Advantages and Disadvantages.
Personal preferences.....
Discuss.
Personal preferences.....
Discuss.
Suspension: Air vs. Coil
- Thread starter MtnBikerChk
- Start date
I like the feel and performance of coil (Which I have)....
But dang I could shave 1.5 pounds off my bike if I went air!
But dang I could shave 1.5 pounds off my bike if I went air!
I'd say for lighter riders doing any kind of riding all the way up to, but not including, decent sized drops, an air shock is the way to go. Modern air shocks, with dual air chambers and super-slick anodizing/coatings, are almost as plush as coil shocks, more tunable, and WAY lighter.
The downside is that the seals have to stand up to every force that the shock does, and if they fail you're SOL on a ride. So if you're doing big drops or you weigh a lot, you're probably going to blow a seal eventually which is a pain. In coil forks, even if you blew a seal, you'd only lose your damping and you'd still be able to ride home.
Also, all air shocks (cane creek) don't have oil to absorb heat generated on long bumpy runs so that can stiffen them up, but I rarely hear anyone complain of that problem.
So if you don't mind checking your air pressure once a week or so, keep the shock fairly clean, don't do drops taller than you, and weigh < a buck-eighty, get an air shock.
The downside is that the seals have to stand up to every force that the shock does, and if they fail you're SOL on a ride. So if you're doing big drops or you weigh a lot, you're probably going to blow a seal eventually which is a pain. In coil forks, even if you blew a seal, you'd only lose your damping and you'd still be able to ride home.
Also, all air shocks (cane creek) don't have oil to absorb heat generated on long bumpy runs so that can stiffen them up, but I rarely hear anyone complain of that problem.
So if you don't mind checking your air pressure once a week or so, keep the shock fairly clean, don't do drops taller than you, and weigh < a buck-eighty, get an air shock.
I got an air shock because the bikes I was looking at that had coil/oil were way to soft for my weight (210) and it would take over 6 weeks to get a stiffer coil from rock shocks since they were on back order. I like having an air shock now because I can big adjustments in the way the shock feels for different rides in one minute with the use of my shock pump.
coil for freeride/DH. air for race/XC. that goes for forks and rear shox...
I saw that RS makes the SID Race rear shock in 7.875 i2i... has anyone considered using something like this on a 6" travel bike? (i have the '02 BigHit). Weight would be the main reason, but is it at all sane?