handles high-velocity impacts without compromising comfort.
The Reality Check for "The Rest of Us"
Most riders aren't running $5,000 factory forks. For the vast majority of us "mortals," our forks only have one compression clicker. But here is the secret: You already have a high-speed adjuster on your bike—it’s sitting right on your rear shock.
Too many riders are terrified of that 14mm or 17mm hex nut on the shock reservoir. They’ll click their low-speed screw until it’s stuck, but they never touch the "big nut." That is a huge mistake.
The Secret Bridge: How the Shock Fixes the Fork
Your bike is a seesaw. Because the shock and forks are interconnected by the frame, what happens at the rear dictates how the front behaves.
If your shock's HSC is set incorrectly, your forks will never feel right, no matter how many times you click them. By mastering the high-speed adjuster on your shock, you can actually "fix" fork problems:
Saving the Front End: If your shock's HSC is too soft, the rear "wallows" or blow through its travel on big hits. This causes the front end to light up and lose traction, or "stinkbug" and dive unexpectedly. Stiffening the shock's HSC keeps the chassis level, allowing your forks to stay in the plusher part of their stroke.
Stopping the Kick: If you feel harshness in your handlebars over fast bumps, it’s often not the forks—it’s the rear shock deflecting off a square edge and "kicking" that energy forward into the front. Softening the shock's HSC lets the rear soak up the hit, saving your wrists and keeping the bike tracking straight.
If the bike feels like this... | Try this on your Shock HSC (The Big Nut) |
Blowing through travel on big jump faces | Increase HSC %: Holds the rear up and stabilizes the forks. |
Front end feels "nervous" or shakes in chop | Decrease HSC %: Stops the rear from kicking energy to the front. |
Rear "G-s out" and stays low in deep turns | Increase HSC %: Keeps the bike balanced and level. |
Bouncing or "bucking" out of high-speed whoops | Increase HSC %: Increases damping to controlled the high-velocity rebound. |
Don't be afraid to experiment! A quarter of turn on that shock adjuster can do more for your "basic" forks than ten clicks on the fork themselves.
Pause clicking, start turning! 👊
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