[dave.g75]

Interested in getting one for my DH team and just looking for some feedback from users, whether they perform much better than the competition, romic etc....
Also I know that a lot of people would describe them as huckers shocks, but can they cut it on the race track??
Any advice helpful
Cheers
Dave

 

[UiUiUiUi]

Originally posted by dave.g75

Also I know that a lot of people would describe them as huckers shocks, but can they cut it on the race track??
Dave

they canbe made "hucker shocks" but that depends on what you tell craig.
he will build what you order,
or at least his interpretation of it.

the two avys i had so far were excellent "race shocks"

cant say anything about the giant DH though.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

I have one on my Army, and when you order one they are built to your specifications. You can have it set up for DH or for doing drops. Mine is set up for DH, and I'm sure it would not have a problem doing big drops either. So far out of all the shocks I've tried, the Avy impresses me the most.

 

[BrayDownhill]

narlus has one on his giant, and loves it the last i heard, PM him I reckon for more.


brock*

 

[vitox]

its a great combo, you get to drop the spring rate and also to increase the travel amount and quality, go for the 9"/3" avy.

 

[Fulton]

Originally posted by Brian HCM#1
I have one on my Army, and when you order one they are built to your specifications. You can have it set up for DH or for doing drops. Mine is set up for DH, and I'm sure it would not have a problem doing big drops either. So far out of all the shocks I've tried, the Avy impresses me the most.

man............if hope would get their sh!t together and start making shocks..........

Dammit, Get gwen on the phone!!!

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Originally posted by Fulton
man............if hope would get their sh!t together and start making shocks..........

Dammit, Get gwen on the phone!!!

Good call

 

[bighitfsr]

I can only compare an Avy to a 5th and a foxRC (bighit valving) since I havent ridden a romic or swinger.

I rode a 5th on an M1 breifly and have a Avy DHS-RC on my bighit.
The 5th and the Avy both blow away a fox in terms of tracking the terrain.

Both shocks worked very well on small and medium bumps.
The feeling you get from a properly setup Avy or 5th is that the rear wheel is glued to the the ground and you almost cant feel the small to medium sized rocks on the trail. The 5th and the Avy were pretty much on par as far as small to medium hits go.

I havent tested a 5th on drops, the Avy is exceptional for drops.
Drops are stupidly easy on an Avy as its pretty much impossible to overwhelm the rebound damping and get bucked off the bike. The bottoming control of the Avy is incredible. I recently had my shock revalved and have a lighter spring installed to make it softer and I now get about 40% sag. I've only done drops about 5ft with the shock setup this way and I cant feel the shock bottom out (did much bigger drops with the firmer setup, no bottom outs).

Adjustments on the Avy are effective but dont have a wide range.
A 5th has a much wider range of adjustment than an Avy.
The low speed compression adjustment on the Avy is quite effective at filtering out pedaling input. You'll still get some movement from the suspension from pedaling even when seated. I found that increasing the low speed compression damping makes the ride a little firmer but has very little effect on the high speed compression (it doesnt make the shock harsh over braking bumps).

One of the key benifits of the Avy is that its super durable.
To my knowlage there have never been quality control type issues with the Avys. For example right now many swinger 6 ways are having issues with leaking oil, 5ths have had their share of problems with spring collars breaking and leaks, romics have had issues with leaking oil from the compression adjuster and fox shocks quickly degrade in performance between rebuilds.
Like any shock the Avy needs to be rebuilt regularly. From my expirence running fox shocks an Avys performance degrades much more slowly than a fox (at least 2X as slowly).
I ran my brand new Avy for 18months before I rebuilt it and the performance had degraded only slightly. On the same bike my fox shock was sorely in need of a rebuild after 12months. Shock rebuilds are a hassle and arent cheap so this is major strength IMO. You will find people who have blown 5ths, romics, swingers, foxes but not avys. From what I've heard 5ths require rebuilds roughly as often as foxes do.

IMO performance wise a 5th element is pretty close and in some respects (adjustability) are even better. The Avy is worth the extra IMO as its ultra durable and relatively low maintaince compared to all the big brands (fox, progressive, manitou).

 

[bighitfsr]

Since you can get an Avy in 9 X 3 you'll get more travel running an Avy than a romic, swinger or 5th.

Romics, Swingers and 5ths only come in 9 X 2.75 or 9.5 X 3.

 

[scottishmark]

Dave, i've got one at the moment. i've replied to your post on descent-world also so feel free to send a pm or email or whatever

 

[dave.g75]

Thanks for all the help guys, looks like ill be getting an avy after all, end of the week possibly. Scottishmark,tried pmin you on descentworld. Just looking for some set up tips, how you asked it to be valved, anything youd ask for differently?
Cheers for all the help
Dave

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Originally posted by dave.g75
Thanks for all the help guys, looks like ill be getting an avy after all, end of the week possibly. Scottishmark,tried pmin you on descentworld. Just looking for some set up tips, how you asked it to be valved, anything youd ask for differently?
Cheers for all the help
Dave

When you call Craig, ask him any questions, he is very helpful.

 

[narlus]

aye, the avalanche is the bee's knees and the dog's bollocks, all wrapped into one package. set and forget, endless plush travel.

 

[DHS]

well just don't got to a Ti spring on the Giant. with the Avy it doesn't fit. i had one on my Giant DH frame, too bad the frame was just too small.

 

[stoneysnake]

i have a dhs with a ti spring on my dhteam and it fits fine. i couldn't ask for a better set up.