[okbeast]

I'm wanting to go from a +6 to +8 and right now on the 6 I'm running an R1 shock and it has a perfect height and stiffness. I'm not wanting to lose any of the height or have the shock get too stiff so I was gonna have a swingarm built and try moving the link mount. I thought moving it forward a small amount would help it not lose height or get too soft because it would take away some of the leverage but some others I have talked to thought it might help to move it backwards. I tried thinkin about it from a technical stance but can't really come to a conclusion, any ideas?

 

[okbeast]

I had also thought about getting a shorter link, like the lowering links are longer but having someone make one that's shorter but that doesnt seem to be a very cost effective idea.

I'm thinking maybe have the tabs that come off the cross-brace angled down a little more instead of angled up. I think this would raise the bike just a bit but not sure if it would still soften the shock.

 

[rockenrail]

Man I changed to a 2 inch longer arm and really didn't notice a difference in neither the ride height or the ride with a revalved stock shock.

 

[okbeast]

Well we decided to try something different. We made the tabs where the link attaches at the middle of the swingarm a 1/2" longer. I believe this will raise it up some by basically doing the opposite of what a lowering link would do. We'll see what happens.

 

[tdwible]

In most instances, going with a longer swingarm and keeping the same length shock will raise the bike a little depending on what length shock you start with. For instance, using a stock length shock which angles the swingarm downward. Going longer will slightly raise the rear end. If the swingarm sits level due to a shorter shock, it will simply move the axle back.

As far as moving the shock forward or backward. You always have to think about both sides of the equation. Moving the shock placement forward will lift the bike. But it will also create more leverage applied to the shock due to having the axle further away from its suspended point, which would apply more stress to the shock. Moving it backwards would lower the bike, plus, by changing the angle the shock sits, also creates improper functionality of the shocks characteristics. These of course are going by extremes changes.

I probably wouldnt have bothered with messing with the shock tab location. But by all means, let us know how it works out.

 

[okbeast]

Well it was just an idea and I was curious to see what it'd do. I had wanted to get a shorter link (opposite of a longer, lowering link) for some time to try to raise the bike a bit so we'll see if this works.

 

[Radar]

Ditto on what Tim said. I didn't notice much difference going from a 6 to an 8 back to a 6. You can always put a coller or spacer on the spring to stiffen it up a bit. I had an R1 shock on mine a cpl yrs ago and with my plus 8 and my 220 lbs it was too soft.

 

[okbeast]

I'm only 140 so I don't compress much of anything.