Hi guys,

A friend of mine over the last 9months had started riding, but some lovely person last week stole his Giant Talon 0. Now the insurance company have been really good and have paid out with Wheelies vouchers.

Now he is looking at the Orange Crush Pro (hardtail) but for the money, he wonders if a full suss is the way to go. The only problem being is that he is 21.5st. He’s fit. Runs 10k a week and swims with the local Tri club, but that’s a lot of weight for a rear shock to cope with. Does anybody have any experience of such weights? I’m worried about the amount of pedal bob even with a climb switch. I’m trying politely to convince him to go with the Crush!

Any views?

I’ve been that weight and ridden a full sus. Just means putting more air in the shock and generally you lose a bit of the sensitivity by doing so.

It’s also worth looking for a frame with a decent rear triangle etc and not some flexy stays.

Look carefully at leverage ratios – lowest ratio, i.e. longest/biggest shock you can find

Depends on the bike. I’ve been a bit heavier than that and been fine on one setup (transition smuggler with rear shock inflated to max) and found it terrible on another (specialized stumpjumper which felt rubbish at 18stone and over).

Depends on the bike. Don’t think you could put enough pressure in the shock on my spectral to cope with that weight without it bottoming out fairly consistently

I’m not sure my Bronson with a X2 fitted would take the weight either. They have a Max 250psi after the recall.

QECP has a massive demo weekend this weekend along with the day and night enduro, so I might tell him to try some there. At least if the shock does go, it won’t be mine! He sat on a Whyte T130 yesterday and it looked like it was going to break. I take it single pivot are also out as the weight is directly on the shock.

Would a coil shock be more reliable?

Likely it would be and more sensitive at the spring rate needed.

However, again – find the longest stroke shock you can – for a given amount of suspension travel. A bike with 130mm of travel with a 63mm stroke will have a lower leverage ratio than one with 160mm.

Foes don’t spec bonkers long shocks anymore, but their Enduro bike still has a 3 inch stroke – which is a lot.

A larger friend of mine (probably a similar weight) struggled to find a heavy enough coil, but that would depend on the bike’s linkage too.

i have been heavier, and am now the same weight.
2 stand out bikes for a huge bloke were a Ventana el capitan, and a Specialized enduro 29. both fitted with air forks and shocks.

Im 20 stone and have a cube ams 130, with revelations up front. 5 years old, although hasn’t done a lot of miles.
No problem.
I also have a cube stereo e bike, with fox 32s up front. 1 year old, has done a few miles.
No problem.
Both bikes use a fox air shock.
I emailed on one a few years ago, asking whether I would be ok on their carbon bikes, they said the whippet was too light, but everything else would be fine.
I also emailed charge, asking whether I would be ok on their bikes, they said no problem.
Ymmv of course, but unless a company mentions a weight limit for a bike I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

As a heavier rider (not quite that heavy though) I look very closely at warrantees. Rose bikes are made of girders and effectively have a 10 year unconditional warrantee on the frame. Worth consideration.

Santacruz have no weight limit. The linkage setup on the hightower gives something like 305 psi for 20 stone and the shock has a max pressure of 350psi IIRC. Assuming he has a lot of vouchers of course.

Ventana.
Not cheap though.
But seriously well built, quad bearings etc.

As above, leverage ratio is the thing. Long stroke shock and shorter travel has worked better for me on test rides than my shorter stroke with longer travel, which just sits too far in its travel even at max PSI. My 2012 Nerve AM rides well when I’m standing but I just seem to get a lot of pedal strikes and out of the saddle climbing doesn’t work too well, even with a FF tune.

Saying that I had an email conversation with Bird and their Aeris 145 with the monarch deluxe shock will be my next buy (at 120kg).

The Spec enduro is a possibility, but his vouchers don’t stretch to a Santa Cruz unfortunately. I’ll take a look at shock stroke on some tomorrow at QECP. For the type of riding he does, I still think a Crush is a good buy.
Cheers guys

21 stone bloke riding a crush 😆
The ironing 😆

21 stone bloke riding a crush
The ironing

only bike I have ever snapped. we wont go into getting it sorted……………………. 🙄