A friend of mine borrowed my 190 x 50 mm coil shock last night to see what it looked like on his (new to him) Cannondale Prophet frame.

Whilst I was looking at it I couldn’t see any real difference between having a 190mm shock in the XC setting against a 200mm shock in the slacker FR setting.

I know people say that fitting a shorter shock slakens it off but I would imagine with the shorter shock in the FR setting the bike would be too slack and low to the ground but a shorter shock in the XC mode is the same as a longer shock in the slacker setting.

He is in the process of building the bike and currently is frame only so we couldn’t actually see the head angle on both settings and I wondered if anyone has done this and can report on their findings??

It will be the same head angle (same as 200mm shock in the fr position)

Measure the distance (centre to centre) of the 2 different mount holes… If it’s 10mm between the DH and the FR holes, then you’re pretty much bang on with your statement!

It will look pretty much the same, bb height will be the same.

The recommended 190mm shock for a prophet (sl stylee) has a 44mm stroke giving 120mm of travel, the 200mm shock has a 50mm stroke giving 140mm of travel.

I had a 190mm shock on my prophet for a while, far too slack in the FR position.

I also think a 190mm shock in the FR setting will result in the tyre buzzing the seat tube at the end of it’s travel.

Thanks for your responses. My thoughts seem to be right.

He is only going to be using the bike for DH type duties and had an oppertunity to buy a decent 190 shock so he’ll be alright!