I have an old Trek 6500 (hardtail), has a 65mm travel RockShox Indy (I think), it's mediocore, nothing special, old technology, I think I paid $100 for the whole bike. I'm thinking of putting on a new shock, however, most new shocks are $$$, far more than an entire full-suspension used bike would sell for on Ebay...but one shock I'm looking at is a RockShox Judy XC, it has 80mm of travel, air preload, only for V-brakes (which is fine, that's what I have and I'm not buying disc brakes and new rims, etc)..here is the link:
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13...-Forks/Accessories/2005-Rock-Shox-Judy-XC.htm
It's $99 which I would spend if it'd make my riding more fun, less beating of my hands, etc. My current 'awesome' 65mm shock is all stock, so stock springs, stock rate, etc and it works ok, obviously a bit soft for me probably (~245lbs), but that's fine, I rode the first 20 yrs of my life with no suspension at all, so I can live with it...the other shock that I'm looking at is the RockShox Judy SL U-Turn, it has 115mm travel, V-brake only (which again, is fine). In that description it doesn't specifically list any preload (or is that what the U-turn is?)...here is the link:
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13...sories/2005-Rock-Shox-Judy-SL-U-Turn-Fork.htm
It's $119, so $20 more than the other, which is fine...it has more travel, but is that good or bad?
So basically my question is...would it ever be bad to have too much travel in the shock? This is a hard-tail bike...all things being equal I would opt for the 115mm travel shock just because it would seemingly provide more travel, more dampening, etc...but maybe the XC shock is actually a better shock, with less travel but a better shock? More suited to mountain trails, rocks/roots/drops, etc?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I'm not willing to spend anymore than about $120 on this bike since it's not worth sinking any money into...at some point I'll buy a nice full suspension but if I could get a descently soft shock now for this bike, I think it might make riding more enjoyable...(a buddy just got a hardtail Specialized with the cheapest shock they put on it, that shock is lightyears ahead of mine, even though it's the cheapest they ever put on them it's springy, dampens really nice, totally different than my ancient one).
Thanks,
Mark
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13...-Forks/Accessories/2005-Rock-Shox-Judy-XC.htm
It's $99 which I would spend if it'd make my riding more fun, less beating of my hands, etc. My current 'awesome' 65mm shock is all stock, so stock springs, stock rate, etc and it works ok, obviously a bit soft for me probably (~245lbs), but that's fine, I rode the first 20 yrs of my life with no suspension at all, so I can live with it...the other shock that I'm looking at is the RockShox Judy SL U-Turn, it has 115mm travel, V-brake only (which again, is fine). In that description it doesn't specifically list any preload (or is that what the U-turn is?)...here is the link:
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13...sories/2005-Rock-Shox-Judy-SL-U-Turn-Fork.htm
It's $119, so $20 more than the other, which is fine...it has more travel, but is that good or bad?
So basically my question is...would it ever be bad to have too much travel in the shock? This is a hard-tail bike...all things being equal I would opt for the 115mm travel shock just because it would seemingly provide more travel, more dampening, etc...but maybe the XC shock is actually a better shock, with less travel but a better shock? More suited to mountain trails, rocks/roots/drops, etc?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I'm not willing to spend anymore than about $120 on this bike since it's not worth sinking any money into...at some point I'll buy a nice full suspension but if I could get a descently soft shock now for this bike, I think it might make riding more enjoyable...(a buddy just got a hardtail Specialized with the cheapest shock they put on it, that shock is lightyears ahead of mine, even though it's the cheapest they ever put on them it's springy, dampens really nice, totally different than my ancient one).
Thanks,
Mark