The other one to think about is the Bos Stoy. Same price as the CCDB, but they tune it up ready for you and your bike, so no faffing with dials for weeks. By all accounts, it’s the only shock on a par with the double barell.

Sounds like a bit of an over simplication. From what I’ve gathered the ccdb when set up as recommended is not the smoothest shock on small stuff, it’s just very controlled. The Bos has a very different charecter and is set up to be as sensitive as possible. Hard to say without trying, but from all I’ve heard they sound very different. The Elka I would imagine is also right up there with them, more sensitive then the ccdb on little chatter, but riding a bit lower in it’s travel (hard to say how much you can adjust that with lsc since it has quite a big effect on how deep it rides).

The ccdb comes with one tune, Elka has a few depending on the frame. At least my dealer (Finland) is very knowlegable and offers to fine tune the shim stack depending on your preference. I know some people have taken that route, personally I have not felt the need.

IMO they all sound like quite different shocks, but without the chance to try them out back to back you will probably have 99% of riders recommending what they have, since they are all good and only few people have tried them all. I took ease of set up and support as big factors, for somebody else other things will matter more.

The thing with setting up the CCDB is not to panic 🙂

It really is quite simple to setup as one control does not change the other like on other shocks. For instance if you adjust the fast compression it does not change the slow compression at the same time. On other shocks you change one you have to go back and change the other.

If you read what the various controls do and then go out and have a play, you can dial it in quite easily.

What I did was to put everything to the recommended settings. Have a ride and to be fair it was pretty good like that.

Then I changed each of the 4 settings one at a time to there extremes, that way I could feel what happened to that control when it went too far in each direction. That way you realised that on some sort of riding each control changed. For instance you will see that slow compression does not really make much difference too a medium drop to flat, but it does to pedalling.

It sounds complicated but in reality in only takes a couple of hours.

Bazzer

I’m a dunce when it comes to set-up, but even I managed to get a CCDB feeling ace on my ’08 Patriot. I just gradually wound off the compression until it felt mint. It’s a taught feel, but very plush and controlled. The back wheel sticks to the ground – great for steep and tech downhills. Climbs very well too. The factory-fitted bushes are made of cheese though – mine lasted 2 weeks in Canada before play developed. Still, great shock – I just hope it proves reliable.

Can anyone tell me….if I run a 400lb steel spring, do I need the same weight of ti spring if I upgrade? And who sells them and at what price? It’s a 2.5 shock. Ta v much.

Wouldn’t it be better if there were less graduates, but they had skills that were in demand with employers?

Mine was on a 06 Patriot and as you say fantastic.

Did yours not have bearings rather than bushes ? or are you talking the alloy top hats that fit into the bearings.

Bazzer

if I run a 400lb steel spring, do I need the same weight of ti spring if I upgrade?

Yes – the 400lb is the force required to compress it one inch (I think – certainly the force required to compress it a defined amount). Therefore you want the same weight if you’re happy with the current stiffness of the spring.

I brought mine from the US a couple of years ago on ebay.

Cheers Ewan. I’m assuming the ti spring felt as good as the steel in terms of suspension performance.
Bazzer – good point, I’d need to check. I haven’t sorted the play yet and didn’t even notice whether it’s bushes or not (someone else fitted the shock for me). All I know is there’s some play that I need to eliminate.

Are you sure the geometry adjust triangle thing is bolted up correctly.

The bearings on the CCDB are some of the best I have seen. I have bent the mounting pins and the bearings and mountings are still fine !!!

The slider mounting is secure bazzer. I’m guessing there’s a sacrificial plastic or metal hula-hoop thingy that’s worn out (easily and cheaply replaced, I know) but I need to have a proper look.

The du bush? The mounting bolts on the Orange do bend quite easily best to replace them with proper bolts, nuts and washers.

There are no DU bush on my CCDB.

It has a spherical bearing and some alloy tophats. It could be worn tophats but they should not wear as they should be clamped up tight and it should run on the bearigs.

I’ll investigate – not sure what the set-up is on my Patriot. I just know there’s a bit of play now, and it wasn’t there before my riding holiday. It’s a small amount, but it will inevitably get worse. On previous shocks it was always the sacrificial hula-hoop that is squeezed into the shock’s eye (swingarm end), but they always lasted months, not weeks.

Du bushes used on spacer fittings over 1″ wide, and spherical ones on smaller sizes, just checked the CC website, less side/twisting load on the smaller spacers I guess.