That's a bummer to hear about the rear spacing. I think you pegged them about making the mistake, but I guess they believe its within spec. Pretty disappointing, and seems to me they deserve some bad press if that's their take on things. Theyre racking up more and more small errors, but very public facing. Maybe right now theyre scrambling just to keep their head above water? Or maybe theyve got so much business they dont care about individual retail buyers? Who knows, but it definitely sucks for us.
I'm running a manitou mcleod air shock and Ive been generally very happy with it. I'm running about 185 psi at 210 bodyweight, also at 30% sag. Compression is usually 2/4, occasionally with 3/4 for long climbs or 1/4 for downhills. I prefer a progressive spring in most cases, but it doesnt strike me as overly so. A 2 ft drop will leave me about 3/8 inch of stroke left as per the telltale, and a closer to 4 ft drop will leave about 3/16, so Ive got a little bit of room for error. I bought the king can (large volume air can) for the shock, but so far I've been happy with it in stock form, so the king can is still in the box. But I ride primarily trail, with only occasional visits to the jump line or some light jank/gnar. If you do a lot of lift assisted or enduro style riding, you probably dont care about pedaling platform the same way I do. This may change since my buddy is returning my 120mm travel bike soon, so I wont have to use the big bike for XC rides anymore.