Wrong...I spent a lot of money on that damned shock, so it's definitely shaved a minute or 2 off my race times, made me a little taller, improved my sperm count, and helped with the bike's coefficient of drag (thereby allowing me to avoid wearing a revealing skin suit...or worse).like dh riding in general, sometimes how well a shock works is all in your head
Yeah, I do think there is some mental expectations you set whenever you drop a lot of coin on something like a CCDB. I will say the shock has at least improved my understanding of damping (with the swell pictures if nothing else) and the bike doesn't easily bottom out anymore.
As for Bikenweed's idea, I'd like to also see 5 hacks like myself (Expert level or lower) blind test various shocks on the same frame. I think pros like General are fast no matter what they're on as long as the geo is to their liking and the bump stick up front goes up and down. It would also be interesting to mix in subjective test rider comments with actual, real world dyno tests (i.e. 3rd party tester) and data aquisition results of all the aforementioned shocks.
Oh, on a serious note to Socket and other CCDB pwners, make sure to get CC's little white plastic "guide pins" when installing the shock. It allows you to line of the bolt holes and spherical bearings before you insert the actual bolt (i.e. the bolt pushes the plastic guide pin out as it's pushed through). It is an absolute b!tch to do w/o the pins, IMO.
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