Viewing 22 posts - 1 through 22 (of 22 total)
  • Rear shock advice – Santa Cruz Nomad mk2
  • andymc06
    Free Member

    I currently have a mk2 alu Nomad with a Fox DHX 5 Air (Kashima). It is okay but It feels a little harsh. I’m about 92kgs with kit and need the boost valve at 300psi for the pro pedal to have any effect. The main chamber needs to be run with slightly more pressure than I would like to avoid blowing through the mid-stroke.

    My quandry really is would I be better getting a custom tune on this shock or should I purchase an RP23 (available cheap at the moment) and get that custom tuned? Total cost difference is negligible. Plus the DHX will probably need a service soon anyway.

    Cheers

    Andy

    JCL
    Free Member

    I personally think you’re fighting a loosing battle against crap design/kinematics but apparently the upper link PUSH sell for the bike helps a fair bit. I believe they also offer a Boostvalve modification too which adds midstroke support.

    http://www.pushindustries.com/2009/index.php?menu_id=62&type=products&title=Santa+Cruz+Nomad&product_id=79

    All the symptoms your describing sum up the inverted arc leverage rate curve counter-rotating link bikes exhibit.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    The DHX air was not the best which lead to them not being popular/going cheap. A pushed or tuned RP may be better, demo’d the carbon version of that with an RP23 and found it was fine. Best bet is to give LOCO/TF etc a call and see what they can do for you.

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    DT78
    Free Member

    I have a Mark 1 and gave up with the dhx, picked up an rp23 and had it tuned, much much better. Probably slightly lighter than you in kit.

    andymc06
    Free Member

    Thanks for the replies. I’ll make some phone calls to the pros and see what they reckon. I think a custom tuned, new RP23 may be worth a try.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    im about to send a DHX air to avalanche in the states to get it rejigged into a supershock, apprently

    andymc06
    Free Member

    That’s interesting. I’ve heard good things about avalanche. How much is that setting you back if you don’t mind me asking?

    kimbers
    Full Member

    its about £150 posted plus any taxes

    which is a lot but considerably cheaper than a CCBDair

    I got an old dhx air for 50 quid off ebay and ill sell my current monarch

    andymc06
    Free Member

    Cheers for that. Certainly another option to consider.

    Yetiman
    Free Member

    I’ve been running an Avalanched DHX 5.0 air shock for the past 2 weeks or so. It replaced a Loco tuned Float R that I had been running for approximately 9 months, and before that I had a Stendec tuned CCDB coil, and a Pushed Marzocchi Rocco TST R coil. I have also been lucky enough to spend some time recently on a bike similar to mine fitted with a CCDB CS Air.
    Once I’d made the decision to buy a new shock I knew that I wanted an air shock, with coil shock performance (or as close as), and I wanted as little faff as possible. No climb switches, no pro-pedal or CTD, and preferably no multi-adjustments on each damping circuit. The CCDB Air actually came very close, but a friend of mine got me looking at Avalanche after I had a spin on his bike which was fitted with an Avalanched Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti fork, and DHX 5.0 air shock. I was suitably impressed, so after a couple of calls to Craig at Avalanche to discuss various options I settled on the DHX air. Although there’s also a new RP23 mod available if you want to go for a lighter shock.
    It is still early days but so far the shock feels pretty damn good. It’s set up with 30% sag, which feels bang on out on the trails. In the car park test it offers up its travel really easily when you push down on the seat, which makes you think it’s going to blow through its travel on slow speed big hits, or maybe it’ll pack down on faster gnarly stuff, yet it doesn’t. It always remains composed, and uses just the right amount of travel for each situation. Avalanche did a great job setting the shock up for me. I’ve had to tweak the air pressure slightly, as I’m a little heavier than I thought, and I’ve also increased the rebound slightly as I felt it was a wee bit slow on techy DH runs, but that’s all.

    Cost wise I paid $150 (£92) for a good condition DHX 5.0 air shock from a chap in the States, plus $6 to have it shipped to Avalanche.
    $199 (£121) for the SSD upgrade
    $30 (£19) for a replacement Floating Piston (quite often required on second hand shocks, but not always)
    $51 (£31) shipping to UK with TNT
    Duty and Tax has still to be confirmed by TNT but it looks like it will be around £12.55 duty at 4.7%, and £55 VAT at 20%.

