Originally Posted by seely

If you are going through all the 2" of travel, rather than add more travel I would try to address the problem with stiffer springs perhaps. Suspension on a cross-country bike is really just to the edge off a bit, I wouldn't invest a lot of money if you are looking to upgrade. When you do upgrade, check out something like a Stumpjumper with 4"+ of travel, might be more to your liking. If the bike hasn't been ridden hard I wouldn't worry about stress fractures TOO much... its quite rare we see a broken frame in our shop, and usually its a new frame with a manufacturing defect that was discovered after a few weeks or months of ownership, not something that surfaces 12 years later (though it DOES and CAN happen).