[dizzyone]

Just bought a small ID frame with a stock Manitou Swinger 4 way shock (150mm). Planning to put my Talas forks up front which are 125mm. What effect will this have, will it destabilise the bike on descents ? Do i need to rethink this ? If so, any suggestions, i'd rather put a slightly shorter shock on back than get rid of my Talas, i love those forks.

Heeelpppp

Dizzy ( a uk damsel in distress )

 

[Winston]

You should be just fine with the Talas up front. I ran a Vanilla 125R upfront with good results. Your bike should climb very well with that setup. If you find yourself doing steep and technical descents often, then you might want to look at a shorter rear shock for added downhill stability.

Winston

Just bought a small ID frame with a stock Manitou Swinger 4 way shock (150mm). Planning to put my Talas forks up front which are 125mm. What effect will this have, will it destabilise the bike on descents ? Do i need to rethink this ? If so, any suggestions, i'd rather put a slightly shorter shock on back than get rid of my Talas, i love those forks.

Heeelpppp

Dizzy ( a uk damsel in distress )

 

[JM01]

have vanilla 125 on a medium frame...very stable (maybe too stable as i get stupid sometimes)...advantage with the Talas is that moving from a 150 to a 125 will lower your BB height and dialing in will lower it further, lowering your centre of gravity and may actually make it more stable

congrats on the Id

 

[JM01]

Just bought a small ID frame with a stock Manitou Swinger 4 way shock (150mm). Planning to put my Talas forks up front which are 125mm. What effect will this have, will it destabilise the bike on descents ? Do i need to rethink this ? If so, any suggestions, i'd rather put a slightly shorter shock on back than get rid of my Talas, i love those forks.

Heeelpppp

Dizzy ( a uk damsel in distress )

more info from a previous post

I use a Talas front and rear. I will generally dial in the fork for the type of ride and don't mess with it much on the ride, but the switch on the rear shock is a quick flip and easy to reach while riding. Though, often I wish I had it connected to some sort of thumb shifter. (Anyone out there know of of something that might work, or do I have to make my own?)

I generally have the shock fully extended for climbs, especially if it's rocky with lot's of ledges and steps. I mostly ride with the i2i dropped by a 1/4", and will drop it the full 1/2" for heading down. If it's a long DH, I'll take a little air out of the shock to soften it up a bit.

Each 1/4" change on the shock slackens the geo by about a degree and drops the BB by a 3/8". Each 1" in change on the fork changes the geo by a degree and changes the BB ht 3/8". Everything fully extended the geo is HA=70 SA=72.5 BB=14.5" Fully dropped: HA=70.5 SA=73 BB=12.75" These are all static measurements. My favorite setting is 100mm setting on the fork and dropping the shock i2i 1/4": HA=70 SA=72.5 BB=13.5". Probably same reasons why people like to run the Id with a 7.5" i2i shock.

The only beef I have with the Talas shock is, as you drop the i2i, the spring gets stiffer. But it's only a small nit pick because when I'm heading down hill with the i2i dropped, my weight is shifted more to the fork. The shock could still be a bit more supple.

 

[dizzyone]

more info from a previous post

I use a Talas front and rear. I will generally dial in the fork for the type of ride and don't mess with it much on the ride, but the switch on the rear shock is a quick flip and easy to reach while riding. Though, often I wish I had it connected to some sort of thumb shifter. (Anyone out there know of of something that might work, or do I have to make my own?)

I generally have the shock fully extended for climbs, especially if it's rocky with lot's of ledges and steps. I mostly ride with the i2i dropped by a 1/4", and will drop it the full 1/2" for heading down. If it's a long DH, I'll take a little air out of the shock to soften it up a bit.

Each 1/4" change on the shock slackens the geo by about a degree and drops the BB by a 3/8". Each 1" in change on the fork changes the geo by a degree and changes the BB ht 3/8". Everything fully extended the geo is HA=70 SA=72.5 BB=14.5" Fully dropped: HA=70.5 SA=73 BB=12.75" These are all static measurements. My favorite setting is 100mm setting on the fork and dropping the shock i2i 1/4": HA=70 SA=72.5 BB=13.5". Probably same reasons why people like to run the Id with a 7.5" i2i shock.

