[Chris R]

Right,
At first, I had my heart dead set on a 5th, as I'd riden a Patriot (the bike that I have) with one on and loved the way it rode. But now, I've rode a bike (not a patriot) with a Romic on and noticed just how plush it was compared the the 5th (have tried both bikes with 5th and Romic and it wasn't the linkage that was lush - bike was a Big Hit) and now I can't decide which would be better for my Patriot? Can anyone help please? I'll be doing the odd stair gap/drop, quite a bit of dirt jumpin' and a lot of downhill!

Chris

 

[Brian HCM#1]

The 5th feels a little over damped for me on a horst link type bike. However the 5th on a single pivot, I find improves the performance a great deal.

 

[kidwoo]

Originally posted by Brian HCM#1
The 5th feels a little over damped for me on a horst link type bike. However the 5th on a single pivot, I find improves the performance a great deal.

Word. I've ridden bullits with and without 5th elements and that shock makes a good improvement on that frame. Same for geminis, ridden with fox's, romic and a swinger. All the oranges I've ridden (1) had a 5th so I can't really comment on that one too much, but it felt pretty good. Those pivot locations are pretty similar between the bikes though.

You'll have a lot more tuning options with the 5th. These tuning options aren't quite as important as with some other multilink designs in my experience but really help high single pivot bikes.

 

[dlb]

One of my rides is a Ventana El Chamuco, 6" single pivot design, came with a Romic. I found a 5th coil that would fit, road it that way for a while but removed it in favor of a more supple livelier ride of the Romic.

 

[lonewolfe]

I have a 5th on my Bullit and love it. It makes the suspension feel bottomless on big hits. You can adjust it to get the feel you desire depending on the type of riding you are doing. It took me a while to really get the adjustments down but after you do it is very tuneable.

I tried a Vanilla RC on the same bike and lost an inch of travel for one thing but it was like riding a completely different bike. Id say it was easier to loft as you could get a lot more spring out of the shock but landing was not nearly as nice as the 5th.

I'd like to try a Romic and see what that is like. I think it is kind of in between the Fox and the 5th element.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Y'know, i sort of think of the fox as the kind of "play-around FR" shock and the 5th as the "get serious and race shock" and the romic as right in the middle of the two. If you want to different kinds of stuff, Id take the Romic...

 

[HippieKai]

Romic
i'v riden both and i like my Romic over my 5th.....the pro-pedal thing is sorta over rated...but then agian what do i know, i mean look at what time it is and considering how much i'v had to drink i don't even know what i'm talkin about!

ROMIC ROMIC ROMIC

 

[Brian HCM#1]

I hate the way my Romic feels on my Foes.

 

[Chris R]

Thanks guys. I'm a bit strapped for cash to get the extra for the 5th at the minute, and seeing as it would take ages to get the exra money (an extra £60!!) it looks like I'm gonna have to go for the Romic, the only thing that worries me is how progressive the Romic will be, as my current Fox Vanilla R isn't progressive at all, and although the spring rate is perfect for the first half of the stroke, once it gets to thelast half of the stroke it starts feeling very soft, meaning it bottoms out easily, will the romic stop this or be the same? If so it looks like I'm waiting for the 5th. Also, Romics do have a pedalling threshold adjuster don't they? Or is that just compression? Pedalling at the moment is too much hard work in races.......

Thanks a lot...
Chris

 

[Brian HCM#1]

They just have a compression & rebound adjustments. To really sum up a Romic, it's a Fox shock where the compression actually works.

 

[Chris R]

Ah right, thanks! Does the Romic pedal at all well then?

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Originally posted by Chris R
Ah right, thanks! Does the Romic pedal at all well then?

Yeah, they pedal well.

 

[Chris R]

Thanks! One last question, are they progressive, unlike fox's?

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Originally posted by Chris R
Thanks! One last question, are they progressive, unlike fox's?

Nope, to get a more progressive feel the 5th is better suited.

 

[Chris R]

Ah fook! There goes the BoXXer tuning!

 

[mack]

i like the romic myself. although i sometimes find that it isnt progressive enough in the last part of the stroke to resist bottoming.

 

[Orvan]

I spent the whole day yesterday at Big Bear getting used to my new romic and really thought that I will have problem with the bottoming out issue.
Considering that, I think, my spring is 50lbs undersprung, I like the new lively feel on my Mpire with the Romic. It took me a while to find the spot on rebound but once set, it worked nice. I had to go almost halfway on the compression to minimize bob so I think a proper spring rate would help.
I'm excited we partnered with Romic this year and look forward to trying some 'new' stuff from them.

 

[ChrisRobin]

Originally posted by Brian HCM#1
They just have a compression & rebound adjustments. To really sum up a Romic, it's a Fox shock where the compression actually works.

I think they're a little bit better than that my friend...

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Originally posted by ChrisRobin
I think they're a little bit better than that my friend...

Actually I like the feel of my old Fox RX better than the Romic. What makes the Romic better than the Fox in your opinion anyways?

 

[Swine]

absolutely love my romic on my fly...i have nothing against fox, however i did manage to blow 2 on my old dhs tube

*edit* oh yeah, it could have been the bike, set-up, or a # of other factors...but the romic defaintly pedals better! the romic seems to have this smooth plush sensation that i never managed to feel out of the old rc. and like you said, compression on the fox is worthless.

these are my experiences