how far up can you mount the shock mount on the swingarm?

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brilamb2

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im working on making my 81 hardtail with about a 10" stretch, back into a softtail. my main question is at what angle is the shock too steep or too flat, and how far from the axle is safe to mount the swingarm? Ive seen bikes with alloy swingarms, with the shock allthe way to he front of the rear tire, and been told by an oldschool builder not to go more than about 4 inches from the axle plates....... Any input would be helpful. heres a ink to it on xs650chopper.com http://www.xs650chopper.com/2011/06/wwii-rat-bike/
 
Moving the shock forward will increase leverage, and effectively reduce spring rate. If moving the shock forward, I'd suggest bracing the swingarm.
 
One of the braced swing arms from wiseguy would make a lot of sense. I thought about the lay down shocks a bit and the problem is that the farther down the shock is laid the worse the "reverse" spring rate becomes. At extreme laydown angles the swing arm moves across the shock travel not into it so almost no spring compression takes place. I ie you would have to run really heavy springs to get any resistance to swing arm sacking. It can be done but I think you will doing some try and change till it works experimenting. With that kind of length there would be plenty of room for a mono shock in front of the tire also.
 
thanks for the input so far, i plan on addong a hoop above teh swingarm, and possibly one under, and boxing them. if so then i was thinking about the shocks off a rebel, at least it would give me a little suspension. just waant it to smooth it out a bit, not make it the smoothest thing on teh street.
 
with a stretch like that, you are going to have a hard time finding shocks with springs that will be stiff enough just to hold the bike up with you on it.
 

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