Setting compression dampening on a trail bike?

[nzspokes]

What should I be aiming for with setting compression on my trail bike?

[noobi]

Whatever compression feels right, after you have set your rebound properly.

[Jay GTI]

This is very much a 'how long is a piece of string?' question, but from the advice I've been given (far from an expert myself), find out what the standard settings are, set it to that, then spend some time adjusting the clickers by small increments until you understand what the adjustments do to the way the bike behaves. Then go back to standard and work towards what you think are the best settings.

Then lose the note pad you wrote all the settings down on.

[pete-blen]

as above,,,,
But I fined the setting towards softer end work best for trail riding... The harder setting work better
for MX type rideing where yer doing jumps etc... Softer settings let the forks/shock work better on the smaller
quick sharp bumps yer find on trails..rock/ditches/roots etc.. Not requireing a hard/heavy impact to get the
suspension to move like on a MX track at speed...

Robert will be along soon I should think....

[takitimu]

I go about as soft as I can get away with for MX ( easy as I don't jump far ), then leave it there.

There's something reassuring about when you do hit something hard on the trail that you don't bottom out. I'd be wary about going to soft, if you think you need to go softer, I'd look at rebound first.

[pritch]

This refers to Ohlins specifically but the idea is generally the same whatever the brand:

http://www.ohlins.com/Checkpoint-Ohlins/Setting-Up-Your-Bike/Setting-up-your-Motocross-bike/