Springs and Stroke length
- Thread starter Blockhead
- Start date
Spring stroke length simply refers to the amount of compression the spring can be put under safely. Generally speaking springs can be physically compressed a bit more than their rated stroke (this allows for safely adding a little pre-load to the spring), however you should NEVER install a spring with a stroke shorter than the shock it's being installed on.
Adding a longer stroke coil (same spring rate) will do NOTHING to your shock (assuming it can fit), it will provide the exact same spring rate and feel exactly the same. What it will let you do is add more pre-load to it. This means that you can make it feel stiffer, but unless you absolutely need that adjustability for you bike, it's unnecessary.
In addition I suppose you could argue that a longer stroke than needed coil will also undergo less stress (as it won't be compressed fully even under full bottom-out), and therefore lead to a longer life. But honestly I have never seen springs failing at an alarming rate, it's not like I have people coming into the shop to get new oil in their fork, bleeding brakes and a fresh coil.
Springs for shocks have a long lifetime (barring any sort of defect causing a pre-mature failure), and generally speaking they will outlast the frame, and probably the shock internals as well. Longer springs are generally unnecessary, they add extra weight with no real benefit. The only time you should use them is if they fit & are on sale, or if you are running a titanium spring. Titanium coils should be pre-loaded to the point that the flat tapered ends of the coil touch the coil directly below them, this means a little bit extra pre-load may be needed, which means you may want to run a slightly lower spring rate with a slightly longer stroke than you would with a steel spring to compensate.
Sorry to be so lengthy, hope that helped though.
Adding a longer stroke coil (same spring rate) will do NOTHING to your shock (assuming it can fit), it will provide the exact same spring rate and feel exactly the same. What it will let you do is add more pre-load to it. This means that you can make it feel stiffer, but unless you absolutely need that adjustability for you bike, it's unnecessary.
In addition I suppose you could argue that a longer stroke than needed coil will also undergo less stress (as it won't be compressed fully even under full bottom-out), and therefore lead to a longer life. But honestly I have never seen springs failing at an alarming rate, it's not like I have people coming into the shop to get new oil in their fork, bleeding brakes and a fresh coil.
Springs for shocks have a long lifetime (barring any sort of defect causing a pre-mature failure), and generally speaking they will outlast the frame, and probably the shock internals as well. Longer springs are generally unnecessary, they add extra weight with no real benefit. The only time you should use them is if they fit & are on sale, or if you are running a titanium spring. Titanium coils should be pre-loaded to the point that the flat tapered ends of the coil touch the coil directly below them, this means a little bit extra pre-load may be needed, which means you may want to run a slightly lower spring rate with a slightly longer stroke than you would with a steel spring to compensate.
Sorry to be so lengthy, hope that helped though.
If he were to use a longer stroke coil and was able to get it to fit by compressing it some, would there not be more of a chance for binding/coil bind? I guess it would depend on how much difference there is between the original length and the new length.
DBD
Let's say it was a 2.75" stoke shock we're talking about here. For instance if he installed a 3" stroke coil, as long as it didn't need to be compressed more than 1/4" there would be no difference (minus the 1/4" of preload & it's effect on spring rate) between either coil. But yes.....a lot of this depends on the exact specs that are in question.