Cannondale sv2000 rear shock question

You’d be much better served saving the money you’d use for a shock to invest in a modern bike.

As unique as that Cannondale was, full suspension bikes from the era are extremely outdated and not really ideal for any application.

I suggest looking at gravel bikes with more relaxed geometry or even something like a rigid bike-packing focused rig if you’re just going to be tooling around on the road for a while. Then when you’re ready you can buy a new mountain bike and have two awesome steeds.

If you can even mount a modern shock on that Cannondale, your going to spend at minimum ~$350 to end up with a bike that will pedal poorly on the road and would be equally frightening to ride in any modern mountain bike scenario.

It may sound harsh, but it’s not worth the investment.

Measure the length of the shock from the center of both bolts that mount it to the frame and that would be your eye to eye and then measure the end of the stanchion which would be the skinny part of the shock towards the rear derailleur and that would be your stroke. It is old so not sure if you would be able to find one tho.  Maybe send it to Specter Suspension and they can rebuild it to hold air and work better?  Tough to say to be honest and this coming from a guy that has worked/managed bikes shops since ‘02.  

What's the eye to eye on the shock? Fox still makes the DPS in a variety of sizes to fix legacy bikes and I've had good luck finding modern options even for late 90's bikes. Otherwise, getting it serviced would work out well if you can find somewhere that has the ability would be great. Is that one a cane creek or a fox?

I am going to totally agree that this bike is worth it. No where was budget mentioned so saving to invest in a newer bike does not seem to be the issue. I also just bought one of these. I am 180 so the stock shock worked for me. I swapped it to a 1x drivetrain and do exactly what you described. I ride it around as a commuter and on the many gravel paths around my house. I also ride mtb trails with my 6 year old on it. It is hilariously fun. It makes me wonder what a modern geo but similar layout version would be like. I have modern bikes, but this one delivers the smiles and funny looks on the trails. 

I say ride the heck out of it. Unfortunately I do not have any useful recommendations for a shock. As others have mentioned there is a good chance you can rebuild the stock one. The dampers on fox shox from that era are reliable so MAYBE you can just do an air can service. My shock still has functional damping. The front shock, less so.