Jeff appears to be correct!
I own a 5.5 which I've had for over a year. When this thread was first posted my first reaction was denial. No way can he be right but I subscribed to this thread anyway, hoping that someone was going to show me he is wrong. I love this bike and have no interest in changing it. It does what ever I need it to. I don't do any drops or jumps but I regularly ride some rough rocky single trails. I'm quite heavy at about 210lbs. and I don't get the bike to bottom out, even with the SPV on my Swinger 4-Way at full volume. I do set the sag as directed.
The weather has been awful the past few days, so no riding. I decided to see if I could check this claim out. Correct me if I'm wrong but I understand that suspension travel is the difference between fully extended and fully compressed.
With my bike hanging on my work stand and the shock fully inflated, I measured the hight of the rear axle from the floor. I then deflated the shock and SPV and fully compressed the suspension. I would like to point out that the wheel arch in the rear triangle actually touches the seat tube at this point, so no chance of not being fully compressed. I then measured the distance to the floor again. I came up with 123mm. being the difference between the two measurements! Surely I made a mistake! I then took the bike off the stand and turned it upside down on the floor and very carefully repeated the procedure, Again making sure the triangle was against the set tube when compressed to allow maximum travel. I made a small mark with a felt tip on the Q/R and measured with a very stiff steel meter rule. I then repressurised the shock and measured the fully extended distance. The difference this time came to 121mm! This I'd say is the more accurate measurement as there was some movement in the work stand but close enough. 121mm is 4.76 inches.
The shock is the one the bike came with from the factory. I suppose that with a longer throw it would be possible to get a bit more travel, if such a shock exists or would fit, but as it is there is not 5.5 inches of travel. I'm also aware that the axle path is a flattened "S" shape but I followed the tread recently comparing various axle paths and I do not believe that the curvature could account for more than a few millimeters, not to mention another 18mm or 0.75 of an inch.
If my methodology for arriving at this conclusion is incorrect, I would bow to superior knowledge but at the moment I am rather disappointed.
Ronnie.
