When to Use the Climb Switch on Your Rear Shock (and When Not To)
Short answer: flip the climb switch (lockout lever) to firm on smooth, sustained climbs like fire, Forest Service, and logging roads, and pavement. Leave it open on technical climbs (rock gardens), rough ground, and anything pointed downhill. Firm mode saves you energy when the surface is smooth. On rough ground it costs you traction, and lost traction costs you more than pedal bob ever did. Often the key to getting over obstacles is momentum, so keeping traction can be critical.
That's really it. Everything below is the why, plus a table you can memorize in about ten seconds.
What the climb switch actually does
The blue (or black) lever on your rear shock isn't a lockout, at least not on most modern trail shocks. Flip it to the firm setting and it restricts the low-speed compression circuit inside the damper. Oil gets a smaller passage to flow through, so the shock resists slow, steady inputs like pedaling. Hit something square-edged and the suspension still moves. It just quits the bouncing on every pedal stroke.
If you want the nerdier version: inside the damper, oil moves through a set of ports and shim stacks, and how easily it flows determines how easily the shock compresses. The low-speed circuit handles slow shaft movements, things like body weight shifts and pedal bob. The high-speed circuit handles fast hits, like a root at speed. The climb switch chokes down only the low-speed circuit, which is why a firm shock still takes the edge off a curb but stops mushing around under your cadence. Sorry, that's the mechanical engineer in me getting out. I'll keep it simpler from here.
One more thing worth knowing: not every lever is just open and firm. Plenty of shocks, including a lot of Fox Float models, have three positions. Open, medium, firm. That middle setting matters more than people think, and I'll come back to it.
Those of us who think of it as a lockout tend to treat it as all-or-nothing, and usually end up never touching it. Think of it less like an on/off switch and more like a way to match your shock to whatever surface you happen to be on.
When firm mode helps
- Fire / logging roads and gravel climbs. This is what the switch was made for. Smooth surface, seated pedaling, nothing to absorb. Every bit of bob is wasted energy, so flip it firm.
- Pavement. Riding to the trailhead? Firm. There's no traction to lose on asphalt.
- Long, steep grinds. The extra damping also keeps the bike sitting higher in its travel, which keeps your weight centered. You spend less energy fighting to hold the front end down on steep pitches. A good example would be a singletrack climb that switchbacks up the mountain where the trail surface is relatively smooth.
- Standing sprints on smooth ground. Off-the-seat efforts are where the bobbing gets worst. If the surface is smooth, firm mode pays off right away.
When firm mode hurts you
- Technical climbs. This is the big one. On roots and rock, your rear tire needs the suspension moving to stay glued to the ground. Firm mode makes the rear end skip and break loose right when you need grip the most. An open shock climbs technical terrain better. If your lever has a medium setting, this is where it earns its keep: some pedaling support without giving up all your grip.
- Anything downhill. Obvious, sure. It still happens to everyone, and I'll get to that in a minute.
- Rolling, punchy terrain. If the trail trades short climbs for short descents every thirty seconds, just leave it open. You'll never flip the lever at the right time anyway, and open is the safer default.
The quick reference
| Terrain | Lever position | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fire road / gravel climb | Firm | No bumps to absorb, so bob is pure wasted energy |
| Pavement | Firm | Smoothest surface there is |
| Smooth singletrack climb | Firm or medium | Support on the steep stuff, grip held in reserve |
| Technical climb (roots, rocks) | Open or medium | Traction matters more than efficiency here |
| Rolling / punchy singletrack | Open | Too much switching. Open is the safe default |
| Descending, any kind | Open | Always. No exceptions |
The mistake everyone makes (me included)
You flip the lever at the bottom of a fire road climb, grind to the top, drop into the descent... and halfway down you notice your rear end skipping off every rock because you never opened the shock back up. Everyone who uses a climb switch has done this. It feels harsh and sketchy, and it's probably the number one reason people quit using the lever altogether. Most of us have no desire to go back to a hardtail.
The fix is just a habit. Open the lever at the top of the climb, before you drop in, same moment you drop your seatpost. Pair the two in your head. Post down, shock open.
Why most riders never touch the lever at all
Now the honest part. Ask around at the trailhead and most people with a climb switch will admit they never use it. Not because firm mode doesn't work. It does, and the free energy on smooth climbs is real. They skip it because the stock lever is tiny. On most Fox and RockShox shocks it's barely bigger than your thumbnail and tucked in against the shock body. Using it mid-ride means looking down, pulling a hand off the bar, and fumbling around while you're still trying to pedal. So people set it open once and forget it exists. Over the years I've even seen a few people duct tape the switch in the open position, just so it never gets bumped somewhere they don't want it.
That's the exact problem that started Saurus. I rode that way for years before it clicked that the lever is just a part, and parts can be changed. The Tune Lever is a bolt-on replacement lever for Fox and RockShox rear shocks that's 5× larger than stock and shaped so you can find it by feel. Reach down, flip it, eyes never leave the trail. It weighs 2.5 grams and installs in about 1 minute with the hex key that comes with it.
Once you can find the lever without looking, all the advice above gets a lot easier to follow. Firm at the bottom of the fire road, open at the top, done. The switch turns into something you actually use instead of a feature you paid for and ignore.
Questions about your specific shock or setup? Email me directly at hello@ridesaurus.com. I answer everything myself.
— Kale, Founder · Saurus · Montana