Howdy experts. I got my Madonna V2.2 last week and it's ridiculously good. Heavy but damn smooth and solid. I thought a Lyrik would be plenty fork for me, as it has been in the past, but I can push the Madonna so much harder than my Patrol so a 180mm Zeb is on its way to me now and I'll cut my losses and sell the Lyrik with just a few rides on it.
The 205x60mm Super Deluxe Coil feels great but the option to convert it to 205x65mm while keeping the 60mm rocker has got me thinking. This option has been confirmed by Raaw, existing owners, and Pinkbike did their review on the V1 with this configuration, and I measured frame clearance with the shock removed just to be sure, so no issues in theory. Maximum travel effectively bumps up from 160mm to 172mm. I believe the 205x60mm Super Deluxe Coil is identical to the 205x65mm but with an external 5mm spacer on the shaft, but I'll speak to the suspension shop I use.
With the current setup I did some hucks-to-flat down stairs with various springs and the Reverse Components sag meter to measure travel, and with a 450 spring I have 29% sag and felt a slight bottom-out (3mm stroke unused according to the sag meter, which must just be the bottom-out bumper fully compressed), but don't feel it bottom-out on the trail so I'm good with that springrate. Here's my question: if I converted to 65mm stroke but kept the same spring the bike should feel and perform the same but I'll just have a little extra travel at the deep end in case I ever get a bit too rowdy, plus have the option to put a softer spring on there for more travel if I ever want to, eg. big park days. Right?
The shock requires considerable disassembly to remove the spacer so I would have my shop do it, so I'm thinking next year when I get it serviced why not just get this done too?
And some bike porn for you:
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