Got my eye on a Spesh Enduro 2005 thats ending tonight on eBay.

Its got a 5th Element shock with it, but its buggered. Not sure how much TF will charge to repair it (although according to the website its £80 for a service).

Sooooooo it might just end up being cheaper to replace it. Ive found a website that says the Enduro takes a 222mm shock with a 50mm stroke but theres not many of these around.

Will fitting a different size shock (say 200mm or 230mm) totally screw the geometry of the frame and put extra strain on welds?

Not nec "totally screw" but the whole bike will get slacker and bb lower, and if the length of the shock at full compression is shorter than what the bike was designed for, you may have linkages/rubber hitting the frame and damage occuring.

If you are doing this then you ought to change the description – and it's probbers a bit late for that. If it was me I'd pull the auction or let it run, explain to bidders you have found an issue with the shock – maybe they would be happy to buy it without the shock, or to pay a bit more for re-vitalised shock etc.

Im not selling it, Im wanting to by it 😀

call TFTuned… they will give you a better answer.

we got my GF's 5th element fully serviced and had the shim stack upgraded for £120.. lovely shock now..

get the 5th shimmed.

Just called TF and they say that no parts are available for the 5th Element air so it would have to be a new shock.

Seller claims that the shock has blown completely.

😳

Oh, air? DIY? – just gotta find the same spec seals.

222mm eye to eye shocks are usually 63 or 70mm stroke, why not get a coil shock and restrict the travel with spacers round the shaft?
plumbing washers of the correct size placed under the bottom out bumper would work. Cut a slot in them to get them on without disassembling anything. if you do go that route go for something simple like a Fox RC tho (loads turn up S/H pretty cheap too).

Ah, thats interesting to note. Thanks GW. So something like a cheapo Vanilla then? Can you only restrict coils?

Dont think I can do a seal replacement on the shock myself, I have the technical abilities of a fart, and not even a decent fart at that.

Ive found a blog on ChocolateFoot which is about some guy changing the shock on his Enduro. He found a shorter shock will work without the swingarm hitting the frame but travel is restricted to 4.7". Hes now changed it for a DHX5.0 210mm shock…but I cant afford one of those!

Think I need to do more reading!

yeah, a vanilla will do the job although an RC will be better, is there room for a piggyback on the frame?
I'm sure you could restrict the travel on an air shock internally somehow.. but other than riding others' (and going "yeeeww!" no ta.) I have very little experience of air suspension.

bear in mind a shorter eye to eye shock will slacken it out and lower the BB a bit too.. not a bad thing if you're building it to ragg DH on, not so good if it's gonna be an allrounder.

I have a Vanilla R Nomad size if that's of any interest (215mm x 57 or maybe 63mm) with a 450lb spring.

Spesh Enduros (though I'm not 100% sure about your specific model) tend to be quite low at the BB so fitting a shorter shock will make that even more so – quite possibly to the point of being unrideable while pedalling over anything that's not flat…

You can pick up shocks pretty cheap (say £50) on the classifieds here and I reckon that's going to be your best bet (along with restricting the travel as per the suggesion above) rather than a shock that's too short. The damping may need tuning (by TFT or similar) to get best out of it though.

Hmm…looks like shock restricting will be the best path then.

Whats the best way to go about doing it? Do I just buy a kit from somewhere like Mojo or TF?

Oh and it seems the frame has clearance for a piggyback unit.

How much are you wanting for your shock cynic-al?

i think GW has a point, i think you can only get a DHX3 or 4 in a enduro frame as you won't be able to get to the air connector on the piggyback..

There's not really such a thing to buy though it's basically very simple as described by GW

cynic-al's shock has an eye to eye 7mm shorter so will drop your BB, slacken your HA quite a bit. add to that the extra 7mm (maybe 13) and you will have a DH slack HA, mega low BB and the tyre will almost certainly bottom out on the seat-tube at full compression.
you could stick some washers on the shaft to limit it to 50mm stroke but that won't solve my first points.
PVC plumbing washers of a suitable size is all you need. simply take the shock an a few pence to DIY/plumbing supplies.

7mm at shock is 1/7 of 50mm travel so assuming travel is 5"=125mm, it drops back wheel by 18mm, slackening HA by 2 degree and dropping BB by around 12mm = 0.5"

Shock as compressed would be 157 or 150mm vs original of 172mm – could foul easily, you'd need to see, but restricting it to 172mm would remove 15-22mm travel i.e. 38-55mm at the wheel. Probably better getting one at the right length.

Std £50 sought for shock…it's got the piggy back chamber.

hmmm, Ill keep my eyes open for a DHX then.

What difference does changing the shock shuttle mount thingy on the frame make?

can't see you finding a DHX in 222x50mm very easily.
and as DHX have bottom out/volume adjust they aren't the best choice to use spacers on the shaft to reduce travel with (unless of course you wouldn't want that adjustment anyway).

hmmm.

So, to summarise then…if Ive read everything right:

a shorter shock length will drop the BB and slacken the HA, the dropped BB could prove problematic on certain terrain.

DHX at 222mm could be hard to find (plus theyre chuffing expensive)

A longer RC with a shortened stroke done using rubber bungs from a plumbers should do the job.

Somewhere in the right area?