Ok I'm looking at changing my rear shock in the next few months rather than shelling out for a new frame and I'm after some opinions/advice please as I'd rather spend a few hundred quid to change the handling and rideabilty of my current bike than a grand or more.

I'm riding an 05 Nitrous 20 with a Manipoo Metel rear shock on the 170mm setting, I'm toying with the idea of putting either a fox dhx air or a dhx coil and taking the travel down to the 150mm setting as I think the 170 is probably a little bit too much travel for the type of riding I do as I'm not into full on DH or hucking.

So some help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Stu

Don't Nitrous' have a couple of shock mounts to adjust travel/geometry? If they do then you'll need the same eye to eye and stroke length as your current shock. If not then fitting a shorter stroke shock will effect travel but it'll also have a effect on the geometry, possibly making it feel like a piece of crap, so be warned!

 As for new shocks, How much you got to spend? Sounds like your into trail riding so an air shock will save weight and make it easier to adjust sag points etc. I'd recommend staying with manitou, i had a swinger 4way and it was very good, but there is also the Evolver from Manitou, Roco air from Marzocchi, RP23 and DHX from Fox. You could also just get your metal tuned and it'll perform better than any off the shelf air shock and be cheaper. So much choice!

Ok I didn't think I'd be so spoiled for choice, but hey thats not such a bad thing.

First off, I wouldn't know how to tell what length or stroke it is, if its easy to do then let me know how to and I'll sort it out. 

Second, I'm willing to spend upto £350 on a new shock if I have too as I've been toying with getting an Intense 6.6 frame and swapping/upgrading what I have on the Nitrous.  I've been thinking about an air can over the coil but I've heard of air can's getting pretty hot and locking out and problems with seals whereas the coil tends to be more reliable. 

Lastly I have thought about getting the metel off to TF to get it tuned but not too sure if its worth it (as most reviews I've read on the bike have slated the metel and said to replace it), so has anyone had it tuned and how much of a difference has it made?