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A mountain bike's rear shock can define its character, controlling the rear wheel as it moves through its travel. So many riders upgrade to shocks with tunable dampers, coil springs, or high volume air cans for increased performance and setup opportunities. When upgrading to a new shock, a lot of questions come along with that decision. We've spent thousands of hours answering those exact questions, and have accumulated all of the most common questions and answers to this list here.
Mounting hardware sits in the eyelet of your shock, and serves as the middle man between shock and frame. Without it, you won’t be able to install your shock. Every frame uses different mounting hardware, so to make sure you get the right one, check out our Mounting Hardware Database! We’ve collected mounting hardware specs for almost every bike out there, but if your bike isn’t listed, here’s how to measure it the old fashioned way.
If you want to do a mounting hardware deep dive, check out our dedicated mounting hardware blog post!
Your current shock already has the mounting hardware you need, so you can absolutely reuse the mounting hardware from your old shock and install it in the new shock. If your current mounting hardware is worn out, or if you plan on switching between your two shocks in the future, then a new set of mounting hardware is a great purchase. To remove mounting hardware, we recommend following the steps in our complete guide to mounting hardware! This blog explains literally everything you could ever want to know about mounting hardware, including all the tools and techniques needed to swap mounting hardware.
Every bike is designed around a very specific size shock, and we have the shock size of many popular bikes listed in our Shock Hardware Database. If you can’t find your bike there, check out your manufacturer’s website, or just ask us! We can dig up the information you need.
If it’s not approved by your frame’s manufacturer, we strongly advise against using a longer stroke shock. When your shock compresses more than it was designed to, you run the risk of destroying your frame during bottom out, and this will almost certainly not be covered under any warranty.
There are some frame manufacturers that approve using a longer stroke shock for some models, and in this case, you can absolutely get a little more travel than stock.
For those of you who don’t want to play by the rules and still want to over-stroke your shock without the manufacturer’s blessing, proceed with as much caution as possible. Before riding an over-stroked shock, make sure there is plenty of clearance everywhere through the shock’s stroke. You also need to account for frame flex, as the frame will bend and contort when the shock bottoms out.
We sell shocks of all shapes and sizes, and 99% of the time, there isn’t a compatibility issue with frames. But that’s not always the case, and some frame designs don’t have room for large volume air shocks or coil shocks, and we would hate for you to run into compatibility issues. There are too many frames and shocks for us to have a complete database on the subject, and we recommend reaching out to your frame manufacturer if you’re concerned about fitment!
One isn’t better than the other, they’re just different. Some frames are designed around one or the other, and some work well with either. Coil shocks offer more traction, are heavier, and can be harder to set up. Air shocks are lighter, offer great bottom out resistance, and still offer 98% of the traction you get with a coil shock. Check out our in depth blog post for a deep dive on air shocks vs coil shocks!
Getting the right spring weight can be tricky, and more often than not, you’ll try a couple of springs before finding the Goldilocks spring rate. We recommend starting by checking if your frame manufacturer has a guide for recommended spring rates. Oftentimes, they’ve ridden their frames with coil shocks and have figured out exactly which spring rates work their frames. If there’s nothing posted, try giving them a call or sending them an email to get some first hand information.
If we’re left completely in the dark and have to start from scratch, we have a spring rate calculator that will give you a great starting point. Just like all spring rate calculators on the internet, it’s pretty dumb, and can’t take into account your frame kinematics, terrain you ride, or your personal preference. So we can’t guarantee that it will give you the perfect spring right away, but it’ll definitely give you a good starting point! Spring rate calculators will most likely give you a number between two rates, and you’ll either choose the spring weight above or below its recommendation. Choose the lighter spring rate for a softer and more comfortable ride, or the heavier spring rate for more support and all out speed.
RockShox makes this is super simple. Just choose the RockShox Metric spring that has your shock stroke in its range, and that spring is guaranteed to fit. So if you need a spring for your 205x65mm shock, just select the spring that is designed for 57.5-65mm stroke shocks, and it’ll fit no problem. There is no performance difference between the black and electric red springs. Just pick whichever color your prefer!
For more tinkering possiblilities, the Sprindex springs are also compatible with all RockShox coil shocks.
Fox and Marzocchi makes things a bit trickier. You need to use our Fox Spring Fitment page, as we have all of the information needed in one place to get you a compatible spring for your new shock. We use this page every time a customer needs a Fox spring, and we’ve outlined every step of using this page right at the top. All of the charts can be a little overwhelming at first, but go slow and follow the steps for guaranteed success. For help deciding between the Fox SLS spring and the Standard Steel Spring, check out our blog post describing the differences between them!
For more tinkering possiblilities, the Sprindex springs are also compatible with all Fox coil shocks.
Ohlins makes the process very similar to RockShox. On our Ohlins spring page, select the shortest spring whose stroke is greater than your shock. So, for example, if you have a 55mm stroke TTX22 shock, you’ll get the 57mm spring in whichever weight you’d like.
For more tinkering possiblilities, the Sprindex springs are also compatible with all Ohlins coil shocks.
To ensure fitment of any spring on any shock, you need to consider these three measurements: spring length, spring stroke, and inner diameter.
The length of the spring must be within the limits of the shock that you are using. You can find the maximum and minimum shock lengths in the user manual of most shocks. If your spring is too long, you won’t be able to get the spring collar on, and if it’s too short, you won’t be able to preload your spring.
The spring stroke measures how much the spring can compress before binding, and you need the spring stroke to be greater than your shock’s stroke. That way, your shock will bottom out before your spring does. If your spring is too short and binds, you won’t be able to use full travel and will damage your spring.The inner diameter of your coil spring needs to be at least as big as your shock’s spring perch. A spring with too small of an inner diameter has no chance of ever working, and a spring with an inner diameter larger than your shock’s spring perch can be made compatible with adapters. Check out our Coil Spring Inner Diameter Guide for all the specs you’re looking for!
Every shock pump will work with every shock, so get whichever one is in your budget and has the features you’re looking for! You need to choose between an analog and a digital shock pump, and here in the shop, we use both the Fox Digital Pump and RockShox Digital Pump. Both of these digital pumps offer amazing accuracy, and are our shock pumps of choice.
It depends if you’re trying to win the MTB fashion contest. If you are, then yes, they do need to match. If you’re not worried about dominating the runway, then no, your shock does not need to match your fork brand. We recommend that your fork and shock match in their intended use, but beyond that, go crazy.
Some frames use a different orientation for their eyelets than others, and your shock might not slide in right away. Luckily, you don’t need to take the shock apart, you can just spin the shock eyelets. I typically stick a couple of allen wrenches through the eyelets to get extra leverage and just rotate the eyelets.
You cannot change the eye to eye length of your shock.
Yes! How easy this is varies wildly from shock to shock, but it is generally possible to adjust the stroke of your shock. Most metric shocks of the same eye to eye but different stroke are the same shock besides travel spacers. For example, a 230x60mm Fox DHX coil shock can be quickly stroke adjusted to be a 230x65mm Fox DHX by just removing a couple external stroke spacers. Most other shocks have internal travel spacers and are more difficult to stroke adjust.
A trunnion mounted shock uses a different kind of eyelet on one end of the shock than a standard shock. Trunnion eyelets are threaded and do not use any mounting hardware. Bikes are designed around either a trunnion shock or a standard shock, and you must use the style of shock your bike was designed around. Trunnion shocks are not any better or worse than standard shocks, and exist so frame designers can choose a style of shock mounting that works best for their frame.
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