anyone run an enduro fitted with a 5th element??

Hi all.

ive just picked up an o5 enduro at quite a good rice and was just wondering about the rear shock.
its a 5th element air shock and was hoping people could tell me about it please…..

whats the reliability like , what shock pressures you run.

etc etc

cheers

steve

Shock pressures will depend on your weight. Spesh website has the usual charts. Adjustability is limited, so if it suits you you'll be OK.

If the shock slider is black, these wore desperately quickly. I went through 3 before that nice Mr Flooks put a heavy duty sliverish one on. This lasted well.

I did get rid and got a DHX5 Air, which was a better shock all round. They appear on eBay occasionally and are well worth a punt.

Both our 5th elements packed in very quick. Replaced by Specialized under warenty for DHX5 airs which have been fine

Tracey

I have a 05 Enduro with a 5th Element shock and it surprisingly ok. Got the bike last year and the shock had never been serviced…sent to TF who serviced it and said it was ok internally. The black anodising is wearing a bit but its nothing to worry about. The shock had a terrible reputation for failure so I guess I must be lucky with this one. Most were replaced by DHX 5's under warranty, although these had a problem with sticking down near full travel because of heat build up. If your's is ok I'd stick with it cos the DHX is very expensive and can only be serviced by Mojo cos its charged with nitrogen.

I got my Enduro with a very worn (shaft) 5th air and it was ok but it turned out the damping seals had blown too and it would cost about £150 to fix so I replaced it with a DHX 3 Air and that was rubbish even worse than the broken 5th. I brought a Vanilla R and had that was good but it could have done with compression adjustment and it bobbed far too much so I sent it to TF for a custom tune and it came back great enough pro pedal for riding up but silky enough for coming down.

Eventually I started messing about with different shock lengths as they are a right bugger for shock size. I found that a 200x50mm shock dropped the travel enough (about 115-120mm I think) to make the bike feel snappy but slackened off the angles nicely. This combined with Wotans up front meant that I could have a low mid travel bike for riding up and along with about 120mm all round or a super slack 160mm forked DH beast.

On my past experiences and now having a Pitch with a RP3 I recommend you get an RP2/3/23 in 200×50 and some forks such as the Wotan/Lyrik 2-Step/36 Talas and the bike will be fantastic all round.

cheers all for the replies so far!!

my 5th has been serviced by tf tuned back in 2007 and hasn't been used much since, it has had a new shaft which is silver.

im a bit concerned as i have to put more than the max recommended 170psi pressure in it to get the correct sag.??

on the other hand ive heard that the 5th element fitted to the enduro can take ore pressure as it is different to the oe one??

How heavy are you? There could be too much negative air in the shock. I cant remember exactly how the 5th works but that could signify a problem with the seals.

I think I'm in the minority in that I really like my 5th.

I've got a coil 5th on an 03 Heckler (ancient now) it's ace. Before coming over Aus I got it TF tuned and put a stiffer coil on it (I'm 100Kg).

I love it. It's plush, easy to ride with and coupled with my 03 Bomber ETA forks makes a fantastic all day bike – uphill it rides like a rigid, down some pretty scary descents it's 5" all round and a really competent bit of kit.

Really I can't fault it – the shock that is.

However, I've heard a few times the all air version was shiat.

renton – Sourcing spares for the 5th Element Air is becoming a problem. I sent one that I got with an '05 Enduro to TF last year and he was unable to replace one of the due to lack of stock. I've since 'beefed up' the bike, fitting a longer stroke shock (PUSH'd Fox Van RC) to squeeze out more travel at the back and fitted longer forks. Makes a great 'Alps bike'.

cheers sootyandjim!!

i had a chat with a lad at tftuned and he said the main air can will tak 300psi s i can pump it up a bit more now!

he also said about a fox vanilla shock but i think i would like to keep this one at the moment as the bike is heavy enough with the bloody downhill tires it came with!!

sootyandjim- what shock (and length/stroke) did you go to?

You could try TFT and see if they have a 5th Coil. A friend had a 2005 SX Trail, which was basically an Enduro with a coil shock instead of an air. I do recall Spesh's warranty department sent our 5th Element coil replacement shocks to cover the frequent returns for the air units.

I don't know the geometry though, IIRC frames for 2006 (fitted with DHX air shocks) were slacker, but whether this is down to shock length or not I can't say.

If you do run into problems with the shock then you could try either the Marzocchi Rocco or the Rockshox Monarch if you want to stick with air units.