    All in cost £335.

    Not cheap, but cheaper than a new CCDB, Float X or Vivid Air, and it is effectively a brand new shock with custom internals.

    If you do a search on the forum member ‘messiah’ you’ll find a few threads on Avalanche stuff.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    sorry to hijack but…

    yetiman a few questions…

    what bike is it on and did you get the modified/ extended reservoir?

    cheers

    Yetiman
    Free Member

    kimbers – it’s on a Nicolai Helius AC 29er with 145mm of rear travel.

    After speaking to Craig about it I decided not to go for the extended reservoir as I don’t think I’ll be riding the big hills often enough to justify the additional cost, plus the standard DHX reservoir is going to be way better at handling heat build up than my old Float, and it should be more than good enough for the majority of the stuff I ride around N.E Scotland.

    Messiah ordered an extended reservoir for his new Avalanched Float X, as he felt he would benefit from it during the Trans Savoie race this year, but unfortunately he passed away before the shock arrived. It would’ve been good to hear what he thought about it.

    Mark78
    Free Member

    I’ve read that a lot of people don’t like the DHX air.
    I have a DHX air on my nomad and I prefer it to the rp23 I had previously. I’ve found it takes a bit of setting up to get it feeling as I wanted, but it has allowed me to tune the rear to feel balanced with the rear, which is what I could never manage with the rp23.

    I weigh slightly less, 80kg without kit and my setting are currently;

    Boost chamber – 1/2 turn in from all the way out. I think I may make another 1/4-1/2 turn in to get the shock to be a little more progressive near the end, but for now its fine and seems to be matching the front end in turns of travel under riding.

    Boost valve pressure – ~165psi (needs pumping up to 195psi and then I loose some when I take the pump off)

    Main chamber (spring) – ~220psi (pumped up to around 230psi)

    and I use a lot of rebound.

    I never use the propedal on the shock as a lot of the time I don’t see any significant bombing from the rear end.

    andymc06
    Free Member

    Thanks for the input guys.

    robj20
    Free Member

    I took my rp23 off because it was frankly rubbish, no mid support and blew through the travel far too easily unless you whack up the pressure, the CCDB Air is a much better fit that i use now.

    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    Hold out for a used CCDB, they are awesome.

    I paid £230 for my used one recently for my Blur LTc.

    A mate has a CCDB on his Nomad too, loved the shock more than the rest of the bike.

    andymc06
    Free Member

    What about an RP23 with an air volume reducer in the can? Should make it more progressive and stop it blowing through too easily, shouldn’t it?

    They are £135 on CRC at the moment!

    Hob-Nob
    Free Member

    I ran a Vivid Air on mine – it came with a DHX5A which was awful, which I swapped for an RP23 BV, which was better.

    The Vivid was nice on it though. Struggled to lose that initial harshness on trail chatter, but I think that was just a ‘feature’ of the Nomad – as lots of people moaned about it.

    andymc06
    Free Member

    An update for future thread readers!

    Bought an RP23 from CRC after a chat with Loco (who was extremely helpful). It’s an M M tune with 200 psi boost valve setting and a high volume can.

    First ride today. Running 30% sag which is a little more than I ran previously. It certainly has more support in the mid-stroke, a better pedal platform and the bike feels more lively particularly on jumps. So far so good and a bargain at £135 with the code.

    getonyourbike
    Free Member

    That’s very sad to hear about Messiah. I really liked his suspension review posts. Hope he’s riding some nicely custom tuned bikes up in the sky.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    loco was vey helpful with me too

    felt bad I didnt buy off him

    anyway sent my shock off to avalanche today so will hopefully report back soon, be great to get it back b4 easter

    thewalker
    Free Member

    put a ctd trail adj on my nomad, 1 ten mm volume spacer feels loads better climbing flick the switch to d feels great down

Viewing 22 posts - 1 through 22 (of 22 total)

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