Any 1002 owners tried a coil shock? I like being able to see sag and travel use easily on an air shock, but the ~2.5 average leverage on the 1001/1002 seems like it would work well with coils.

A Marzocchi Bomber CR is less expensive as well as more reliably serviced by my local shops than my preferred air shock, a DVO Topaz…and either way, I’m probably looking at a Marzocchi Z1 fork for this build, either air or coil.

I want my first unbranded build to be lighter than my current 27.5 enduro bike (likely upwards of 38lbs, haven’t weighed it lately), but I also ride a lot of harsh stuff and have severe arthritis so coils are appealing.

Good point. I’m aware of the relation between spring and leverage curves, I was just trying to keep my question relatively short — and coming from a GT Force (avg leverage 2.79 and only moderately progressive), I was thinking of the fact that even the max 700lb coil felt too soft for me on that bike with the limited support the Bomber CR damper gives.

Looking at the kinematics graphs for these bikes, I thought maybe it was progressive enough given the low average, at least for a progressive coil rather than a regular linear one. But the context you gave made me look again and I definitely take your point. The dip near the end of travel in particular isn’t great for coils.

The average leverage also had me thinking of damping, as the main 185x55 air shock I have to spare is a DPX2 with standard Medium tune. That was overdamped for my Force (different models/years have shipped with both Low and Medium tunes), so I was thinking less leverage meant it would be even more overdamped for a 1001. But of course you reminded me that it’s not that straightforward, the curve matters here too.

I might just get a 1002 and a DVO Topaz for it — the same stock damping tune that helped my Force because it’s lighter than Fox or RS’ Mediums, and it’s very tunable for different spring curves — but I wanted to think through all the possibilities before I gave up on using one of my existing 185x55 shocks with a 1001.

What do you mean by a "modern" leverage ratio.
How the suspension of this one will work compared to the FM936 if they're buillt with the same shock?

Hi Julian, take a look at attached vector PDF. Is it enough? I can export it to CAD format (DXF or DWG) if needed.

EDIT: According to my "CAD analyze" 165x45 damper leaves about 1mm clearance between seat stays and seat tube, but I didn't take into account the flexibility of rear triangle, so 45mm travel is very risky. Besides it is only the drawing.

Anyone have an idea what bike this frame is roughly based on?