To them ?
They were all the rage and then all of a sudden years ago they disappeared and I missed what had happened, were they swallowed up by another company or merely over complicated themselves.
No idea - their air shock was reputedly a bit unreliable, I think, but the coil seemed fine to me (I still have an old frame with one on)
Don't manitou feature fairly prominently in there somewhere?
Herself had an air shock. It never worked properly, an RP3 transformed the bike.
I still have the 5th element coil shock that came on a Santa Cruz heckler. It was an absolute nightmare I set up so binned it and fitted an rp23. Miles better. The 5th was just a willy waving exercise. 'Oooh look how many adjustments I have that I can **** up,'
I had one in a Bullit years ago, I loved it, it went to TF several times as it tended to pile in every 12 Months or so until I eventually got it shim stacked and then it was faultless.
I suppose it worked pretty effectively on the single pivot bikes but failed to step up when the link activated suspension started cropping up in the mid 2000's.
I'd like to ride one again to see how it compares.
My 2005 Speccy Enduro had a 5th Element shock as standard.They had such a poor reputation that for a small fee you could upgrade to a Fox.
They were gash basically, as were manitou's shocks of the same era...
it tended to pile in every 12 Months or so until I eventually got it shim stacked and then it was faultless.
That Was basically the only solution, turn it into a fox by shim stacking it.
Progressive just stopped making shocks for MTBs. Still make motorbike shocks.
On my ASR the 5th air unit was faultless and rode like a magic carpet.
I had one on a Titus Racer X, it was great. We sold loads of Blurs with them fitted too. The reliability only got bad as they got more popular.
MY 5th Element shock blew on it's second ride on my 2005 Enduro and as Bustaspoke said I upgraded to a Fox shock that never let me down.