There’s a basic assumption that increasing compression damping makes your suspension feel more harsh or stiff. The reality, however, is not this simple. Here are several ways in which adding low-speed compression can actually improve your ride: 

Every millimeter that you compress your suspension, you build more spring force. This is shown by the graph above. Thanks to simple physics, we know that for every force there is an equal and opposite force pushing back in the opposing direction. As you push into your suspension and compress your spring (whether air or coil), it pushes back at you equally hard – and that force goes straight into your hands and feet. This is felt by the rider as harshness.

When you increase low-speed compression damping, you’re letting the hydraulic resistance in the damper hold you up a bit more. This means that on average, your suspension will ride higher in its travel. When you ride higher in your travel, you’re not compressing your spring as much, therefore building less spring force to push back against you. You’ll spend more time riding in the softer part of your travel and less time building those higher amounts of spring force from diving deeper into the travel.  

In this way, adding more LSC damping can actually make the ride feel smoother! Counterintuitive, right? 

The key is to find balance. Adding too much LSC can quickly make the suspension feel harsh for different reasons, but the main takeaway here is that some amount of LSC is a good and desirable thing. If you want to experiment with this concept, try adding as much LSC as you can tolerate before the suspension feels excessively and/or unrideably firm.