Mountain Biking - Can I put 130mm shocks on my bike?

Im pretty sure I can but how much will the front be raised?

I have a 2001 Norco Nitro. frame size is 18.5 and current shocks are Marzocchi Z-4.

With adding new larger shocks (130mm) will the front of the bike be raised up and by how much?


pic is my bike with the default stuff on it. Have hayes 6" and M575 rims.

It's not just the length of travel you need to consider, it's the physical length of the fork from crown-race down to drop-out that you need to know - forks vary in this respect quite noticeably. Advice I was given was to stick within about 20mm difference between current and new to avoid the geometry being so skewed it either badly affects the handling or puts stresses in places the frame wasn't designed to take.

Richard

Why on earth would you want to put a 130 mm shock on a cross country bike?
It will most defenitely screw up the geometry and consequently the handling of the bike. You wont be able to climb even moderately steep hills without getting out of the saddle and the steering will be awkward.
Also, I'd say that frame wasnt made to endure any big bumps with that angle.
If you want a little more travel, get a 100 mm shock, thats all the suspension you'll ever need on that bike.

ok. Thats for the heads up.

What about a shock with ajustable travel? Wil that work?

80mm, 110mm or 130mm

As I said, it's not so much the length of travel as the physical length of fork - measure your existing fork, crown to dropouts and don't go a lot more than 20mm longer than that, you might get away with 30mm, but the more you increase the more the geometry is out of what the manufacture intended, and you're going to get wierd steering, a different stem to seatpost angle, and potentially stresses where the bike wasn't built to take them.

Richard

If you do put longer travel shocks on, can you tell me how it turns out? I am just curiouos.:beer:

Originally posted by urbanking
If you do put longer travel shocks on, can you tell me how it turns out? I am just curiouos.:beer:

my stupid friend did. (130mm travel)feels real messed up and dont have much control for XC on a 17" frame

Originally posted by Runge


my stupid friend did. (130mm travel)feels real messed up and dont have much control for XC on a 17" frame


LOL.

Eather way Marzocchi rules!

I just put a longer fork on myself. upgraded from solid to suspension. It worked, but i'm sure that, as far as height goes, i only increased somewhere around 20mm. however, the old solid fork is one that bends as it goes down, so it may equate to a larger amount. It took some getting used to, just messing around in a parking lot, but as soon as i actualy went out on it, it was fine.