For my 1st foray into full suss, I picked up a Pitch frame 2nd hand. Good deal, but, it has a manitou swinger 3 way rear shock that I just can't get set up correctly. It's the relationship with the air spring & the pedal platform that I just can't balance. correct sag but too little pedal platform & it goes through travel. Bit more pedal platform & I loose small bump sensitivity.
Does anyone have any experience of this shock on an fsr bike?
I prefered an ancient Vanilla RC against the stock RP2 which came on my Pitch.
I had a...er... cracking time on the Pitch. Two new front ends, and 2 chainstays later... it went to a new home (warranty replacement). Wasn't as 'hardcore all mountain' as I'd hoped.
Swinger 3 Way is a bit rubbish. I'd sell it on and get a Fox air shock 2nd hand to replace it so you're not too out of pocket.
Get a coil - a secondhand DHX3 won't cost a lot, and it'll transform the bike.
Thanks guys. previous owner had replaced the x-fusion shock with the manitou, and i bought the frame at a very good price. The bike fits me very well and handles well, so would be a shame to move it on. but the shock is starting to get really frustrating.
So, why/how will a coil shock 'transform the bike'?
It may have been the tune of the shock, but it was much firmer to pedal around. Almost zero bob. I could have improved the small bump sensitivity (better 'tune' to the frame; softer spring), but I accepted the coil was never going to be a completely smooth sofa.
IIRC I have a coil shock on here...
Wonder why your frames cracked??
I ride quite hard 
Having said that, it cracked during an all-day epic up in the Lakes.
So far my old Patriot has stood up to plenty of abuse...
buy ur self a cane creek double barrel, they come down in price by £100 quid iirc well worth it and it will defo do you the job and as said above it can make the bike feel a whole different bike 
I have a 4-way swinger on a single pivot frame - and I've not had the same problems.
On a second-hand frame, I'd be checking/greasing/replacing bearings and servicing the air can and seals before doing anything else with the shock.
It's an off the shelf shock and therefore a one size fits all compromise... i.e it's crap at everything.
Either get it tuned to your requirements or replace it with something which is.
I had mine Manitou 3 way serviced, as I thought it so pap, come back exactly the same... went and bought a RP23 which is far superior, should have saved the cash I wasted servicing the manipoo.
@messiah - there's nothing to tune in there other than air pressure in both the SPV and air chamber.
talking of coil shocks. How come nowhere seems to sell the van R anymore?
Saw one on all terrain cycles a while back now not available
birly-shirly - single pivot and fsr system are obviously different, but any tips on the relationship / ratio between the SPV and air chamber? For an easy life [but more pedal bob] I end up running very little SPV and getting the sag set right on the air spring....
I thought there was the Van R or the VanRC? I can't really stretch to a vanrc
van r: £179
van RC: £264
Previously they used to sell the Van R a year or so ago, I know it was an option I looked at, when I bought my RP23.
To be honest I'm sure they used to sell RC's (or were they oem?), then stopped and sold only the R's...now the RC back!
Hadn't noticed the price difference, ouch that hurts!
julioflo - I don't think there's a hard and fast relationship between the 2.
I set the SPV pressure quite low relative to Manitou's initial setup guidelines - at around 100psi. That leaves a bit of visible shock movement from pedalling - but not anything that I actually feel. I think that setting SPV pressure to eliminate all shock movement is too high - and I can happily live with the small amount of movement.
Small changes in SPV pressure seem to make quite a big difference though - so hopefully you've got an accurate shock pump or pressure gauge.
You need to set SPV pressure, and then readjust sag. FWIW - I tend towards the low end of the recommended sag range - 20% to 25%.
Finally, try to keep it clean and greased. The first time I did this, I discovered that a large amount of stiction, rather than air pressure, had been holding my bike up previously and the shock did wallow pretty badly until I put more air into the SPV chamber.
Hope this helps. It's not the latest tech - but I don't think it's a bad shock. Plenty of users seem to find that the SPV platform is adjustable to give more in the way of small bump compliance than Fox propedal.
Thanks Birly Shirly. Really helpful and in line with how I was starting to use it.
I've seen that it can be set up to perform well, just trying to get towards a standard set up procedure.
you're welcome. if you want to know more, it's well worth searching the forums on mtbr.com. there are good posts on there from people who were involved in the original design and development of SPV and the Progressive CV/T shocks. Broaden your search though to include Progressive, 5th Element and CV/T though - it's the same technology.
Ebay and classifieds is the way..
i got a van-r for my single pivot bobomatic machine for 50 on the bay.
Super bargain.
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