# Longest travel bikes/shocks/forks!!!



## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

I am curios, what are the longest travel bikes, shocks, and forks in the world. I'm pretty sure the karpiel Armageddon has 12" rear travel, but I don't know what shock it uses. The risse Bigfoot fork has 12" travel also and that's all I know of. 
Is the next biggest fork the risse champ with 9" travel?
I'm pretty much curios about anything 9"+

post anything you want about big travel things!


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## CaveGiant (Aug 21, 2007)

Avalanche


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

How much travel does hondas bike have and what fork does it use?


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## kipdrunner (Aug 9, 2007)

Super Monster T, 12" of travel


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## schneidie (Aug 30, 2008)

This thread is so 2004


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

Isn't it 2004?


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

Don't forget the Hannebrink inverted forks, they had a dumbass 12" version.


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## DucJ (Aug 14, 2009)

Moosey said:


> How much travel does hondas bike have and what fork does it use?


Honda owns Showa..


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## StinkyFTW (Jun 29, 2008)

Yeah thread over.


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## Iggz (Nov 22, 2006)

GSR with 14" rear wheel travel


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

StinkyFTW said:


> Yeah thread over.


OMFG! Who made that white chopper bike? That thing looks LONG!


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## StinkyFTW (Jun 29, 2008)

It's a Grossman


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## ronnyg801 (Oct 4, 2008)

Thats gross man, Interesting to see all this but where would these be useful and why?


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## Lelandjt (Feb 22, 2008)

DucDucGoose said:


> Honda owns Showa..


You sure? I never heard that before, couldn't verify it on Showa's website, and Showa forks come on Suzukis. I think they are like Kayaba, just a Japanese suspension supplier to multiple motorcycle manufacturers.


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## sdo1982 (Jun 14, 2010)

Technically Honda have a controlling interest in Showa.
Motocross bikes run 310mm (12in) up front... some of the FSX guys run 14in maybe find some forks from a crosser!


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## Lelandjt (Feb 22, 2008)

I for one would be interested in an 8.5 or 9" fork. It would let me run more sag without giving up travel. Right now I run only an inch of sag. I love my V10's 10" travel and won't go back to an 8" bike. BTW classic DHing and racing is my focus, not big drops.


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

How come it seems like back around 2001 they were producing 12" travel things and now we are settling for around 10" max rear travel? I would also like a good 9-10" travel fork...


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## lelebebbel (Jan 31, 2005)

Moosey said:


> How come it seems like back around 2001 they were producing 12" travel things and now we are settling for around 10" max rear travel?


It's a big conspiracy. Even though bikes with 25" of travel that weigh 60 pounds are obviously superior (because MOAR!!!), the bike industry makes us ride bikes with less travel just to see us suffer.

For the same reason, you can't get any shocks with enough shimzzz


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## Pslide (Jul 3, 2006)

I find it interesting that the Syndicate guys, when given the option on their new V10s, chose 10" over 8". Makes you wonder, eh?


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## Leethal (Feb 5, 2004)

Wheel tracks better to the ground on the v-10... at the 10 setting.. traction equals speed


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## Pslide (Jul 3, 2006)

Leethal said:


> Wheel tracks better to the ground on the v-10... at the 10 setting.. traction equals speed


And yet no other competitive DH bike is running 10" - very few even running 9".


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## Lelandjt (Feb 22, 2008)

After riding a V10 for 6 years I don't know why so many riders like 8" for DH. At Snowmass this past weekend everyone talked about how rough and difficult a couple of the upper high speed corners were. I didn't think so


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## Prettym1k3 (Oct 11, 2005)

What I like about this picture is that the bike actually has a pretty killer build on it... King, Hope, etc.

But someone re-printed some old Univega decals and slapped them on the side of that frame.


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## bxxer rider (Jun 7, 2008)

Pslide said:


> And yet no other competitive DH bike is running 10" - very few even running 9".


my 222 has 9.25" rear travel, back when it was new it was a competitive bike 

how about the solid mission 9?
corsair crown (thats 240mm rear so basicaly 9.4")

although more frames will come to mind eventually.


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## b-kul (Sep 20, 2009)

Iggz said:


> GSR with 14" rear wheel travel


that is the oddest looking bike ever. 24/26'' wheels? and a hammersshmidt photoshoped on?


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## Iggz (Nov 22, 2006)

b-kul said:


> that is the oddest looking bike ever. 24/26'' wheels? and a hammersshmidt photoshoped on?


