After a good, reliable air shock for a Patriot – must be capable of handling v long and rough descents, although I don't jump and I'm only 11 stone. Anyone use an RP23 for this sort of riding? Ta.

Define "long and tough". Are we talking the Peak?

Doesn't sound like much shock for a Patriot tbh. I'd go for something chunkier with more adjustment options.

Alps, BC, Lakes. No massive jumps, but pretty much everything else a dh can throw at you. And some descents lasting over an hour. Got a coil shock too, but I want an air option for the 8-hour backcountry rides which also feature massive descents.

I have the stock Manitou Swinger 4 way it came with, which I like actually. It feels kind of like the Swinger 3 way that I had on the 5 and then replaced with an RP23. In my very limited experience of these two types of shock, the Manitou is definitely better for lots of big square edged hits, but the Fox is more linear and has better mid-range support. So I think I'll stick with the Manitou on the Patriot since I use the bike for rough stuff.

Have a look at the Fox DHX air? That's what I liked the look of when I was going to replace the coil on my old Patriot.

rp23 or custom tuned float r will be better than a dhx air, rockshox monarch or vivid air 2011 maybe worth a look but as yet they're unproven.

RP23 on my Blur works fine for me on descents like Torridon, Carn Ban Mor etc. Can't think there would be any continuously hard descent lasting an hour in the UK except possibly Ben Nevis – we don't have enough vertical. Flatter bits will allow the shock to cool back off so no performance degredation

Quite a few cheap DHXes around tho when I looked. Perhaps ex-OEM. Of course, that goes for RP23 and Float as well.

Can't think there would be any continuously hard descent lasting an hour in the UK

The OP mentioned the Alps and BC…

A mate or mine doesn't rate his DHX air and reckons the RP23 feels better. I'll be using the shock as an alternative shock for epic rides, so really it's to save some weight and use the pro-pedal, even if it's not as smooth as the Swinger 3-way I use now. The 3-way is 3 years old and around £100 to service – not sure if it's worth it or I should just buy a new coil for dh duties. Fox DH3 coils are cheap, as are new Swingers. Ta for your input.

That's right – three weeks in BC coming up, then annual Alps trips and some big (but shorter) Lakes descents. BC and Alps have hour+ descents that I'm guessing will really test an air shock.

rp23 will be better than a dhx air

Why do you say that?

DHX Air has larger oil volume, plus adjustable bottom out etc.

Having worked on all of these shocks I don't rate the DHX air.
It'll be interesting to see how the new Rockshox long travel air shocks perform.

I've got a DHX air and don't like it much- feels a bit duff.

I'd wait for the new Vivid Air. Having seen them in't alps they look perfect.

I had a DHX 3.0 coil on my old Patriot – it was off a different bike though I think and it was way way overdamped and you couldn't adjust the compression (on a DHX 3.0 – they apparently only come as OEM).

I wouldn't worry about the difference in weight between air shocks on my Patriot, to be honest!

The reason I mentioned DHX is that the 5.0 has loads of adjustment options. This may or may not float your boat 🙂