Mountain Biking - Looking for a new shock, not sure what to get...

Heya, well i have a 96 or 97 Specialized Stumpjumper, minus the problems a great bike. I want to get a new shock with more travel, i think the manitou pro x i have now (what came with the bike) is like 60mm, either way it's old and used and abused. I've heard from one bike store, that if you replace the shock the whole "balance" or something will get out of whack. Anyways could someone enlighten me and also give me a suggestion for a cheap/good shock (college student with 17 hard credits this semester). Thanks!

edit: I think if all goes well (this is my second month living in colorado, i'm REALLLLL close to moab) this summer i'd like to upgrade to disc brakes, currently i have vee brakes, should this influence my decision at all?

I used to have an 8 years old Kona Kula - good XC bike. It was sold with Marzocchi XC500, 2 inches of travel (1995 year) fork - one of the very good in that time. Two years ago I had to replace it (after some crashes it wasn't strait any more - the V brakes didn't work) - most of forks were up to 4 inches. I was affraid about the geometry of the whole bike - but as i didn't have a choice i bought 3,2 inches one (8cm) and wasn't that bad after all.
To some extent you can model the geometry with fork and saddle but not all could be modelled that way. Of course the front of the bike will go up - which could affect you climbing a bit - but it is nothing you can't live with.

To conclude the long story - The geometry will change but you could still ride your bike and have the same amount of fun.

Definitely it is not that big difference to buy a new frame.

i think the manitou pro x i have now (what came with the bike) is like 60mm.

Do you have the BLUE FSR?

If so, you can safely go up to 80mm with very little noticeable difference. If you go up to a 100mm travel fork, it'll slacken the head tube angle, and the bike will steer noticibly slower. Not a bad thing if a lot of your riding is fast fireroads, but will suck if you ride tight twisty singletrack.

If you really want to upgrade your bike, you can get a new rear shock and link plate assembly and increase your rear travel to 6". Then, a 130mm fork will work just fine! The company that makes these is called MRP, mountainspeed (http://mountainspeed.com/) I cruised their website and they don't have any info on this for your model, but I know they Used to make these. Send them an e-mail to see if you can get one still.

BTW, I had a '98 FSR Extreme, the neon green one. Same frame, and I wanted this upgrade, so I know they did make one at one time!

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
.

Do you have the BLUE FSR?

If so, you can safely go up to 80mm with very little noticeable difference. If you go up to a 100mm travel fork, it'll slacken the head tube angle, and the bike will steer noticibly slower. Not a bad thing if a lot of your riding is fast fireroads, but will suck if you ride tight twisty singletrack.

If you really want to upgrade your bike, you can get a new rear shock and link plate assembly and increase your rear travel to 6". Then, a 130mm fork will work just fine! The company that makes these is called MRP, mountainspeed (http://mountainspeed.com/) I cruised their website and they don't have any info on this for your model, but I know they Used to make these. Send them an e-mail to see if you can get one still.

BTW, I had a '98 FSR Extreme, the neon green one. Same frame, and I wanted this upgrade, so I know they did make one at one time!

I have the red stumpjumper, lemme include a pic from when i first got it, it's all muddy and scratched up now.

http://www.gnarf.net/~trilogy/eng/bike3.jpg

O.k., Hardtail. Yes, get a new shock, it'll be a significant upgrade to what you have now. Like I said, stick to 80mm of travel for best performance. I'd suggest getting one of the new forks with adjustable travel, like the Manitou Black or the Rock Shox Duke or Psylo. That way, when cruising some singletrack, you can set it at 80mm, then when you want to hit some fast downhill or really rocky sections, you can bump it up to 100mm.

L8R

I have a 99 Rockhopper comp hardtail, which came with a Manitou Spyder R (63mm travel I think?). I upgraded the fork with a 2002 Marzocchi MXC 100mm air and it was an unbelievable upgrade. It did lift the front of the bike by a fair bit and the steering is a little slower, but the extra fork control is excellent and by lifting the bb, I can now clear some of those logs on the trail I previously couldn't.

Originally posted by skdsl
I can now clear some of those logs on the trail I previously couldn't.

Those must be some big ass logs cause i've never had problems going over log piles that are at least 4' of just logs no problem, it's not a 4' wall but a pyramid. ANyways thanks i'll probably upgrade to an adjustable 80-100mm shock, do most of the shocks come with mounts for disc brakes?

yes

We have tons of logs and deadfall that I have to get off and jump walk over...sometimes crawl under.

We have tons of logs and deadfall that I have to get off and jump walk over...sometimes crawl under.

Crawl under? What happened to side-sliding? :beer:

hehe some are still too high and I have two spots on my big ring which are ground down from rocks etc. I'd love to do the trials method but skill is lacking.:(

Originally posted by skdsl
I'd love to do the trials method but skill is lacking.

Since when do you need skill to try something! hehe ok just kidding, practice somewhat safe biking

I just upgraded my hard tail to a marzocchi mx comp with eta whch has 80-105 mm travel. so far I love the thing. its the best upgrade ive made so far. you can get it at pricepoint for 259 i think

Originally posted by WNCbiker
I just upgraded my hard tail to a marzocchi mx comp with eta whch has 80-105 mm travel. so far I love the thing. its the best upgrade ive made so far. you can get it at pricepoint for 259 i think

Looks like a nice shock, it's definately on my list, I have a question though, how do you adjust it (i haven't done any parts shopping for a long time and things have changed :)? Is it by spaces or do you turn a knob?

its easy you trun a knob 180 degrees to put it to either 105 or 80.
Takes 2 seconds

What do you guys think of the new skareb Comp? JensonUSA has'm for $250.

Originally posted by WNCbiker
its easy you trun a knob 180 degrees to put it to either 105 or 80.
Takes 2 seconds

I like the sound of that

I'm gonna suggest the Rockshox Psylo SL. I too am a college student (only not 17 hard semester hours......just 13 this semester). I wanted a good fork but didn't want to unload all my money, and I ended up ordering the 2002 Rockshox Psylo SL from www.pricepoint.com for $249. They give it a huge discount just because it's last year's model even though it's brand new. I love it. I got it in the mail about 3 days ago and I had it installed today. It's got U-turn adjustable travel (adjustment of travel from 80mm to 100mm to 125mm with the turn of a knob on the fork crown). The improvement over my Rockshox Judy TT was unbelievable . It's got pure damping, U-turn travel adjustment, compression control and lockout, and rebound speed adjustment. Great fork at a great price. Like your bike, my bike is a hardtail also.