Any interest in offset shock hardware?

[300hp]

If you are looking for a quick, easy way to slack your bike a bit and lower the bb, offset hardware can be a good option, assuming your frame has clearance and you are aware of the side effects. A cursory google search will yield lots of info.

For example, if you have clearance, an 8" bike with a 9.5x 3" shock, utilizing 3mm offset bushings at each end, will see between a 1-1.5 degree reduction in head angle and a .5" drop in bb height. The effects the bushings will have vary based on leverage ratio, shock eye to eye, and overall travel.

Frames that use 6mm shock bolts can have up to 3mm of offset in each bushing.

Frames that use 8mm shock hardware can have up to 2mm of offset in each bushing.

Since these will be made custom to order, you can pick your degree.

They will be machined out of solid stock stainless by someone who makes exceptional things out of metal for a living.

Unlike an angleset or slacking headset, these are super easy to swap in and out.

Figure around $60 for a complete shock.

Offset hardware is readily available in the UK, but I have not been able to find a source for it here. My friend is making some up for me to play with geometry, and I thought I would throw a post up here to gauge interest.

let me know what you think.
Hunter

[rideit]

it's a great concept/option, but I wouldn't see many people paying more than $30 for a complete kit, realistically.

[El Chupacabra]

assuming your frame has clearance and you are aware of the side effects.

What are the side effects?

[300hp]

well, tire/linkage/frame contact is the biggest one. The other is that it slightly changes the leverage ratio of your suspension curve. The effect, at least on my 150mm bike, is not noticeable.

[El Chupacabra]

On a VPP bike (Intense 5.5), any guesses on whether the suspension will feel different with offset bushings?

[birdman829]

it's a great concept/option, but I wouldn't see many people paying more than $30 for a complete kit, realistically.

People are willing to pay 120 bucks for an angleset, why not 60 for offset hardware?

[rideit]

good point.
But it's just a gut feeling.

[reemdog]

from what i have read (mostly in the turner forum, as i am interested in these for my RFX), it sounds like a great idea. also, you can modify the amount of offset, by using only one bushing instead of two, to deal with some of those potential "problems". for example, i think i read somewhere: that with the 5.5 rockers on an older RFX, if you use two 1.5 mm offset bushings for (one on each side of the shock, for a total of 3mm offset) you can get the rear wheel hitting the seat tube under big-hit full compression. but with only one 1.5 mm offset bushing you can still lower the BB and slacken the HT a bit, but with no tire interference.

i am interested for sure.

[LaBelle23]

Did this to my 6.6 and have been really happy with how it changed the bike. We found a guy through empty beer I think and paid ~$40-50.

[300hp]

People are willing to pay 120 bucks for an angleset, why not 60 for offset hardware?

After a not so good angleset experience on a previous bike, this is what led me to try the offset hardware stuff.

I am running a 1.5 degree offset on my remedy right now, and it brought the BB from 13.75 to 13.5x and slacked the front end out a bit, putting it somewhere in the high 65 to 66.0 range.....and the bike shreds so hard! It is a nice, subtle change at this degree. If you had a twitchy bike, it is just enough to take the edge off. I am not running the stock shock, but with a stock (fox) shock, you should be able to run 1.5 top and bottom. I have plenty of clearance at bottom out.

Shoot me PM's with what you guys want, and I will put you in touch with the machinist. No one is trying to get rich off of making these. My buddy picked the price off of what current market was for them and how much time went into turning them the right way on the lathe. So, call it $50 for a set of two then? They are stainless, and super nice. Obviously, if you just need one, cut the price in half.

My bud can start making them immediately.

H.

[frorider]

i thought there were some aluminum ones already available, fairly cheap (under 40)?

i'm not familiar w/ pros/cons of using stainless reducers. would it wear down the ceramic coating on the shock eye faster?

[300hp]

Stainless provides an added measure of strength when drilling offsets so close to the outer wall of the reducer, and last longer as well. Stainless vs aluminum will not wear down the coating on the DU bushing at a different rate, to my knowledge, as long as the reducer is polished to reduce friction on the bushing, you are good to go. The bushings will be made to order, so for people without standard sized mounting hardware can still utilize them.
H

[cooltsi]

Way over my head but I've been toying with the idea of replacing my 190mm RP2 with a 200mm RP23. These shock bushings sound like a great idea to return some of my increase BB height. What other issues would I run in to?

[JeffreyJim]

I'm interested. For sure.

[bagtagley]

Stainless vs aluminum will not wear down the coating on the DU bushing at a different rate, to my knowledge, as long as the reducer is polished to reduce friction on the bushing, you are good to go.

In reducing friction, aren't you increasing the chance that the reducer will rotate?

[300hp]

By reducing friction, I meant the friction that occurs when the orange DU insert on the shock rotates on the shock hardware during suspension travel.

The reducer will not rotate because it is pinched tightly in the frame. The reducer, or shock hardware itself does not move. Rather, the shock rotates on the reducers, which remain fixed.

As a note, the offset bushing method is effective for slacking bikes out. It is, in my opinion, not the way to increase/steepen head angle.

H.

My friend can make this starting whenever, just let me know and I'll put you in touch.

[bagtagley]

Maybe I should have said migrate, rather than rotate. But, I guess smoother rotation would help prevent migration.

[frorider]

cool. i think i might be interested in some sets for one of my bikes as well as 2 bikes belonging to friends.

[300hp]

bags,
I get what you are saying now. When the bushings are in position to shorten the eye to eye of your shock, they are in line with the compression on your suspension and tend to stay in place. I know of sets in use for years that have not migrated. That being said, if you are trying to steepen a bike, your suspension force will be fighting the location of the bushings, and they will shift.
H

[jm2e]

For people stuffing a 650b wheel under a 26er fork, I wonder if this would help with frame clearance?

[birdman829]

I don't think so...if I'm understanding correctly they are better for lowering the rear end than raising it?

[300hp]

Yes, they are better for lowering the rear end. When the shock compresses it will try and rotate the bushings if they are placed in a position that would raise the bb and steepen the HA.

If you are trying to limit travel in order to prevent frame contact running 650, the easiest thing is to put a plastic washer behind the bottom out bumper on fox air shocks and reduce the stroke a couple mm, which is usually all it takes.

[Feldybikes]

Does someone have a link to a picture? I'm envisioning an eccentric mount which I have a hard time believing doesn't shift without constantly being re(over)tightened. Of course, I've been wrong before...

[Natedogg]

Does someone have a link to a picture? I'm envisioning an eccentric mount which I have a hard time believing doesn't shift without constantly being re(over)tightened. Of course, I've been wrong before...

X2. I'm a visual person and all these words are making me dizzy.

Edit: http://dirt.mpora.com/news/slacken-head-angle.html
Oh duh, I read about this a while back... Maybe even from a link on SR.

[Natedogg]

When the bushings are in position to shorten the eye to eye of your shock, they are in line with the compression on your suspension and tend to stay in place. That being said, if you are trying to steepen a bike, your suspension force will be fighting the location of the bushings, and they will shift.

Wouldn't ANY position other than EXACTLY in line with the suspension compression direction (even minutely off) create a shearing force that would shift the bushing? Sorry, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but the reducers I just put on my shock I put in by just pushing them in (the pin and sleeve type, not the hat looking kind) and I'm sure they rotate within the DU under load. No, no, I shouldn't say "I'm sure", but intuitively it seems like they would...