What would you use if you had a choice?

Never done it before and building up a bike for it, current frame I’m looking at doesn’t come with a rear shock so that got me wondering.

Thanks in advance.

Air I would think.
Or in reality, whatever you would use on the frame for most of your riding.
Caveat: If you are going to be at the sharp end you would not be asking on here. Therefore shock is not going to make one iota of difference.

Air, lighter and current air shocks are more than up to the job.

uphillcursing: No I wont be at the sharp end and you’re completely right I wouldn’t need to ask if I were, just want to get as much right as possible.

Lol pack luck…
Last one I did one mateost his chain within 15s,other made it 10 mins before losing his mech 🙂

Piggyback air would be my choice since the shock gets very hot, but I do like the feel of a nice coil if you don’t mind the weight.

If you think you might win, air.

Otherwise, whatever you’ve already got. But get it serviced before you go.

If I was building my bike specifically for the Mega, I’d get a good coil with the right tune for the frame and right weight spring. My experience of air shocks in the Alps has been a continual faff with air pressures which I think is down to gaining and losing huge altitudes in a short time period. For piece of mind, a coil shock would cut down on the things to worry about.

which I think is down to gaining and losing huge altitudes in a short time period.

The difference between sea level and 36,000ft is only 10psi so it’s not that.

Having used an air and a cool for it in the past, I’d go with whichever you are going to use most again in the future or whatever’s decent that you can afford. All depends on your budget really.

Something with a pedal platform if you’re worried and pedal-bob, a coil if you’re worried about it getting to hot. I’ve used an RP23 and a DHX4 and both were fine for the job.

If I do it again it’ll be a CCDB coil as I like them and it’s what I have.

Tom KP

Racing it on an RP23 was borderline, shock overheated and damping was gone by halfway down the track, which made life a bit wild. DHX4 Air was fine, CC DB air was fine, I assume the bigger volumes on the piggy-back shocks helped with the heat?

92kg + gear.

Get an air one tuned for your bike and weight,

Coil lyrically a bit better in the Alps, but for most mortals annual trip out there is a bit unnecessary

I won’t be winning – I’ll pack some luck and get an Air shock.

Thanks for all the replies.

Out of the two i’d go with coil but only because I’ve been out in the Alps when a mate’s air shock blew and pretty much ruined his holiday. You don’t want to be in the middle of the french/swiss Alps and it blow?

saying that i would think the modern air shocks are a bit more reliable than a few years back??

you shouldn’t need to worry about weight out there as you’ll probably only be going downhill no?

FWIW I had my coil shock’s damping pack up when I was out there, and did the race on an Rp23.

Didn’t make it past about 1/3 the way down before a broken arm though, so sadly I can’t report on its performance properly.

If I were doing it again (which I ain’t), I’d be quite happy with a piggyback air shock.

I took two bikes out there last time I did it.
A coil sprung Orange Patriot and an air sprung Liteville 301.
I rode both back-to-back on the same morning down the quali course, where I’d have expected the coil sprung bike to have had the advantage. It didn’t. I was significantly quicker on the 301 (RP 23/Pikes).
To be honest, the terrain of the main event is predominantly XC, so no need for anything more than a standard trailbike build (apart from the obligatory dual-plys).