250-500cc 2012 wr300 suspension set up help

after riding in moab for 4 days i decided i really dont care for the way way i have the suspension set up on my bike. Im ashamed to say in the ten years i have been riding i have never even adjusted the pre load on my shock on any bike i own. so this will all be foreign to me. Im 208lbs no gear. Im sure the bike is under sprung for me. In fast whoops it kicks to the side and i really dislike that felling of the back end trying to come around on me. in the sand its an absolute handful. refuses to track straight, hard to corner ect. Im sure most of these are suspension tuning issues. my main question is. for a guy who never has adjusted anything suspension releated would you just send it to zipty/racetech/LT and let them set it up and get it close for you or would you try to do it on your own. I still dont grasp the concept of clickers/rebound/compression. Im kind of lost on tuning it but i think the 1st step is correct springs. Any other advice??

thats more or less the way i was leaning but i also did read the sticky that suggests getting the proper springs in your bike before doing a revalve. i would say i have min of 40 hours on bike so its probably time for a service anyways.

I have the racetech gold valve for the front using the stock fork springs. In the back it has a bladder installed and a revalve with a 5.8 spring. I weigh 210 with no gear. It took some tuning but works well everywhere from desert to single track with a few clicks. A friend of mine sent his to zip Ty with good results.

Here's a pretty good article that explains what the adjustments do. It doesn't go into great depth but it gives enough info to get an understanding. http://www.dirtrider.com/features/adjusting-your-suspension-clickers/

i'd get the right springs and do the basics before sending it out as it may be good enough.

did you set the sag? try taking some rebound out of your shock to help with the side kicking. it's the bottom adjuster on the clevis. it's kind of a pain to get to as the linkage hides it.

I haven't set the sag yet. I'm going to do that this week to determine if a need springs. Which I'm sure I do. Only thing is I'm really unsure how to set the front sag. Ill.have to do some research.

Before you make too many adjustments, you said after 4 days of riding in Moab. So, I assume that is not your normal riding area. How does it work for you in your usual terrain? Right springs will be needed, I think .48 on the front should give you the right sag, and 6.0 on the rear should be what you're looking for in springs. I'm 195-200 without gear and that works well for me.

I'll admit suspension is the most important thing on bike setup as far as I'm concerned, yet I don't mess with it much. I don't think I've touched my shock since about 5 hours, and on the fork I'll just go up and down on clicks depending on how rocky/smooth it is. I'd vote on using a local suspension tuner, as they will be most familiar with what you're riding and be able to get you in the best starting point for your riding -- usually they'll be more flexible if it doesn't feel quite right as well, and will change it up for you without having to do any shipping.

moab is rockier then my usual spot, but overall somewhat similar (especially both north and south of town out of the slickrock). The side to side kicking off whoops or bumps bothers me at least once a ride. So...ill get some springs figured out.

My rear end kicked a lot off whoops and I thought it was related to rebound, but I went stiffer on valving and it didn't help. Eventually I went a lot lighter on compression, and the problem is much better. I think the rear compression was too stiff for slow-speed (relatively) trail whoops and it was just banging into them instead of soaking them up.