Mountain Biking - Longer Super V rear shock swap

I'm considering changing out the original Fox coil rear shock on my Cannondale Super V 1000. Anybody out there done this using a longer shock to get more travel? The stock shock is 6" with 1" of travel in the shock. Looking to put a Manitou Swinger 3 Way shock 6.5" long with 1.5" of travel. I'm also wondering about the handling since the head tube angle will be slightly steeper than it is now.

That will break that bike.

Any reasoning to your theory? I've hammered down mountains in western NC for 6 years on this bike with no problems, I can't see a .5" longer rear shock making that big a difference. Thanks!

The thing with rear shocks is that .5" is quite a difference the SuperV was designed for 6.5x 1" stroke rear shock. Going over that will cause increased stress to the frame, thus shortening it's life time. It can be done, but if you like your bike you'd get a new shock with the same measurements.

I'm considering changing out the original Fox coil rear shock on my Cannondale Super V 1000. Anybody out there done this using a longer shock to get more travel? The stock shock is 6" with 1" of travel in the shock. Looking to put a Manitou Swinger 3 Way shock 6.5" long with 1.5" of travel. I'm also wondering about the handling since the head tube angle will be slightly steeper than it is now.

I was also thinking about trying something like this for my 1997 Super V. I didn't, but I did learn a couple things.

First, be very careful to find out exactly what rear suspension your Super V has. They made an Active 80 (mine, although from its production year most charts list it as an Active 100) and the Active 100 which is probably yours. The Active 80 used a 5.03" shock while the Active 100 used a 5.8" shock. Check the Fox Racing website for more complete info.

Neither Fox nor Cannondale could recommend a shock upgrade for my Active 80 rear. I suspect I could use the Active 100 and increase my travel, but I'm not willing to spend $230 on a hunch. You may or may not be able to increase the travel of an Active 100. As far as I can tell they are exactly the same frame, so maybe all Cannodale did was add a large shock, in which case trying to go one larger might not work. But that is just a guess.

If you do try a longer shock make sure it also has longer travel. Adding a 6.5" shock with a stroke of 1.5" in place of a 6" shock with a 1.5" stroke will only change the suspension heigth not the travel.

If you do get a shock working it will raise the rear of the bike slightly and effect the bike's overall geometry. This could be especially bad on a already steep bike like the Super V. However, adding longer travel front forks (80-100mm) would solve this and, probably, result in a nice bike.

Finally be carefull about using a Swinger 4-way or any shock with a pony chamber. It may impact the seat post on compression. The clearance is rather tight back there on the Super V and the shock/frame moves up and down quite a bit.

cheers.

I was also thinking about trying something like this for my 1997 Super V. I didn't, but I did learn a couple things.

First, be very careful to find out exactly what rear suspension your Super V has. They made an Active 80 (mine, although from its production year most charts list it as an Active 100) and the Active 100 which is probably yours. The Active 80 used a 5.03" shock while the Active 100 used a 5.8" shock. Check the Fox Racing website for more complete info.

Neither Fox nor Cannondale could recommend a shock upgrade for my Active 80 rear. I suspect I could use the Active 100 and increase my travel, but I'm not willing to spend $230 on a hunch. You may or may not be able to increase the travel of an Active 100. As far as I can tell they are exactly the same frame, so maybe all Cannodale did was add a large shock, in which case trying to go one larger might not work. But that is just a guess.

If you do try a longer shock make sure it also has longer travel. Adding a 6.5" shock with a stroke of 1.5" in place of a 6" shock with a 1.5" stroke will only change the suspension heigth not the travel.

If you do get a shock working it will raise the rear of the bike slightly and effect the bike's overall geometry. This could be especially bad on a already steep bike like the Super V. However, adding longer travel front forks (80-100mm) would solve this and, probably, result in a nice bike.

Finally be carefull about using a Swinger 4-way or any shock with a pony chamber. It may impact the seat post on compression. The clearance is rather tight back there on the Super V and the shock/frame moves up and down quite a bit.

cheers.

Umm, when you put travel into play your talking about the rear shock hooked up to the frame. When it is just the shock you measure eye to eye and by the stroke of that shock. Let's say you have a bike that has 5 inches of travel in the back, does the shock have 5 inches of travel? No, it's the whole thing put together that gives it 5" of travel. It's never in just the shock by itself.

i don’t know if this would apply to your bike cause i don’t know how different the suspension designs are, but norco has some information on their FAQ page about how to increase the the travel on their vps bikes “safely” – although they strongly recommend against it saying that any changes to their frames will void the warrantee. i’m guessing this recommendation against making changes to their frames would be the same with cannodale. here’s part of what norco says on their site:


First off, each Norco VPS frame is built with a specific amount of rear travel in mind, depending on its intended use. Things like shock length and stroke, head angle, BB height and fork length are always taken into consideration when building a frame to give it proper riding characteristics. By simply putting a longer stroke shock or different swing links, you will alter many of the angles and measurements and give your bike very different or even dangerous ride characteristics. For this reason, we do not recommend that you increase the rear travel of you VPS frame past what it has been designed for. But if you are one of those who are still determined to do so, here are some guidelines that you should follow.

READ THIS FIRST: ANY CHANGES DONE TO YOUR FRAME WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. WE WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES OR BODILY INJURIES RESULTING FROM THIS.

source: http://www.norco.com/bikes/2002bikes/faq.htmi think the best thing to do would be to contact cannondale and try to find out what your options are.

Umm, when you put travel into play your talking about the rear shock hooked up to the frame. When it is just the shock you measure eye to eye and by the stroke of that shock. Let's say you have a bike that has 5 inches of travel in the back, does the shock have 5 inches of travel? No, it's the whole thing put together that gives it 5" of travel. It's never in just the shock by itself.

In no way did I imply that the total length of the shock equalled the total travel of the rear end. Sorry if it reads that way. What I did intend to say was that just adding a longer shock does not increase travel. Agreed? One needs a longer shock with longer stroke to increase travel.

My comments about the relative length of shocks for the Active 80 and Active 100 rearend referred to the actual length of the two shocks, eye-bolt to eye-bolt, as taken from the Fox Racing website. The Vanlla R for the Active 80 rear came at 5.03" long and .9" stroke. The Vanilla R for the Active 100 rear came at 5.75" long and 1.25 stroke. In theory, though I admit again it's only a theory, the 5.75" shock would push the rear tire of the Active 80 farther down and result in longer total rear wheel travel since the stroke of the shock is also longer.

I'm no expert so I look forward to being corrected if I'm wrong. I just wanted to supply what information I already had on the topic since I too had gone down this road.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/website/AfterMarketSalesSpec.asp?Market=MBike&AfterMarketSalesId=17

In no way did I imply that the total length of the shock equalled the total travel of the rear end. Sorry if it reads that way. What I did intend to say was that just adding a longer shock does not increase travel. Agreed? One needs a longer shock with longer stroke to increase travel.

My comments about the relative length of shocks for the Active 80 and Active 100 rearend referred to the actual length of the two shocks, eye-bolt to eye-bolt, as taken from the Fox Racing website. The Vanlla R for the Active 80 rear came at 5.03" long and .9" stroke. The Vanilla R for the Active 100 rear came at 5.75" long and 1.25 stroke. In theory, though I admit again it's only a theory, the 5.75" shock would push the rear tire of the Active 80 farther down and result in longer total rear wheel travel since the stroke of the shock is also longer.

I'm no expert so I look forward to being corrected if I'm wrong. I just wanted to supply what information I already had on the topic since I too had gone down this road.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/website/AfterMarketSalesSpec.asp?Market=MBike&AfterMarketSalesId=17

Agreed.