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Fox vanilla DH?

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
Anybody with experience on these shocks? Found something that suggested kidwoo liked his in 2005. Looks like its a precursor to the dhx, but can't find much other info. They're cheap now.
 

Huck Banzai

Turbo Monkey
May 8, 2005
2,523
23
Transitory
Solid, classic like an old Vanilla; no propedal/platform silliness.

And you can send it to Avy, PUSH, Suspension Experts, Vorsprung, etc.. and make it super perfect.

Avy turned a 5th element (!!!) into a serious DH shock for me, so anything is possible!
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
http://www.birota.ru/manuals/foxflow/2003-vanilla_dh_supplement.pdf

There's the manual for it - goes into detail about the adjustments. It uses a larger shaft than the regular Vanilla shocks, I believe 1/2" like most of the DHX lineup - however it's chrome steel, and combined with the large external AVA reservoir and hose fittings, it's a pretty heavy shock.

I believe the compression damping is not position sensitive contrary to what the marketing in the manual would have you believe, I think the AVA adjustment just controls chamber volume and there's no CVT / BV mechanism involved.

If I remember correctly from the last time I held one in my hand, it had larger than standard DU bushings and eyelet hardware. I was pretty tempted to try it out myself but it was the hardware (and associated effort) that stopped me. I'm sure it would have worked fairly well, but on the other hand there are so many good shocks these days - and probably many which are lighter and easier to get parts/service for - that I don't think there'd be much point buying one except for retro cool factor. They do have a lot of that!
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
Thanks dude!

There's a couple on eBay for 75$. It's hard to argue with a new shock that's half the cost of a retune or virtually any other shock on the market, especially if it works...

It sounds like the eyelets are 5/8", which would be close to an older ccdb, and McMaster has bushings that would reduce the ID to 1/2"...I really just want to know that if it doesn't work out or stops working, somebody (like push or vorsprung) might have my back...
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
If you get stuck I think I have a few new CCDB DU bushings of that OD and 1/2" ID that I could throw in the post.

For $75 it'd be fun to try, it might work great.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Those things are rad.

I'm actually still hoarding one.

And yeah not position sensitive compression damping. More like the precursor to propedal. And yeah the AVA is just a volume adjuster (run at crazy high pressures).

Friggin awesome on the right bike. The bushings are the only bltch.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Pretty much.

All the adjustments they had are mimicked and refined a bit on anything newer but there's something about that shock that's never been duplicated. It's just so much more controlled than anything that came after. It's kind of hard to put a finger on. It's a tank, and it's got that lame remote reservoir and the bushings suck but it's still got something later incarnations don't.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
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May 23, 2002
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borcester rhymes
Huh, that's pretty cool. I imagine it won't be entirely dissimilar to my dhs in weight and to a certain degree, performance. Also, it's 75$.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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borcester rhymes
Pretty much.

All the adjustments they had are mimicked and refined a bit on anything newer but there's something about that shock that's never been duplicated. It's just so much more controlled than anything that came after. It's kind of hard to put a finger on. It's a tank, and it's got that lame remote reservoir and the bushings suck but it's still got something later incarnations don't.
woo, did you ever measure the eyelet size?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
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May 23, 2002
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8.75x2.75, alternatively an 8.5x2.5. It looks like they only came in 8.75 and 9.0x3.0 sizes.

Let me know. If you can, please measure the id and OD of the eyelet/du bushing. I might be able to do some crazy stuff on my current bike, but at least I can shop for hardware and or bushings...
 

Lelandjt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2008
2,508
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Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
Sorry, it appears to be 7 7/8 x 2 1/4. it came off a last gen Super 8. It says "Vanilla RC" but I thought that's what we were talking about. My memory is that this was the best Fox DH shock until the DHX came out.
 
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Uncle Cliffy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 28, 2008
4,490
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Southern Oregon
For reference:



I actually had one for a short time. Sadly, it came on a pretty crummy frame that I hated from the beginning and promptly sold. (Not mine)



It would've been nice to try it on a proper frame, and I'm still curious why Fox abandoned it so quickly...
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
Yeah, that's the one. Google suggests that right around the same time (2004) the progressive platform era shocks came out....so maybe fox took what they had in a volume adjustable shock and applied it to their boost valved dhx. Ironic that they've come full circle back to a Ssv volume adjustable shock again.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Sorry, it appears to be 7 7/8 x 2 1/4. it came off a last gen Super 8. It says "Vanilla RC" but I thought that's what we were talking about. My memory is that this was the best Fox DH shock until the DHX came out.
So fired.........

;)

Not even close.

This was this big tank thing that came on some konas, some intense m1s and a few others. A bunch of guys (including me) ran them on square tuber turner DHRs and really Liked them. I got one from Quinton who runs the KHS team and another from Ebay I think.



While we're on the subject: anyone find any of the plastic cradle things made to hold the reservoir? The one I have left needs one. I've been dying to try it on my current DHR but I've got no clean way to mount the resi.

Sandwich: I'm getting about 13.44mm for the ID WITH a DU bushing in there.
 
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