whats the longest shock i can get to fit an oz

[jeffhop]

i know the oz has @205mm shock length , but whats the max/min i could use. ive seen a few with 220 mm i2i length go cheap on ebay and loads with 190mm i2i, i notice some of them have a stroke length of 50mm+ and im sure the risse is only 40mm tops. does this mean i can put a 190mm x 50mm stroke on it?  or could i put a 220mm i2i shock with 50mm stroke and run it really soft?

[shovelon]

  I draw the line at 215 mm i2i x 64mm stroke.

 I do have an air shock that I run with an adapter that is 190mm i2i x 50mm long. The adapter adds 25 mm to give me the 215 mm that I need to balance my Oz with the 153 mm front fork.

 Anything less than 125 mm fork, I would scale the rear i2i to 209 mm which is stock.

How are you feeling?
Terry  

[Matno]

Yes, a few guys here have successfully used an 8.5" Fox rear shock (~215mm), but I wouldn't go longer. A couple have tried 8.75", and the reviews all said "too long."

I'd say a 50mm stroke is better suited to the frame than 40mm, although I use both and like them both. (40 on the Risse, and 50ish on my Swinger 3-way). My Stratos Helix Pro (which is still for sale if anyone wants to make an offer) has a stroke length of 51 as well, but the eye to eye was only 200. I noticed the difference in BB height with that one, but the ride was sublime. The BB was still higher than say, a C'dale Jekyll...

[jazclrint]

If you go longer just remember that you have to have to run more sag to get the bike back to the correct ride height for the handling charcteristics that Proflex intended.  No one's saying you can't tweek it, but I like to start at stock (a known quantity) and go from there..  A stock shock is 205mm (or 209?) and was supposed to have 8mm of sag.  That means that the compress shock length with you on the bike should be about 197(or 201)mm.  So if you run a 220mm shock, then I'd suggest running 23 (or 19)mm of sag, to get things at factory settings.  But that would pretty much defeat the purpose of a 220mm shock.  But I'm looking at this from a pure numbers angle.  As Shovelon said others have actual ride experience.

I have a set of 200mm Fox Float RL AVAs on my 5500.  I have them on the front and back and I designed adapters for them.  The front adapter makes the shock effectively stock length, so I have to use the 5500's stock 10mm sag setting, which is not far from the 12-13mm recommended for the shock.  In the back the 5500's stock sag setting is 8mm.  Back there I made the adapter longer so I could run the recommended 12-13mms of sag.