So I’ve bought a new shock and noticed both when removing and installing shocks that the outside of the upper tophat mount is roughly 2-3mm out of line with the suspension rocker. It therefore requires some sideways force from me to get the shock mount between the 2 rocker plates, not a lot of force but still. Looking down I can see the rocker plates are the issue not the lower mount so was wondering if this is a big issue or if it is quite common?

Cheers

You’ll wear the shock bushes very quickly and put extra strain on the shock so it wears quicker. Not good. If you can’t fix the misalignment then a rose jointed shock like a DT might be better

it is pretty common and its rubbish! Frame misalignment like this will kill the external bushes and internal bushings in the shock. I had a similar issue on an old Commencal meta. If you have the straight through style shock busings, with spacers either side there is a quick fix that will help. Mount the shock without any spacers on one of the shock bushings, in this case go for the rocker end. Gently cycle the suspension and you’ll find that the shock bush will work its way through the shock in the direction of the offset until it reaches the position that gives the best alignment… Just arrange the spacers to accommodate the difference. This reduces the side loading and should make everything last longer…

edit, just seen you have the tophat style bushes… my fix wont be any help unless you order different bushes. In my opinion misalignment like this is cause for a warranty claim, if the frame is within warranty why not try sending it back?

Sadly it’s a 2009 Pitch that I learnt to whip on a few years ago so I’m the cause of said misalignment I imagine. I was thinking of a new bike in a year or so so I guess I’ll just have to keep it limping on a little.

Thanks all the same

I might be able to knock up some different sized spacers for you.
Email in profile if you’d be interested

Also worth check that the misalignment is the same at both ends of the shock stroke to show that the linkage and the shock are at least working in the same plane.