Intrested in the Manitou ISX-6 rear shock
does it have pro-pedal
I am putting it on me Orange 5 AM for Spain
Does anyone have one?

Any help on this please!!!

It took me a while to get my head around setting the isx-6 shock up on my Tracer VPP2, it doesn't have pro-pedal as such but does have 4 compression dampening settings (SVP), I use 1 for the climbs and 4 for the descends.. but there are loads of people using this shock who have found the sweet spot with it and just leave it at that. there are a lot of scope for fine tuning it.. if you know what your going.. erm so that rules me out LOL

I couldn't believe the difference it has made to my tracer, I'm 16stone with my kit on and the rp23 used to just blow throw the mid stroke and bottom out.

i found this thread useful
how to set up ISX-6

Craig you think this is worth putting on my 5 AM?
It will be the 2008 model

OK just bought one Looks sweet
Craig whats your settings?

yep i agree they look sweet… they ride good to 8)

The thing that Ive noticed with this shock is.. it don't feel the same as the rp23 or the dhx shox Ive played around with before, you have to ride the bike to get a feel for how it is.. setting sag as you would normally doesn't work either, I read about this and chose to ignore it and then realised after a lot of faffing about that they where rite lol… setting the rebound was a bit tricky. Ive never been able to bottom it out, un like the RP23

took me a few rides before i got it to where i think its good for me, I'm no expert but heres what i found works for me, hope this helps

heres a good starting point
1. set the main chamber to your weight I'm 220lbs with my kit on so i pumped the chamber up to 220psi. Ive read a lot of people taken 10psi of there weight, i found 220psi was spot on for me..

2. Piggy back chamber is to be set at 50-70% of body weight, i felt that 100psi was a good balance from being to soft or to hard.

Ive read a lot of threads where people are saying not to run the piggy back chamber under 100psi, apparently it can get damaged.. not sure how much truth there is in this, but doesn't effect me any way

set rebound as you would normally
I use the compression chamber at 1 for the climbs and 4 for the downs

I have one on an Enduro & I think its great, probably the best air shock I've ridden. The dampening stays consistent on long DH runs & it has great small bump sensitivity for an air shock. There's loads of adjustments, but I don't touch anything whilst out on the trails.
I would disagree with Craig's set-up… I am 200lbs & I run 145psi in the main, with 125psi in the piggyback. The volume adjust is fully open all the time & I run 2 clicks of HSC & 2 turns of LSC. Set the rebound to your preference.
This set-up gives me 25% sag, minimal bob when climbing & I use all the travel on big hits.

whats OK for one person may not be for another.. never said it was the correct way, just the settings that felt good to me, theres always going to be a lot of variations in set up due to different suspension designs any way, i plaid around with mine quite a bit before I got it to where I think it felt fine for me…

j-claw.. you got me thinking so I had another look at the instructions…it does say in the instructions to run the the SVP pressure at 50-70% of body weight ?? which for me would be between 110psi and 154psi, when i first got the shock I set the sag at 25-30%, i just felt the bike was to soft and bobbed to much.. so i scratched around for ideas and came across the thread above which pointed me to the setting of the main chamber to riders body weight.. then I played around with the SVP pressure and found that 100psi was fine… just curious as to how you came about your settings ?? I think the instructions I got with the shock are quite vague

just curious as to how you came about your settings ?? I think the instructions I got with the shock are quite vague

As with most shocks/forks, the instructions are pretty useless.

I'd love to say that I set the shock up myself, but that would be a lie. We have a very good suspension tuner here in Vancouver & he set it up for me. It works very well with his set-up.

I would try 165 main, 135 piggy back for your weight & use my compression settings.

I hope it works out for you.

j-claw – been playing around with my settings today, and tried your settings.. heres what i did and found

set the piggyback chamber to 135psi as advised makes sense as it's in the mid range for my weight.. I set the sag at 25% which works out at around 175psi, 2 turns os LSC and 2 clicks of HSC from fully open..

The bike now feels a lot more active but it also sits into the shock a lot more and feels a bit wallowy.. when I set the sag it's fine, its only when I start peddling it sits more into the middle of the shock. Any suggestions or is this normal ??

when i ran the rp23 on my intense i had to run the shock at a high pressure to stop the shock from bottoming out on drop offs etc.. so it's got me thinking that maybe the ISX6 is meant to feel that way and it's just me that has been used to sitting up more in the suspension when peddling

When you switch to a good set-up from something that wasn't quite right, its easy to mistake properly set-up suspension (that uses all the available travel) for too much sag/wallow. Do a few rides on it & see how you feel when you're riding something rough/rocky. Your bike isn't exactly an XC whippet, but climbing up a rough trail should be much better with a more supple shock. Descending should obviously be a lot better too.

