Abstract: A shock absorber for use in combination with either or both a seat post and front wheel fork of bicycles and the like. The shock absorber includes a pair of elongated tubes adapted to fit together in a telescopic fashion. The wall of each tube has a pair of slots on opposite sides of the tube so that when the tubes are fitted together, the slots are in general alignment. Plugs are fitted in each tube to compress therebetween a resilient wire mesh pad. A tab is fitted in the slots to keep the tubes together and to enable the tab to slide in the slots of the interior tube as the tubes slide relative to each other. The wire mesh pad serves to absorb vibrations and shocks applied to either tube.