Help With Buying A New Shock

[CC12345678910]

So I might be buying a bike from a mate but it has an ancient shock in it.

research tells me it's a fox vanilla from like 2000 so it needs upgrading.

thinking along the lines of 180mm or bigger eye to eye but no more than 200mm E2E but have no more than 150ish to spend.

also needs to be BNIB and it needs to be from a uk shop that does phone sales.

HELP!!

thank you.

ciaran

[Tomm]

Uh, no. You need to get a shock the same dimensions (unless you REALLY know what you're doing). Can you use the same spring?

[CC12345678910]

I'm buying a bigger shock for the bike because according to some info I found online, the shock has been changed from the manitou swinger 3 it was specced with, to shorter travel shock and forks by a previous owner. Thanks to my mate it now has a pair of boxxer team forks from ~03/04, the same year as the bike, and I want to finish what he started by complementing the forks with more rear travel, kind of a restore and update kinda thing.

my problem is finding a suitable shock at my budget (after reconsideration I could stretch to like two hundred i suppose) so if you or anyone reading this knows of mabye a less well known but quality brand or a obscure LBS with a good deal then post it up because i am compretly stumped.

Edited August 9, 2012 by CC12345678910

[trialsmax04]

Firstly, what bike and what is its purpose? (You say Boxxer team forks, so im assuming a DH bike here).

The eye to eye needs to be spot on firstly. Then find the shock. Thinking of a Fox Vanilla R - DHX range, or Marzocchi Roco? Rockshox Vivid?

[Tomm]

If the previous owner has specced the wrong shock, then that's fair enough wanting to change it but you still probably ought to get the right shock for the frame. You need to know the eye-to-eye (sometimes writtten i2i) and stroke of the shock. You also need a spring that's the right size to fit on it, and the right weight for you - You may be able to to swap your current spring over depending on what you've got and what you're buying. If you post up the details of your shock and spring we should be able to tell you.

A new Fox Van RC costs at least £200, that's without a spring. You might be able to get it slightly cheaper elsewhere if you hunt around, but as always if you're stretching your budget it's probably better to go second hand. Try the various forums (SouthernDownhill, Gravity Slaves, Descent-world, Singletrackworld) and eBay. Ideally get one with a spring for less risk. If you want new:

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=83890

[CC12345678910]

thanks for your help mate. the bike is an 04 bighit, the one with the 24in back wheel. Found out it needs a 7.825 by 2.25 so gonna aim for 185 to 190mm eye to eye to be safe.

I could buy the one you linked and re-use the spring i have for time being couldn't I? or does it not work like that?

So you can get an idea of what I want, this is like what the bike looked like when my mate bought it (random pic from google)

and my mates has that exact shock if that helps, add boxxer teams and thats almost the look the bike currently has.

and this is kinda my vision for it, again random piccy,

except I don't want a chode of a shock like above.

Edited August 15, 2012 by CC12345678910

[craigjames]

If you weren't so tight on money.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-FOX-DHX-RC2-MTB-COIL-REAR-SHOCK-7-875-x-2-25-200MM-x-57-2MM-/290760411070?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43b2abc7be#ht_2888wt_1122

It's a bit of an odd size nowadays, most frames have moved to lower leverage ratios and therefore longer stroke lengths. Especially coil shocks for DH bikes, all tend to be 200mm i2i plus, with most newer shocks coming in at 220 to 260mm i2i.

You would find more air shocks in that size, but not really what you're looking for.

As suggested keep scouring the 2nd hand threads on Pinkbike and the other sites mentioned and you may come up lucky.

[Tomm]

7.825 x 2.25 is the same as 200 x 57mm which is probably the most common shock size.

HOWEVER - as Craig says, most DH/freeride bikes are bigger than that, and a quick Google suggests that a 2004 Big Hit should be 222 x 70 which is quite different! Having said that, I know there are different versions, different mount points and even different rockers for 26" wheels so there are a lot of variables. Anyway, I'm fairly certain 200 x 57 is wrong - make sure you check it.

You may be able to use the same spring. On that bike it looks like an old Fox Vanilla which means the spring has a pretty narrow internal diameter, so a new shock may be too fat for that spring. Depends what you get.

Out of interest - why do you actually want to change the shock? If it works reasonably well I wouldn't bother, and spend money elsewhere (forks for starters).