The Inside Story of Metric Shocks and The Modular Frame Platform

A lot of us were scratching our heads when metric shocks were first announced in 2016. It seemed silly that a change in units would make older shocks obsolete. However, behind the scenes, this development streamlined one of the most important decisions an engineer faces when designing a new full-suspension bike. Rather than locking in the eye-to-eye length and shock stroke, engineers can now adjust the shock stroke independently from its length to squeeze out the most travel for a given application or adjust the ride quality in a shorter travel bike. Chief Enginerd Matt sums this up nicely by saying ā€œmetric shocks are modular, which is a huge benefit to making modular frames.ā€

With older shocks, it was clear that you had pegged out the rad meter when the shockā€™s o-ring was dangling off the end after a blazing run. This isnā€™t always the case with metric shocks as the exposed shock stanchion might be longer than the usable shock travel. For example, the shock used on The Smash has a 5 mm stroke-reducing spacer installed to maximize shock travel and tire clearance to the seat-tube, meaning that not all shock configurations bottom out at the end of the shock stanchion.

The previous iteration of the Shred Dogg used this innovative feature to offer a mid-travel 27.5 bike that was limited to 135 mm of travel (in Trail Mode) compared to the Megatrailā€™s 150 mm of travel. This was the result of limiting the shockā€™s travel from 65 mm down to 57.5 mm with both shocks using a 230 mm eye-to-eye length. In the real world, this let many of our riders trail ride on a mid-travel bike while bumping up the travel to ā€œfull-strengthā€ Megatrail mode for weekend trips to the bike park by simply swapping the shock.

Changing Shock Stroke on a Frame:

Freedom isnā€™t free, even with our Freedom Linkage because there are compromises to adding or removing shock stroke. The Pistola, for example, gains 10 mm of travel over the standard-issue Trail Pistol by upstroking the shock from a 210 x 50 to a 210 x 55. The compromise (albeit, minimal) results in a reduction of rear tire clearance from 29 x 2.6ā€ to 29 x 2.4ā€. This setup also lets Pistola riders run slightly deeper sag for a softer feel off the top, butting right up against the performance of The Smash on most trails.

Pistola Hack Pros and Cons:

  • Pros:
    • 10 mm more travel!
    • Softer off-the-top feel
  • Cons:
    • Slightly reduced tire clearance

What happens when you change the shock stroke?:

On the flipside, reducing the stroke of a shock will make the frame kinematics slightly less progressive. This is because the stroke reduction happens at the very end of the travel, removing a lot of the end-stroke progression. Aggressive riders on shorter travel bikes may want to add more volume spacers to add bottom-out support back to the shock since it was removed from the linkage. Less aggressive riders may notice a ride that is a little more plush through the mid-stroke.

Itā€™s safe to say that most of these stroke adjustments are not user-adjustable, but a small quiver of metric shocks paired with our Modular Frame Platform can open the doors to a playful variety of bike hacks.

GG Secret Menu Bike Hacks:

  • 210 x 50 shock on a Shred Dogg resulting in 120 mm travel with sweet and zesty kinematics.
  • 210 x 55 shock on a Trail Pistol resulting in 130 mm travel and 29x2.4ā€ max rear tire size
  • 230 x 60 shock on a Megatrail resulting in around 143 mm travel in Trail Mode and improved high-speed stability over the Shred Dogg.
  • 230 x 65 shock on The Smash. DO NOT DO THIS, The Smash will not accept a longer stroke shock for additional travel.