what does bottoming out mean? Is it the shock traveling its full range of movement? Or the frame components colliding, like the swingarm against the frame? Or both

 

You are priddy close. This is the full extent of the shocks extention or compression, but hitting hard. Like hitting a hole in the road and the shocks compress hard to the end.

 

it's usally the shocks bottom out, but not the swing arm to the frame or frame to road

 

I thought it meant " I need another BEER".

 

Bottoming out is full compression, meaning the rest is no more dampening. And bottom a shock out hard enough repeatedly over it will get damaged over time.

 

How much do you weigh ? You might need to set your shocks to max and get heavier fork springs.

 

Bottoming out can also occur when shorter shocks are installed or the bike is overloaded. Slammed looks cool, but it's not always that comfortable.