If you're still not happy, try re-setting the sag by sitting on your saddle with your hands on your lap (get someone to hold the bike). Your Intense has a pretty slack looking seat angle & I'm guessing your weight is pretty far back when you're sitting down pedaling. Another 5psi in both chambers will probably do it.

Do you want a bike that climbs fireroads really well, or one that lets you rip the downhills faster?

Do you want a bike that climbs fireroads really well, or one that lets you rip the downhills faster?

both of coarse.. LOL

BTW do you have the SVP version or the Intrinsic ver. as I believe this makes a big difference when setting up the shock.. Ive the intrinsic one

Intrinsic… The SVP one is more of a 'platform' shock. The Intrinsic is more 'open' like a DH shock.

conflicting views with no clear answers
ISX-6 Setup

I think i need to do more experimenting

Thank you for your reply guys and bikes look Love the Intense.
Firstly I tried the standard 1 3rd sag and 150 in piggy shock
but found the main shock just sank when riding.

I am 15 stone or 207 lbs or 93.9 kilo with riding gear on.
if you have instructions please send to grantway01@hotmail.com

Cheers for the above info

Well I have put it on and just been testing
Got to say feels a hell lot better than the RP23 and
feels you have longer travel and feels more plusher.
Just got to fine tune.

grantway – curious to what settings you opted for ??

Hi Craig1975 i first set the piggy shock at 135psi and set the sag
as normal in main chamber and the low compression in the middle and
high compression 2 clicks in and the bottom out at 2 due to the terrain
i was riding.
First test ride on 1 foot high bumpy ground I found the shock reacting very fast but the shock was still more plush than the RP23.

Test Two I reduced the piggy back to 75 psi and same sag in Main chamber and adjusted rebound to suit and the reaction from the shock felt a little slower But felt right I still have the high and low compression the same but need to get some berm riding in to set up.

This is a very intresting shock with very fine tune capability
that feels like you have auto pro-pedal then hit anything on the
trail and it seems to auto open out with longer travel feel on the
rear when on the hard stuff, and then the Four bottom out adjustments
Tool Free adjustment on the fly truly amazing shock.

Craig1975 How are you getting on with it?

This is a very intresting shock with very fine tune capability
that feels like you have auto pro-pedal then hit anything on the
trail and it seems to auto open out with longer travel feel on the
rear when on the hard stuff, and then the Four bottom out adjustments
Tool Free adjustment on the fly truly amazing shock.

yep I agree, now that Ive set it up a lot better.. its working a treat I cant believe the difference it has made to my tracer it's like a completely different bike

for now Ive settled with 100psi in the Piggy back, any thing higher and it just feels to harsh for me, Ive noticed that if i set it under 100psi, I just think it feels a bit wallowy on the climbs..

i set my sag at 25% and for me that now works out at 200psi in the main chamber, i run the HsC fully open and LSC around 4 turns out… I sped up the rebound a little. set the compression to 1 and up to 2 when taking harder hits.. drop offs and jumps etc

Ive taken it around Mabie, Glentress and Inners in the last couple of days and It feels bloody amazing. the bike just skips over rocky sections and I hardly get any pedal bob…

btw thanks for putting this thread up, it has made me take another look at my shock and in doing so Ive ended up setting it up a hel of a lot better…

This shock simply blows the RP23 out of the water…

Hi Craig1975 One thing is why dont you set to 4 on the Bottom out
on the hard stuff?
Thanks for your info mate

when I first set up the shock, i had gotten so used to the RP23 being so harsh (to stop it from bottoming out) i inadvertently set the ISX-6 up in the same way.. so I had to set the shock at 4 for the bigger hits, the shock just didn't feel that progressive through its travel till i put it up to 4… but now that Ive set the shock up a lot better, I feel that i don't need to go above 2 for the kind of stuff I'm riding.. but I'm still experimenting with it..

only problem I have now is that Ive Cracked the rear linkage on my tracer, this is the second one Ive cracked in a year.. just what i need another warranty battle and weeks with out my bike 😥

LOL Craig I kept thinking what the RP23 felt like but then relised
this was a hell lot better. Just need to play with it more and
get some good berms in to see how it sits
Just a great shock with great rewards i say Till you get it right!