I photoshopped the Hammershit on so I could call it my All-Mountain bike like some people do when they put Hammershit on their V10s and 951s


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

Yea. I have an 02 M1 with 9.5" rear travel and can't see why you would ever want less in a dh bike. I'm probably switching to a fr bike next season but I'm still lookin at 8" rear travel on my fr bike. 8" on a true dh bike isn't enough in my opinion. 

Btw how much travel does hondas bike have?


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## Lelandjt (Feb 22, 2008)

I believe the Honda bike was 8" & 8".


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## b-kul (Sep 20, 2009)

Iggz said:


> I photoshopped the Hammershit on so I could call it my All-Mountain bike like some people do when they put Hammershit on their V10s and 951s


are my eyes fooling me or is that a 24'' wheel up front and a 26'' wheel in back?


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

Lelandjt said:


> I for one would be interested in an 8.5 or 9" fork. It would let me run more sag without giving up travel. Right now I run only an inch of sag. I love my V10's 10" travel and won't go back to an 8" bike. BTW classic DHing and racing is my focus, not big drops.


When you are at 7" or more, quality of travel wins out over quantity of travel. I've also been on bikes with more travel than my current one, but having well controlled travel (via correct linkage rates, suspension design, high end custom shock, etc) always wins out. Although I have many of these stories, one that was somewhat comical to me was when I demoed the Bionicon DH bike. I was comparing it to my 6" travel "do everything" bike. The thing was that even for just downhill riding, my "6-er" was far better. My 170mm 66 felt a lot better than the 8" inverted bionicon fork, with better damping and lubrication. My coil rear suspension felt a lot more supple/plush and controlled than the 8" of air-sprung suspension on the non-linkage single-pivot bionicon DH bike. Then of course there is the bionicon function of being able to change the geometry and shorten the travel for climbing, yet my 66 with ETA has 95% of the benefits (changing geometry, lowering front end) as the complicated bionicon system, so my bike climbed better AND descended better than the full on DH bionicon bike. The DH part was mainly due to quality of travel. More travel doesn't mean better bump absorption, I'd even go so far as to say if you're looking at a difference in travel of 3" or less, it's ALL about quality of travel, not quantity. Give me 7" of avalanche-damped coil-sprung travel rather than 10" of so-so travel.


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## Prettym1k3 (Oct 11, 2005)

I'm with Jayem.

When I had my Iron Horse MkIII with a Pike 454 Air U-Turn dialed PERFECTLY for me, that bike out performed, out climbed, and out downhill'd my 7" travel Iron Horse SGS Pro with a 6.2" Manitou Shermann any day of the week.

Quality of suspension > quantity of suspension travel.


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## MaxBS (Mar 30, 2008)

This thread is so pointless to be honest. A 4inch dirtjump fork can be harder to bottom out than an 8inch DH fork. My Gambler has a 190,210 and 230mm setting and its not like each setting just feels like it has 20mm of extra travel, each setting feels completely different because of the different linkage positions. Its all about the quality of suspension or how the rider uses the suspension, I can remember the old Commencial DH (bout 2 years old) had 180mm at the back and Gracia and the Athertons were just as competitive as Peaty is/was on a 10 inch V10.


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## Pslide (Jul 3, 2006)

Jayem said:


> When you are at 7" or more, quality of travel wins out over quantity of travel.


So let's assume you can have the same quality of travel. Then does quantity win?

Peaty and Minnaar say 10" is better than 8" on the V10. Hard to deny them facts. The rest of the industry seems to have settled on 8". Is everyone else missing a trick?

I'm just playing devil's advocate - I love my 8" DH bike, don't need anything more.


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## Lelandjt (Feb 22, 2008)

Jayem said:


> Give me 7" of avalanche-damped coil-sprung travel rather than 10" of so-so travel.


My 10" of travel is Avalanche damped and I think the shock curve on the V10 is great Only problem is rear rims/tires are having a tough time keeping up with it now. Once I get the Avy cart for my fork I'll be cruisin!


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## toowacky (May 24, 2005)

I'm disappointed.... this thread should have devolved into a Bender discussion by now...


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## Iggz (Nov 22, 2006)

b-kul said:


> are my eyes fooling me or is that a 24'' wheel up front and a 26'' wheel in back?


I'm pretty sure your right cuz if you compare it to the line of bricks in the background the front tire is definitely not as tall.... ahahahah that bike just got _THAT_ much more haggard


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## Uncle Cliffy (Jul 7, 2006)

62kona said:


> OMFG! Who made that white chopper bike? That thing looks LONG!


Grossman Project A-235. (new version. I had the old single pivot model.)


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