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I’ve just bought a second hand Starling Murmur And am going to move almost everything over from my Transition Smuggler (which I have a ohlins coil on), but I’m a bit heavier than the previous owner.
My Smuggler has a 605 weight spring on it(which would work), but it’s got a shorter stroke (50mm vs. 55) is it going to break things if I use the shorter stroke shock on the Starling, just for a couple of rides to see if it is the right weight?
If it has the same eye to eye length, you'll just get less travel before it bottoms out. If it is shorter overall, it will slacken the geometry and you will need to check that nothing binds or makes contact at full shock compression.
Also, if the shock has the same eye to eye length, but shorter stroke, you should check to see whether the stroke is just limited by a bottom-out bumper. Some shocks apparently can be adapted for longer stroke just by changing the bottom out bumper. Never done it myself, but it would be worth checking.
Does the starling have the correct length shock, you are just using the spring from the other shock?
Most springs are over length, manufactueres make a 65mm stroke spring and use it fro 50-62.5 mm stroke shocks. The slack is taken up by the lenght of thread ont he shock body.
the starling has a 210x55 shock. if you put the 50mm spring on the starling you will experience coil bind 5mm before the end of the shock stroke. this will damage the threads on the shock body as all the force bit being used to move the spring (because it is fully compressed) will be put through the threads on the shock body via the preload collar.
if you use the shock from the smuggler (is it a 190x50, can’t recall) the back wheel will hit the seat tube before the shock is fully compressed.
best bet is to get a heavier spring.
congratulations on the purchase, by the way!
Thanks LAT (and everyone else), I thought that would be the case. Now I need to find the right length and weight shock (tftuned seem to be out of stock)
You may be able to get your shock rebuilt to the correct length for your new bike instead of buying a new one.
Yeah worth checking there isn’t a spacer somewhere in the shock that limits the stroke - although 190 to 215 is a big eye to eye change. 50 to 55 isn’t much of a stroke change.
My Cane Creek coil just has stroke limiters that sit at the base of the shock.
My Fox Float X has screw in spacers inside the air can - I think the dhx2 I previously had just used screw in external spacers.
Never had ohlins.
On a single pivot bike with no linkage to control progression I’d get a coil shock that has a hydraulic bottom out. Either EXT or the new Rockshox Super Deluxe coil have those.