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dhx or dhxair?

Monkeybidnezz

Turbo Monkey
Dec 16, 2003
1,212
0
Pac NW
I would go with the DHX personally. One of my buds team mates blew out the DHX air, at least with a coil you can still ride it out for the most part. I'm kind of biased though since I'm a phat boy...need that extra security.
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
My friend came across this quaetion too. He got an as-x. He could have chosen a dhx5 or dxh air. He went with the coil becasue he didn't know too much about the air and a coil is more dependable. You don't have to worry about it leaking air/blowing out seals, and if a coil shock does blow out you still have the coil (like monkeybidness said).

I think a dhxair would be awsome becasue its so light, but I think it would be a good idea to have a decent back up shock, just in case. If you were at a place like mammoth and it blew out, i'm sure you would be pissed if you ddin't have a backup shock.
 

bballe336

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2005
1,757
0
MA
I would definitely trust the air. I have not heard of any problems yet and wouldn't expect to. Fox's MX air shocks seem to work very well and MX is a lot harder on components than DH. So I think the air is a better option just because you don't have to buy springs to tune it for weight and It's very lightweight and has all the adjustments of the dhx5.0.
 

mobius

Turbo Monkey
Jan 25, 2003
2,158
0
Around DC
I'd rock the air fo sho. All i've heard are positives of it and if it lives up to what they say its gonna be the future i think.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
lovebunny said:
well i do have a shock i can use as a backup. i just want to know if theres any major problems with the air.
The air and the coil don't feel the same.

The air one blows through the travel, and that makes it feel harsh at higher speed in medium bumps that cause the suspension to compress too far. This is assuming both shocks are set up with the same settings, you can make the air more progressive, but you can't really get rid of this mid-stroke wallow, and it's pretty noticable. Due to how far it goes into its travel, it makes bumps at low speed dissapear, in this sense it sort of feels better than the coil because the coil doesn't go through quite as much travel on the same sized bump. I like the coil much better because it's much more consistant, at slow and fast speeds, large and small bumps. It's much more predicatable and consistant. I tried both shocks on the same bike, same settings, then changed the settings. I went back to the coil because I liked it much better.

The other problem is sag, I can't sag the air shock nearly as much as I can with the coil. If I do, it makes the "wallow" problem even worse.
 

zmtber

Turbo Monkey
Aug 13, 2005
2,435
0
no i have been rocking the air for a while and i have seen the air shock withstand drops from 10 feet with no problems, and no leaking or anything, you get to knock off a easy pound of your bike and the dhx air just feels so nice i garantee you will love it. i owuld recomend you ifnd a way to check it out, you will understand what i am talkinga bout as soon as you do. (nice transition on the drop, no hucking to flat on this thing)
 

SXtrailrider

Turbo Monkey
Aug 27, 2005
1,189
0
ive tried one and for downhilling it is great. for drops it might get into problems, but if you now how to ajust it then it should be fine.
 

Bicyclist

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2004
10,152
2
SB
Jm_ said:
The air and the coil don't feel the same.

The air one blows through the travel, and that makes it feel harsh at higher speed in medium bumps that cause the suspension to compress too far. This is assuming both shocks are set up with the same settings, you can make the air more progressive, but you can't really get rid of this mid-stroke wallow, and it's pretty noticable. Due to how far it goes into its travel, it makes bumps at low speed dissapear, in this sense it sort of feels better than the coil because the coil doesn't go through quite as much travel on the same sized bump. I like the coil much better because it's much more consistant, at slow and fast speeds, large and small bumps. It's much more predicatable and consistant. I tried both shocks on the same bike, same settings, then changed the settings. I went back to the coil because I liked it much better.

The other problem is sag, I can't sag the air shock nearly as much as I can with the coil. If I do, it makes the "wallow" problem even worse.

This is EXACTLY what I hate about air shocks. I either run enough pressure so they're sensitive and blow through my travel or run enough so it stays higher in the travel on medium hits, but then it's ridiculously stiff.
 

manwithgun

Monkey
Nov 4, 2004
257
0
TJ, remember that your Balfa's suspension falls way off towards the bottom of the stroke. Might not be a very good match with the AIR... but air is cool; I read somewhere that at todays technical forefront, there's an air filled shoe in the works; it's even gonna have manual pump built right into the tounge.... they're going to sell millions.
 

WheelieMan

Monkey
Feb 6, 2003
937
0
kol-uh-RAD-oh
manwithgun said:
TJ, remember that your Balfa's suspension falls way off towards the bottom of the stroke. Might not be a very good match with the AIR... but air is cool; I read somewhere that at todays technical forefront, there's an air filled shoe in the works; it's even gonna have manual pump built right into the tounge.... they're going to sell millions.
??? Falls way off? It's a very linear design.

If I were you I would be concerned about poor frame alignment, Balfas are famous for it. I would not use an air shock on a downhill bike unless I knew my frame was aligned perfectly.
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,346
190
Vancouver
WheelieMan said:
??? Falls way off? It's a very linear design.

If I were you I would be concerned about poor frame alignment, Balfas are famous for it. I would not use an air shock on a downhill bike unless I knew my frame was aligned perfectly.
I think I remember responding to a thread about fitting a DHX Air to a BB7. If it's the 02,03 model, you lose travel because of the stroke of the 8.75 DHX Air.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Jm_ said:
The air and the coil don't feel the same.

The air one blows through the travel, and that makes it feel harsh at higher speed in medium bumps that cause the suspension to compress too far....

JM, what frame (or frames) are you talking about? I know people with single pivot, falling rate bikes that feel the same as you, others with different frames that love the air and say they will never go back.

