Other than instant death as soon as I ride the bike, what will be the effect of putting a shorter shock (both overall length and stroke) on a Giant VT? I’m thinking of resurrecting the old frame for pootling duties and have a 165mm Float RP2, but the VT’s designed for a 200mm. My rudimentary thinking suggests that it’ll reduce rear wheel travel, drop the BB and slacken the head angle, all of which I can live with, though whether or not any of these make it a pain to ride I can’t quite work out.

Any thoughts??

You may risk the rear tyre hitting the mainframe resulting in instant death or worse

Swingarm parts hitting the frame, tyre hitting the frame/seat, head angle will be very slack, bottom bracket much lower, reduced rear wheel travel, shock not tuned to the bike so won’t work very well?

I’ve put a 200mm shock on my FSR in place of the 190 that was on it previously, it has made a marked difference to the handling in terms of the steeper head angle. Probably to the tune of 0.5 degree’s, but it’s noticeable.

I’d suggest a 35mm difference would make an effect of, possibly, 3 degree’s? and the bb would be around 1.5 inches lower. (Guesstimated!). It would be like riding a downhill bike while the pedals clink off ever pebble!

Maybe give it a miss then…. time to come up with a Plan B….

Are you after a 200mm shock then……
I’m MAY have one up for sale shortly (see my recent thread for reasons why!)

DrP

To be honest, probably not, I’m trying to put all of the parts I’ve already got into one heap and assemble them into a bike, I’m not really wanting any more bits of bike or to actually spend any money!