Stevie Smith Bike Check - Sea Otter 2012

 Well, in theory if the shock is positioned that way, so the shaft is moving and the body (air chamber, piggyback) is stationary, it will better absorb small bumps, since the shaft is lighter than the body of the shock. In other words, less unsprung weight.
On coil shocks, you can actually feel the difference (I did when I flipped my shock), because of the bigger weight (the coil spring, right). I have never tried to flip my air shock, but I think that there is no difference because mine has got no piggyback so there is no big difference in the weight of the shaft and the body. So it's all down to looks.

Personally I like when the shock is positioned upside down like on Smiths bike. It looks cooler when only the shaft is moving.

 It's all about unsprung weight (-> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_mass). The less, the better the suspension works. The shaft-side is the lighter side of the shock. So bolting this part to the link that "activates" the shock, lets the bike perform a little better.

 ahh sorry, didn't realize the question was already answered...

 would also lower centre of gravity in that case.

 I flipped my shock and it didn't have piggy back, and the suspension was way better.

 I have an rp 23 and I actually run it so the larger can is being pushed, I have no clue why but it feels much less sticky to me in the beginning of the stroke. Personal preference I guess

 He's just a hipster

 PB physicists:

You may want to review whether or not the shock in this case constitutes sprung or unsprung mass. Hint: it's not unsprung ...

You may also reconsider how consequential moving 80g up or down 3" vs. center of gravity is - don't forget the 180 lb rider.

 Leese, I don't know for sure, but I think that on air shocks without piggyback the air can side is the actually lighter, because the damping system is inside the shaft. Correct me if I'm wrong?

And yes, it's weird, but there IS actually a difference of how the shock is positioned!

 If you want to know why shock positioning matters, think about how the oil sits in the air can relative to seal position.

 That would only matter if the shock is positioned vertical on the frame? On mine it's horizontal, so the oils sits the same either way, but there still is a difference.

 why so cocky hustler

 My question is why bike companies put shocks on their frame in a suboptimal fashion if "upside down" clearly works better?

 Look's wrong doesnt it!

 ^ He said "his left"

 I knew what

 is it the lens or did they finally make them 40mm?

 i haven't heard of boxxer 40's but who knows

 They are the new Boxxer 50s...

 haha I've never understood why they would put 40mm stanchions on a single crown, and then go skinnier for the double crown.

 Because you already get loads more stiffness with two crowns vs. one, so you gain more benefits making single crown stanchions thicker. And in case anyone is still wondering, it's the lens distortion making it look thicker. Notice the wheels aren't exactly round either.

 Looks like the filmmaker's using a wide-angle lens to squeeze bikes + Stevie + brand tents,, and it naturally distorts the picture the closer you get to the edge of the shot. No 40mm Boxxers yet I think....

 How do you pronounce it?

Edit: It should be pronounced "schvaalb".

 since it's a german word it would be pronounced like this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2hdWmM3vFY&feature=player_detailpage#t=23.59s

sch - same noise you make if you want someone to be silent
w - as in word
al - as in alert
be - as in beginning

 It should be pronounced schwalbe, like its spelt. Schwalbe.

 Spelt is a type of wheat.

 I know a guy who swears it's Schwabble, like 'wobble'.

 me too! Where the hell that came from?!

 Schwobbly tires cos they wobble so much

 Strong wheels so he doesn't blow them up on the jumps, but he doesn't need dual ply tires since there are little to no rocks on the Sea Otter DH course.... Pretty good setup really

 Its called Moiré, and happens quite frequently when filming with DSLR's. If you are filming an object with a highly repetitive pattern/grid it can sometimes exceed the resolution of the camera. The result is that pattern shift you are seeing on his shirt.

 it looks cool, has anyone heard of doing this on purpose in filming?

 I haven't seen it done on purpose to be honest. I personally like to avoid it myself when filming! lol

 I was told that the sasquatch look is a winter style in Canada... always proceeded by the Super Mario look in the fall.

 Camera trying to line up the stripes with only parts of the information