I’m interested in buying a new shock for my Santa to replace my dying rp23.

I’ve heard/read the CCDB is the best thing ever and will revolutionise my rear suspension’s performance and the Float X is terrible in comparison.

Is the CCDB really that good and float X really that bad?

My experience of a dbair CS isn’t that great.

Wish i know before i bought it that there is no shim stack on the main piston for rebound, i was playing an endless balancing act between getting rebound sorted for both jumping AND high speed rough. It would either pack down and jump ok or keep high in the travel but be sketchy jumping.

Though i went from the DBair straight to a monarch RT3 debonair, instantly infinitely better in every way.

My 2p worth.

If you know what you want and how to achieve it…ccdb
if you don’t….float X

Avalanche tuned dhx air if you want it set up up for you and better performance than either of the above*

*disclosure: I’ve never ridden float x or ccdb

I’ve a Float X on my Five29, replaced a Kashima CTD BV trail adj float.

Its just a much better version of the CTD.

It feels less progressive than the CTD, and feels like it has more travel.

My bronson has a fox float CTD adjust Kashima shock – custom tuned by j-tech and revalved for my weight etc.

OH bronson has ccdb CS. It is like night and day. His has just been custom tuned by TFT and had the negative coil spring added.

I had his shock on my bike last week or so to try it out. Both bikes are identical apart from shocks, however it really felt like riding a different bike (we are fairly similar in weight) much better traction on climbs, especially technical climbs. Descents my fox could always be slightly chattery if the surface was rough but I could never quite get the balance between big hits and small bump sensitivity. The CCDB seems to get that right although it does take a hell of a lot of time to get it set up right, so I’d highly recommend buying from a company who will give you a base tune on it.

I’m awaiting mine arriving from j-tech next few days. Cannot wait as it really transforms the bike.

Sounds like the float x isn’t as bad as I’ve been led to believe then.

This is good insight guys! Much appreciated!

I have had a Bronson with a ctd a float x and now a ccdb air cs
Each one was better than the previous but the db air is bonkers good.
The db air is on a 2015 Bronson with new updates to db air and a good base tune to get you started.
I would probably always be keen to get one on any bike I was riding now.

Speak to TFTuned, tell them how much you weigh. For me, they basically said “don’t bother with the CCDB CS as it’s not tunable enough for heavy riders”. I’ve been very happy with the float X fwiw

Just gone to a CC DBairCS on my Mach6 from a Float X and still faffing around with the tune but very happy.
Not a tuning wiz but very interesting to play around with the settings, the tracking is the first thing I noticed even with the base tune and the CS seems to be doing a good job on general climbing (I live that requires a lot of steep climbing to get to the trail heads) and trails with technical climbs.
Still playing with the settings but not going back.

They are both good shocks.

The CCDB will require a bit more work setting up, and fine tuning. The base tunes sometimes from CC are a bit out so it’s always worth hunting out others experiences for a basis of comparison.

The FloatX you don’t really have a choice, other than spacers in the can, or sending it off for some work & hoping it comes back as you would want.

I’m not a tinkerer, so the appeal of the FloatX just working is fine, in theory the CCDB should be no different once you have dialled it in.

I’ve used both, and the CCDB replaced a Monarch+ Debonair which was a nasty shock on my particular bike.

Agree with you totally julzm –

We have a Bronson each my son & I, I popped a Float x & Ok there was a improvement over the standard kash CTD shock but the bike lost it’s poppy feel.
I tried a friends Spesh Enduro with CCDB CS & it was night & day, frined sold the spesh bought a five 650B with a standard set up ccdb cs & again very impressive, I owned a five many years ago & didn’t like it because of how it felt but my friends is very good, glued to the trails climbs great & so much better than my float X, base settings are not bad you may require a little tweaking that’s all.

It’s very difficult to compare the two though, as if you were going to be fair you’d need to send the Float X off to be tuned to your weight and style – otherwise you might as well stick the CCDB on some random settings and run your comparison.

The HSC and LSC, are externally tunable on the CCDB, but internally on the Float X – via shim stack.

The trade offs for me would be how much you like to tune your bike, and how much extra weight you want on there. Plus, if you’re an average weight rider, with an average riding style – then base tunes will probably be fine.

Did a silly thing, bought a CCDB-CS (bronson tune one) from TFTuned. Same place I got my float X from, so both set up for me. Riding weight hasn’t changed, riding style hasn’t either – same bike, only thing that’s different is the shock.

Took it for the first proper ride with the new shock today round swinley.

It’s *awesome*. Seriously, it’s fantastic. Incredibly responsive to any setup changes though so if you don’t know what you’re doing with rebound & compression (or arn’t prepared to learn) then stay away but it feels positively glued to the trails now. Massive improvement on downhill, no (noticable) difference on uphill but I couldn’t be bothered flicking the CS on. Just seemed to give me a bit more composure when the nose was pointing down, so where before it felt like the back end could dance on top of the trail, this felt part of it.
Now, the disclaimer – this is the bronson tune one which has a mechanical negative spring, unlike the standard CCDB-CS – your mileage may vary.

What do TF Tuned actually do when setting it up for you? Just that the base settings are available on the CC website. Asking as the DB Air CS is available for £50 cheaper online, are TF tuned worth an extra 50 quid?!

depends, there is no base tune for my bike and you get the hardware fitted with the TF shocks. so for me getting the DB inline from TFtuned was worth it.

How hard is it to fit the mounting hardware? Is it just a case of pushing them in or are special tools required? Seem to be about £30 from crc. Maybe not such a bargain after all!

They don’t set it to the base tune for your bike – they set it up for your riding weight and riding style. Base tunes are just that, base – for most riders of an average weight – if you’re a fat bugger like me then they can be quite a way out of what’s desired.