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I'm guessing x-fusion scrapped this project, http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/PIT-BITS-World-Cup-Lourdes-Fran…
Again, based off of displacement in damper vs controlling a spring rate.
As for FX2 vs X2, I go back and forth between both on my Fury, which has a very flat leverage rate. The coil is fun for smashing but I also get real friendly with the bottom out bumper. The float is packed with spacers and makes it closer to more progressive rate bike. As for harshness or suppleness, both handle themselves extremely well, the coil is barely a noticeable improvement. And with the spring rate control of the air, its honestly a wash IMO. Purely depends on what I'm riding and how I feel like I want the bike to ride that day. Smash or playful.
As for reliability of either, been about the same honestly. Last summer each lasted me two weeks, broke the shaft on the coil and had a seal fail on the air pulling air into the damper. Both have been fine this year under a lot of abuse.
As has already been mentioned sticking a coil on a bike designed around an air shock may mean you use the travel all too easily and bottom the shock on smaller hits than with an air spring. Unless (as has also been stated) you use a DHX shock with position sensitive damping to provide extra ramp in the end stroke. And while the DHX is a great shock it does have a number of features that are dated when compared to a more modern coil shock...the argument for the DHX becomes convoluted. They’re also hard to come by especially in shorter sizes. Why not just stick with the air? Even on a bike like a Scout where a coil would be ‘fine’ the air can will deliver more resistance to bottoming (which feels despite the obvious usually feels like more travel), give very similar top stroke (especially if you’ve had to go up a spring weight to aid end stroke in the coil!!), lighter weight, more tuning scope, etc, etc.
I’m a big fan of mid stroke and so my only gripe with air springs is an inherent lack of midstroke but these days with better negative springs I just run less sag and get a boat load of midstroke, end stroke...moar betterness. Look at options such as the Corset etc and you can reduce sag, maintain suppleness and improve both mid and end stroke.
FWIW, I don't suggest anyone ditch their modern air shock for a DHX. It was good for its time, but that time is behind us.
Air really is going to be the ticket for most riders. Most riders ditch their air shock for a coil before they really give it a shot. There is so much tuning one can do with a modern air shock its dizzying.
For me, if I am to pick any shock in the world and know I'll be happy, I'm going Float X2. It can be setup very linear if you pull all volume spacers or progressive as hell by adding them back. The shock is incredibly sensitive and has more damping adjustment than just about anything on the market. Plus it fits metric and non-metric bikes (but no uber small eye to eyes).
Second to that, I'm a big fan of RS's Super Deluxe, though it offers less tuning, I've been very impressed with this shock, and back to back testing with a coil on a bike designed for either showed me how little gain a coil really gives the rider - especially when time is spent tuning. They have a different feel, but I'm not sure the coil left me going "wow I'm way faster on this..."
Overall when considering price, weight and performance gain, 95% of riders would be smart to stick with an air shock. Fork may be a different deal when you consider leverage ratios (1:1) and how every bit of "stiction" counts. Then again, maybe not.
With that same, a few folks on here have put coils on theirs Wreckoning bikes:
1 2 3
If you have the coin to spend the PUSH 11-6 is probably the sickest custom coil shock going, they are insanely good - as told to me by a trusted "knows his shit" tester/rider/Squid. Ohlins is a close second, but you'd need to check the spacing, as those shocks are really fat. Cane Creek and Fox are dialed as well, with the High/Low Speed Compression and Rebound.
Second is the sprung weight of a bike. Compared to a moto or a vehicle, as soon as we climb onto our bike, that sprung weight changes drastically, so getting the spring to sag correctly might be a bit tricky.
Third was durability, basically make a spring that can consistently transition between a dual rate smoothly without degrading, or a pro rate that would last and maintain its spring rate.
I feel like we're getting to a time in technology that the only point that really becomes a concern anymore is the wildly varying leverage rates of bikes and how to design around it or how to settle on the proper spring rate.
Every few years we see a resurgence in multi rate rear springs, wait and see if it sticks around one of these times. I personally feel that kinematics are getting sorted out well enough these days that it's not as necessary and proper tuning will give the desired results. Push 11-6 on my Patrol leaves little to be desired.
BTW, mine's for sale, Medium Scout frame, CCDIL w/450lb CC spring. RWC needle bearing on top shock mount. Shop faced headtube and BB. PM me if interested.
Love the Scout but I buckled and bought a patrol carbon frame and moved my parts over...
First, what you say isn't universally true. As we've pointed out, coils do not work on all frames across the board.
Second, a certain engineer has told me air actually can run cooler over long runs, this is especially true now that the can's are growing in size. The air can acts like a radiator to the damping circuits. Again, this is an engineer at a big suspension company who has instruments to measure this sort of thing...
Pick your poison, I suppose.
Point is, the idea that coil always runs cooler and is more consistent isn't exactly accurate either. Going to come down to how much oil is being displaced, leverage ratios, air can size etc etc etc
With the humble mountain bike, the weight, size, and application suggests that the suspension we use will always suffer in one way or another. Look at DVO (their initial offerings have been physically large), Ohlins (fork cartrage adds 1lbs, and shocks are super beefy), Foes (Curnutt), and Intense (the older 10.5x3,5 shock on the M6) - these brands have all sought performance over weight with their suspension (past and current), some proving more customer-friendly than others, which then lead to popularity and wide use (Ohlins) or it lead to customers realizing they'd rather have a more manuverable bike than certain performance gains (Foes and DVO); Intense dropped the travel down and thus the shock length.
As Jeff has said several times, the greater the amout of displacement, the less heat will build up - oil or air. But there will always be the trade off of specific performance characteristics.
My original interest and inspiration for starting this thread was small bump performance. The air shock I have is super solid at high speeds, and with the piggyback it doesn't get overwhelmed, plus it manages heat a lot better. But, it can't compete with the initial supple feel of a coil, which is what I specifically want and will willing give up weight savings to acheive [what I perceive as a] performance gain.
It's hard to truly compare genres of suspended sports here due to the mechanical differences and performance stipulations. While moto will always be a reference point, the fact of the matter is, a dirtbike weighs about 7x more than a mountain bike, so the perameters of suspension design are vastly different.
http://www.vitalmtb.com/features/TECH-TALK-Air-Shocks-Versus-Coil-Shock…
[Sick inside scoop from folks in the know; adiabatic is now going to be seen a lot on forums from armchair engineers]
Personally, I think you'd be most well suited to a Float X2 with no tokens as its highly adjustable (no spring weight monkeying around), will be very plush and if you do have problems bottoming, you can always play with the tokens and whatnot.
I know a lot of others will steer you toward coil, but I've felt most riders have the best time with a high end air shock such ast the X2 when it comes to actually getting it to work right...
The biggest problem with coil is getting your spring rate right. When the leverage rate is high, it can be extra hard to find the right spring rate IMO and no calculator is all that awesome in my experience.
Thus it can be pretty expensive and honestly a big PITA when compared to hooking a shock pump up and going at it.
My personal opinion, that is absolutely subjective and open to debate, is we should lean air 90% of the time as the performance is excellent in top trim (Float X2 or Super Deluxe), is easier to tune and offers more spring rate tuning options (tokens)
Yes, coil does offer an unmistakable feel, but overall I've (personally) found even when its utilized correctly (in a progressive leverage ratio bike) its performance benefits are a bit overblown, especially if you aren't chasing fractions of a second on the race course or don't want to invest in a number of different springs...
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