Shock and fork options

[SSII]

I have a Ironhorse Showdown. I really like the bike. It is a little heavy but I like the feel and control.

I ride hard urban and trails that are not very hard. A few big drops and lots of hard landings.

The manitou Six that came on the bike was never very good and now it is gone ( it does not absorb anything anymore).

I also have gone though two rear shocks, I ride tons of steps and it kills them. The last rear shock was a RST 5.6.

I need a rear shock. 6.5" eye to eye. Not that worried about travel. Air or spring?

I need a front fork.

I want a great freeride bike setup but dont have mad bank. I need help.

[Vermont]

the hard riding your are doing you really need to spend some bucks or ya gonna be spending it anyway on broken equip...go Fox front and rear and you'll be happy for a long time...

[SSII]

Fox what????

Forks - float 100R / RL / RCL : Talas R / RL / RLC : Vanilla 125R / RL / RLC : Boxxer

Rear Shock - Air Vanilla : float R / RC : Vanilla R / RC / TC / X : AVA R / RL

What do you suggest?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by SSII
Fox what????

Forks - float 100R / RL / RCL : Talas R / RL / RLC : Vanilla 125R / RL / RLC : Boxxer

Rear Shock - Air Vanilla : float R / RC : Vanilla R / RC / TC / X : AVA R / RL

What do you suggest?
boxxer isn't fox.

it looks like your manitou six was a 100mm fork at most, so i would stick to 100mm. the vanilla is their coil spring model so a 100mm variant of that would be perfect. as for the rear, the vanilla once again is their coil spring model. i'd go with a vanilla r, assuming one is made with that i2i.

[SSII]

It was 80mm. Why stick to that? Why not go more?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by SSII
It was 80mm. Why stick to that? Why not go more?
a) it will change your geometry for the worse
b) it will likely void your warranty
c) it may well cause your frame to snap

100mm would be fine, i'm sure, but going to 130 and beyond would definitely be noticeable and probably not a good idea.

[WV Hippy]

Actually I personally would go to a 125 if I were going to use the vanilla. It will change your geometry. It will slow down the steering and make it more stable at higher speed. If this is how you define "worse" then so be it. Personally I would look at a Marzocchi Dirt jumper. They are solid and resonably priced.

[SSII]

I guess making my bike a "chopper", by raking out the frount wheel, would be a bad idea. I have heard that the dirt jumper I, II, and III are all good before.