Yalla! Lower Shock Mount Adjustments

In the middle of the bike, the Yalla! has modular lower shock mounts that give the option to adjust the bottom bracket height, suspension progression, or, a combination of the two.

Each option uses a pair of lower shock mounts, left and right, that use 2 6902 bearings for the shock to rotate on. This ensures a high load capacity and suppleness in the suspension.

BB Height

We’re fans of low BBs and this height strikes a good balance of making you feel a part of the bike, rather than perched on it, while having good ground clearance.

Frames come delivered with the BB height in the mid setting, around 345mm. But BB height will also depend a lot on the wheels, tyres and forks that you build the bike with.

From this mid setting, there is the option to fine tune the BB height by raising or lowering it by 3mm. 

Raising the BB will increase the ground clearance and make the bike react a little faster to your inputs. If you ride in very technical terrain with lots of options for hitting the pedals, cranks or frame, then this is a good option. This is also an option if you prefer to set up your suspension more soft, and so dynamically ride a bit lower.

Lowering the BB will increase the stability of the bike and drop you further into the bike. For a lot of flat out fast tracks this is good, as long as your terrain is not too chunky. This is also an option if you prefer to set up your suspension more firm, and so dynamically ride a bit higher.

Suspension Progression and Leverage Ratios

Our stock setting of 25% progression starts the leverage ratio at 3.08 and ends at 2.31. For us, this setting can work well in all types of tracks and situations, coming back to the idea that if you’re not into tinkering, then no problem. Just pump up the tyres and head out for a ride.

But it’s possible to adjust the level of progression by plus or minus 3% of progression, adjusting the leverage ratios in the process.

The idea is to adjust the leverage ratios in the portions of travel that you’ll spend more time in. If your bike is set up well, you’ll usually be spending more of your time riding in the first two-thirds of travel, rather than in that last third, clanging off the bottom-out bumper all day long.

Adjusting these portions of travel means that the adjustments have more of an effect, more of the time, and can be felt more easily.

The higher, 28%, option will give higher starting leverage ratios, giving you more sag without any adjustment to the shock, or needing more air or spring to maintain the same sag as the mid progression setting.

More progression and higher ratios will make the bike more active in its suspension use while giving more mechanical ramp up as you go through travel. It can work well with shocks that display a more linear character or if you ride in very rough terrain, think Val di Sole World Cup rough, or if you are hitting big man made bike parks and like to run your suspension firm.

The lower, 22%, option will lower the starting leverage ratios, giving you less sag without any adjustment to the shock, or needing less air or spring to maintain the same sag as the mid progression setting. It can work well with shocks that are very progressive in their feel or if you ride in terrain that isn’t overly rough and you want to carry speed, think along the lines of Fort William, or if your terrain isn’t very challenging and you’d like the bike to react more to the inputs you give it.

Combinations

There is also the possibility to combine the BB and progression adjustments with a total of 9 different options:

  • Low BB / 22%
  • Low BB / 25% 
  • Low BB / 28%
  • Mid BB / 22%
  • Mid BB / 25%
  • Mid BB / 28%
  • High BB / 22%
  • High BB / 25%
  • High BB / 28%

If you like the sound of something more progressive but with a higher BB, then we have that option. Or if you prefer the sound of less progressive and a lower BB, then you’re covered. These two examples show the combination of the more static adjustment from the BB height together with the more dynamic adjustment from the progression and leverage ratios.