Rear shocks: Coil vs Air (Drop-test) [MTB]

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Author: andrextr

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coil vs air rear shock test. specialized pitch with manitou swinger x4 coil and specialized enduro with air AFR shock. My last air shock on pitch (X-fusion O2 Air) performed like the AFR air shock on enduro. UPDATE (Nov-2013): Drop-test is a nice, quick and practical test to simulate small bump sensivity of a shock, since it originates a quick force of ~20kg on rear wheel (enought to compress ~20% of the shock if you look at the video!!). Only the shocks with a low "breaking" force can pass this test (breaking force = the force needed to overcome the friction in order to shock start compressing). However, besides lots of air shocks fail on drop-test, there are some air shocks that can plant the wheel on the drop-test !! And even within shocks from same model the results can be different (RP23 for instance). Also, I already saw some coil shocks that do not pass this test (probably due to too much preaload on the spring). If you want to share your result fell free (pls indicate the shock model and the bike). PS: And no, the rebound does not affect the result. The "bouncy" effect is not a consequence of rebound (the shock does not even compress, that is the problem, so it does not even rebound!!) PS2: Lots of people say that this test is useless because it ignores the rider weigth in the bike. If you think in a static situation or rolling in a flat road, it makes sense at first, however, if you imagine a fast trail, with lots of bumpy stuff, rocks, roots (...), where your weigth and bike are almost suspended in the air, and the wheels are going up and down "reading" and tracking the trail, this test makes sense! If the shock is not able to plant the wheel in the drop test, it is not also able to plant the wheel in a bumpy trail. If you are not convinced, go outside and test a shock that plants the wheel, and other that bounces the wheel 3 times in drop-test. Compare the differences.

Comments

My bike has a coil and it bounces like the air shock

so we're looking for no bounces like the enduro right?

kind a useless test, an air shock has a significant preload on its spring, by the nature of how an air shock works, the coil spring has no to minimal preload. so withh no weight of a rider the airshock it acting like a solid link, and the coil a coil spring is abrosbing the shock loading.
a more effective test would be to add 70kg of weight to the frame and repeat the test.

i ride transition patrol which has rs monach deboneair and it bounce a lot. is this because of the shock breakaway point?

lol air is on not off coil is sloppy and wait tell you put it in below 13 c

I just switched from an CCDB Air to a CCDB Coil in my LV 901 and BOY WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It's my first coil damper ever and I am so amazed how it works! Stiction is one thing, but the linear spring curve in combination with my progressive rear frame gives so much more confidence on the trail and in tight turns, it's unbelievable. All air dampers I tried have the tendency to give a "squishy" feeling in the rear suspension. Never going back to air on any kind of trail bike :)

Hi Andre! I love your channel buddy, so many things that i didn´t even asked myself before about suspension! Inspired in your videos i made this one! Cheers from Chile!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2uCCJV7Gdg

Why my rear XFUSION AIR doing the same? Bounce like bi*ch ,and new xfusion on friends bike is suspensing quite well after drop..

Tried it on my bikes with air rear shocks. Neither Fox Float X (Polygon Collosus) or Rockshox Monarch RT (Giant Trance Advanced) "bounced". However, a Suntour Raidon (Polygon Siskiu) does bounce.

Hi there,
I'm thinking about upgrading the stock Fox Float RP2 on my Specialized Pitch to something with a greater range of adjustments and better sensitivity. I would love to go with a coil, but would still like to have a good pedalling platform. How did you find the coil on your Pitch? What air shocks would you suggest? Also, have you had any experience with the Vorsprung corset upgrade, as it may offer a cheaper option for me?
Thank you
Keep making great videos!

which one is better?

I would love to see a video on the whyte g160 if you can. Thanks

This is so true . I have this enduro and I used to have its specialized rear shock and i did this test (with best setup possible ) and it did exactly like this test. The initial break away is too much on this particular shock. now I mounted on a fox rp23 and it's does this test much better but still not as good as your coil spring test.
I will try set the rp23 with a little bit of negative pressure as at the moment it has zero pressure in the lower part of the can ! have you tried this before? It must be done just right so not too lose any travel in the process

Great videos man!!! Are you going to do such series for front suspension/ forks ?

why is he wearing a helmet?

your test is not good, the tuned of the air shock is not ok

I've installed a Corset on my Enduro's Fox CTD shock. It completely eliminates this issue. All the benefits of an air shock (tunability,weight) and only heat dissipation as a downside. Recommend it to everyone who doesn't descend 15 minutes or more at one time.

your lessons on suspension are a treasure trove.sure has made suspension less of a confusing mystery to menow after watching all your videos. A firmer grasp of what I need to tune best according to my riding. Keep up the awesome work with the videos bro!

Which one has rear lockout

air shock won't have charged the negative air spring as its not sagged. coil doens't have that issue