And can anyone confirm that the damping is the same? The only issues I've seen with air or coil dhx is the occasional blown rebound circuit and I am pretty sure it's the same unit for both.
 

julian_dh

Monkey
Jan 10, 2005
813
0
ok i have the dhx air on my 223 for some time now i came from a fox rc, swinger 4. on the 223 its wicked i even rode it on some -5 days and there was only a small slight in performance.

there are a few downsides though like JM said it has that wallow feeling but it can be set up differently. if your racing this shock it should not matter because you ither need bottom out resistance or supper suppleness which i feel the air shock dose each of them better than the coil but not at the same time.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
OGRipper said:
JM, what frame (or frames) are you talking about? I know people with single pivot, falling rate bikes that feel the same as you, others with different frames that love the air and say they will never go back.

And can anyone confirm that the damping is the same? The only issues I've seen with air or coil dhx is the occasional blown rebound circuit and I am pretty sure it's the same unit for both.
Turner 6 pack. Got to ride the DHX air for a few weeks, had the option to keep it, but I didn't like the performance downgrade.
 

bc2002

Chimp
Nov 23, 2004
65
0
Vancouver, BC
I heard that Devinci is putting the air on their Wilsons. I agree with the "wallowness", but would love to drop a lb off my bike.

The one question I got though is how would it perform in colder weather, like now?
 

konabiker

Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
669
0
Santa Barbara
bc2002 said:
I heard that Devinci is putting the air on their Wilsons. I agree with the "wallowness", but would love to drop a lb off my bike.

The one question I got though is how would it perform in colder weather, like now?
I saw one on a wilson when up in whistler this summer.
 

seismic

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2003
3,254
0
South East Asia
I have tired both shocks and to be (of course this has a lot to do with setup too) the Air version seems less "dead" than the coil version. On the other hand it also feels less durable. I think if you are a light weight rider and smooth the air version can be a good choice for racing and DH....for more freeride and heavier riders I would go with the coil version.
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,346
190
Vancouver
Wasn't there something about not being able to reach certain 'spring' weights with the DHX Air...you can only pump it up with so much pressure?
 

Ciaran

Fear my banana
Apr 5, 2004
9,839
15
So Cal
lovebunny said:
nothing at all. i love my romic:love: and i love the service roger gives me too. but i want to try something new. also this isnt going on my bb7. its going on a new frame im getting in about a month:cool:
Cool... Give me your Balfa! NOW! :cool:
 

black noise

Turbo Monkey
Dec 31, 2004
1,032
0
Santa Cruz
I didn't feel like making a new thread.

I have a Turner DHR and I have to decide between a DHX air, or keep the Romic that I have now. I'm 170lbs and pretty smooth, and so far the only complaints I've heard of the air are 1)speculation about the air shock blowing up and 2)issues with the feel of the shock.

I've ridden a DHX coil and it felt great. I've also ridden air shocks on shorter-travel bikes and they felt fine. Can someone explain to me the "wallow" feeling of an air shock? Does this wierd feeling exist if the shock is set up right?
 

Jeremy R

<b>x</b>
Nov 15, 2001
9,698
1,053
behind you with a snap pop
OGRipper said:
JM, what frame (or frames) are you talking about? I know people with single pivot, falling rate bikes that feel the same as you, others with different frames that love the air and say they will never go back.

And can anyone confirm that the damping is the same? The only issues I've seen with air or coil dhx is the occasional blown rebound circuit and I am pretty sure it's the same unit for both.
Yeah, Jm is right, they feel nothing alike.
I have spent alot of time on 3 shocks on my 5-spot, a Romic, an RP3and a DHX air. And as far as suspension preformance the Romic blows them away. The DHX air rides a little plusher than the RP3, and I am sure it deals with heat better, but it still feels like an air shock. Now considering the DHX performed way better on my DHR than the Romic, comparing a DHX coil and a DHX air, there is gonna be a big difference. On my 5-spot, the air shocks only advantages were weight and effeciency, but even then the Romic gives you better traction climbing up rough trails.
 

skinny mike

Turbo Monkey
Jan 24, 2005
6,415
0
black noise said:
I'm looking at my frame now... dang.
you could always toss on a regular dhx with the remote resi and then get a ti coil if you are looking for a new, lighter shock. although i dont really know the difference in weight between a romic and a dhx.
 

Castle

Turbo Monkey
Jun 10, 2002
1,446
0
VA
JM's first post is spot on, I agree.... could not have said it any better. The mid stroke wallowing is def. noticeable.
 

ride_fast

Monkey
Jul 10, 2005
325
0
boulder, co
I have an 06 224. i have a Dhx on it now. i was thinking of putting on a dhx air. weight is important to me but preformance is more important because even with the dhx that i have now my bike weighs 35-36 pounds. does anyone know how the dhx air preforms on a single pivot and if the dhx or the dhx air tracks better?
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
wingman24 said:
DIRT has a whole article on air vs Coil in this months issue (Jan/feb 06') its deffinately of some interest. After i read it I don't think I would use an air shock YET but give it a couple of years and it might be possable.
Well, one key difference between the two shocks is the piston. Despite having the same name, the pistons are not the same. This is the primary reason the DHX-A lacks the mid-stroke support, because that part of the piston that would provide it is absent on the DHX-A. This is one problem that Push has with the DHX-A.
 

Kntr

Turbo Monkey
Jan 25, 2003
7,526
21
Montana
Romic shocks are awesome, when they work. If you have a good Romic, I would stick with it.