The only beef I have with the Talas shock is, as you drop the i2i, the spring gets stiffer. But it's only a small nit pick because when I'm heading down hill with the i2i dropped, my weight is shifted more to the fork. The shock could still be a bit more supple.

woah ! now then, once again in English please ! much too technical for this dizzy female here

i don't have a talas shock, i have a talas fork (85-125mm) with a swinger 4 way air shock. my concern is being higher up at rear than front, am i gonna suffer coming down, especially with high bb ?

thanks

Diz

 

[JM01]

woah ! now then, once again in English please ! much too technical for this dizzy female here

i don't have a talas shock, i have a talas fork (85-125mm) with a swinger 4 way air shock. my concern is being higher up at rear than front, am i gonna suffer coming down, especially with high bb ?

thanks

Diz

sorry...misunderstood

should work well, factory specs allow for both a 125mm and 150mm shock with a 125mm fork

 

[Steve from JH]

woah ! now then, once again in English please ! much too technical for this dizzy female here

i don't have a talas shock, i have a talas fork (85-125mm) with a swinger 4 way air shock. my concern is being higher up at rear than front, am i gonna suffer coming down, especially with high bb ?

thanks

Diz

Since you are apparently a small person, I would think you might prefer the shorter rear shock option for the Id. It will give you a lower bb and a slacker front end angle--more stable on descents. It will also match well with the 125mm fork.

You need to get a 7.5" rear shock (190.5mm) to replace your 7.875" (200mm) current shock. I would suggest the Fox RP3. A cheaper option is the Fox Float R, which is the same shock but without the 3 way adjustments. Problem is they aren't making the Float in that size anymore.

I ride a medium Id with the 7.5" RP3 and an '05 130mm TALAS up front. Works very well.

 

[Winston]

The bike will descend and corner better with the shorter rear shock. (The California ID.) The bike climbs better with the longer shock, but the center of gravity on the bike can feel a little high. Personally I like to cater to the descent.

More ID vs. California Id info.

woah ! now then, once again in English please ! much too technical for this dizzy female here

i don't have a talas shock, i have a talas fork (85-125mm) with a swinger 4 way air shock. my concern is being higher up at rear than front, am i gonna suffer coming down, especially with high bb ?

thanks

Diz

 

[phatfreeheeler]

I'm also working the geometry out right now with my new med ID. I don't know about the 150mm swinger. I think you mean that the rear tire has that much travel. Unless it's custum I bet it's a 7.875" long 2" stroke shock which gives you ~130mm of rear wheel travel. Just a small point.

Anyways, I currently have my front end about 5mm lower (105 marz marathon SL) than the 125mm Talus fork with the same rear end position and I find the bike to decend just OK and I feel a bit forward. It climbs better than anything, but I would like more stability on the decent. I have <2" of standover currently and have cracked my nuts because I'm used to just popping 1 foot out and dragging the bike over impassible objects.

I thought about going to the california edition (3/8" shorter rear shock w/2" of travel), I even dialed in extra sag to simulate it. The bike decends much better, but I missed the high BB for technical stuff, so I'm going to put on a longer fork to get me the same geometry only higher. Yes, I'll loose even more standover height but I'm hearing more and more people say that standover is overrated and if I need to get off the bike, I should just really get off the bike, or better yet ride it. The fork I'm getting can be quickly dropped to get the climbing geometry back, but if you use a rear shock which is adjustible and drop it for the decent you are reducing travel just when you need it the most.

A lot of the downhillers have the top tube right against their crotch and say it's just the price to pay for a good performing long travel bike.

 

[dizzyone]

Well guys i think what i'm gonna do here is leave the set up as it is, ride it awhile and see how it feels. After all i've paid for the Manitou so no point swapping out before i've given it a go eh. Bike being built up on Saturday so i'll keep you all posted when i hit (hopefully not literally ) the trails on Sunday. Bank Holiday weekend here in uk so might even get 2 good days in, weather permitting !

Thanks

Diz

 

[JM01]

sorry for keeping you up so late,

 

[chad1433]

What about just adding some sag to the rear? Since you're probably a "lighter" rider, you could add air pressure to the rear shock without risking a bottom out. It would effectively lower the rear. Keep the front end set for your weight and it should even everything out.