New Air shock for evo

[pedro]

I want to replace my evo's fox Vanilla R with an air shock. Want to take advantage of the new anti bobing technology so I am looking at the manitou spv air 3 way or  fox's float or ava with propedal.
Anyone know if these will fit ok on the evo.
Also how do air shocks work compared to coil on the evo.  Will I be able to get full travel?

[Carbon_Angus]

As far as I know, the Answer 3Way will not fit a carbon frame. My LBS took one off of a Trek Liquid for me to try and no go with out some major mods. I'll assume the EVO would be the same. The Liquid is a great bike BTW....

I am up in the air about putting a stable platform on a k2....maybe just wasn't meant to be.

OP has/had? some kinda stable platform (Romic) that was revalved for his bike. Maybe he has some practical expereince he will share

[smiley=beer.gif]

[numbnuts]

I was looking into this some time ago and it does look like the options are limited. Also, unless you can pick up a used one or one taken off a new stock bike by someone upgrading, shocks are not cheap. I decided to run my Evo with the fox van r until I part with the bike[ or more likely, trash it]. When I'm ready to spend big bucks it will probably be on a complete bike, there are some amazing deals out there!

[sdmike]

I have a Risse Astro-5 that I'd sell you for $120.  It's slightly used and came off of my '99 K2 4000 EVO frame.  It's in great condition.  It doesn't have SPV, but it does have a 5 position damping adjuster that firms up nicely for climbing.

-Mike

[shovelon]

Hi Pedro,



I can see that you are looking for an air shock with SPV. I was doing the same thing for my Oz. After finding that the only Manitou Swinger SPV air 3 or 4 that would come close is the 7.875  length, almost 5/16 inches shorter. This would lower my bottom bracket about 1 inch and would be bad as I like to run alot of sag to begin with.



After some study I chose the coil shock SPV 4 way version in the 8.5 inch length X 2.5 stroke. After about 1 inch of sag at the shock, pumping in 90 psi into the SPV chamber, leaving the bottoming screw all the way out, and using a 400lb. spring, I have found my holy grail of ride. I get 6.5 inches of near bottomless travel and clilmb 1 gear higher. To get the weight down I am looking at a 400lb titanium spring, but it is pricey.



The only problem that I face is that my fork now sucks big time in comparison. I will either mount a 6 inch fork with height control for climbing or install the new stratos cartridge with the fox brain counterweight in my old Pslyo. Next year I guess.



Getting off that rant, I have looked at the Swinger air 3 or 4 and it looks like it will fit fine in the upside down/conventional position. I do confess that on my installation that the bottom spring keeper hit the swingarm mount so I temporarily flipped it over and rode. After some pondering I filled 2 grooves into the cap and they straddle the mount perfectly. Then I begged the wife to sew me a shock boot and been riding happily ever since. The air shock looks like it has the clearance.



Also the shorter air shock should work even better in SPV mode because the bike is sinking lower into the swingarm placement therefore cancelling the built in anti-bobing properties. In my estimation I would pump the air spring to .75 inches sag with no preload on bottoming screw, then add 100 psi to the SPV chamber, and go from there. Personally I would really try to go SPV if you have to spend anything. The Swinger will set you back about $400 though.



Terry

[shovelon]

By the way, is not that OP's bike in the Progressive Suspension website gallery? It has a 5th element on it. It looks awsome, and is the reason I went for a shock upgrade. As I recall it is a 8.5 i2i x2.5 stroke.

The site is www.progressivesuspension.com

Terry

[Scott]

Terry-what frame have you fitted your Manitou on, and have you moved it through a full cycle w/o the spring?  Also, try "John" at  jscs"AT"bendcable."DOT"com  just install your @ and . for a proper email address.  I bought a 400# ti. spring for $40 and he had other weights at that time.

[pedro]

shovelon,
the swinger sounds tempting............
Have you tried an air shock?
I am drawn to the air shock to help the carbon swingarm reduce its sidesway flexing. However my biggest complaint is bobbing. Makes trail riding pedalling not very efficient.
Comparing the different shocks you have tried, have you felt any swingarm flexing differences, especially if you have tried air shocks.
The swinger may be a good alternative, more travel means plusher travel, and if bobbing is controlled then that is perfect.

[shovelon]

Scott and Pedro,

My frame is an OzM- large size. I have never tried an air shock but would have gone that route if I could find a match.

I was going to buy the manitou Swinger 4 air shock made for the llimited production trek frame but the factory discontinued it. The i2i (8.2 inches x 1.5 inches stroke) was the same as my nr2. The only air shock they had available was 3/8 inch shorter (7 7/8 inches x 2 inches stroke) than the nr2, therby lowering my bottom bracket over 1 inch.

So I opted for the Swinger Coil 4 that was 8.5 i2i that raised my bottom bracket and gave me a better match for my Psylo in 5 inch setting. The extra stroke gives me more travel to settle into both ways, topped out and bottomed out.

Terry