New shock for '97 Marin Shoreline Trail

[hawkhill97]

I recently picked up a '97 Shoreline Trail to go with my '97 Hawk Hill. I've always wanted a Marin full susser with one of these classic frames, but money is tight and much as I've drooled over many a Mount Vision on ebay I couldn't justify the cost. Then this came along for £20 and I couldn't say no

I've been having a blast on the bike, had it out on Dartmoor a lot this Summer and it's a cracking ride for bridleway bashing.



Anyway, after a few Dartmoor loops I then took it to a trail centre..... and discovered how much fun jumping around on your first full sus can be..... and the rear shock exploded It's still "kind of" working (the back end goes up and down) but the damping is now non-existent and the shock "clunks" when compressed before rebounding back at full speed.

Annoyingly the eye-to-eye measurement of the shock is 185mm, and I can't find a suitable cheap shock that matches this (bearing in mind the bike only owes me £40 in total and I can't afford to splurge the same again on a new shock).

Anyone got any ideas for a suitable replacement?

 

[Ghosty]

If you like the bike, just buy what you've got to. Parts always seem cost 50-150% the purchase price of a cheap bike.

The tyres on my Tufftrax cost more than the whole bike cost to buy...

 

[hawkhill97]

Yep, new tyres for this one cost the same as the bike for me too! Fortunately everything else is in pretty good nick, other than the busted shock.

185mm shocks just seem to be flat-out rare though. The only ones I've seen have been imported from the US or Australia, so there's also an annoying postage (and I guess import tax too) mark up. Would be happy enough spending £30 or so (there's that 150%) to get the bike running nicely again, but not sure I can justify much more than that.

 

[hawkhill97]

D'you reckon a 190mm shock would fit? There seem to be a lot more of these about. Tricky to judge but looks like the swingarm might contact the frame on full extension.

There's also a cheap and cheerful 175mm shock on ebay for under a tenner, but then I'd be worried about the rear wheel contacting the seat tube...

 

[Ghosty]

I don't know anything about full sus geometry etc

 

[hawkhill97]

That makes two of us

 

[bignick]

Re:

What about using the slightly longer shock with offset bushings to make the eye to eye measurement shorter?

I'm thinking of doing this with my current build.

 

[hawkhill97]

That sounds like a good idea - I didn't even know these existed. I'll look into this.

 

[bignick]

Re:

I've got an old Cannondale Super V with a 5.5" shock but can get a cheap 6" shock off eBay so was thinking of fitting the offset bushings to bring it closer to standard. I've put longer travel forks on anyway to its slackened the head angle already.

I've just bought a 6.5" by 1.5" stroke shock off here (in error as it turns out) for cheap but its way too long so will be putting that back up for sale.

I think using the offset bushings will work a treat - they have on my other bike but that was to adjust the head angle - as they are intended to.