shock angles

[Mindless]

this observation about the extreme compression of springs can be correct, in that any spring will become non-linear once outside a certain range of travel. However, as the inclide of the spring becomes more horizontal the spring is put at a mechanical disadvantage and further upward travel of the swing arm can result in a decrease in the immidiate rate of compression.

Also, stressing any spring to it's extreme is how you break them

all metals, spring or otherwise have a range of loads in which they are elastic, and anything beyond that range they deform plastically. In other words a portion of the deformation becomes perminent.

Also not that even in steel, high loads can trigger cyclic fatigue.

With everything in moderation of course. Putting too much of an angle to the shocks won't just damage the springs but the whole shock assembly. And as you say - if the springs are compressed enough - they will deform permanently.

When I built my bike, I did no real mathematics or calculations on how it would behave with X swingarm length, Y swingarm travel, Z shock length, etc. etc.

I used common sense and asked myself: will this work? Probably. So I went ahead and built it like that and lo and behold - it worked.

Of course I did some measuring and compared to working shock installations, then I figured out something inbetween that wouldn't compromise the look I wanted or the performance of the bike.