I’ve ordered a starling swoop frame, and the leverage curve is apparently pretty linear. I’d like to run a coil shock as I love the initial sensitivity and feel of a coil, my only worry is the lack of ramp-up at the end of the stroke might make it bottom out a bit easily.

Has anyone had any experience with this shock on a similar frame? Any thoughts or comments?

It’ll not ramp up like an air shock (nor can it be tuned to do so), and you’ll also have v little mid-stroke support. I run one on a transition scout, which has some ramp up in it’s suspension design, and it’s noticeably more linear with the Coil IL. fine in wet, sloppy stuff where the grip is impressive, but when it gets drier i’ll be putting the air shock back on to get that support and pop.

if it were me on a starling, i’d get a nice big volume air shock with a decent negative air spring volume to get that suppleness, support and tuning capability.

Thanks hungry, interesting. I know people have been running db coil on Orange five, has anyone got experience of this? Any of the problems hungry mentioned?

You should get more mid-stroke support with a coil than an air shock:

Yeah I used to run one on a Five, gave cracking performance. As above, I would extra a better mid-stroke

You can always add a bit of HSC to stop it bottoming out too easily.

Alternatively the DBair XV is great. Or the (non-exploding) Fox X2.

Gabe, who co-owns Transition, runs one on his Scout and says it’s fantastic.

Better mid-stroke support is usually one of the main benefits of a coil shock ime, although better volumes in air shocks (and adjuster bands)over the last few years has helped.

got one on my suppressor and its way better than the monarch that was on it before. I’ve always prefered coil to air

I want a Starling Swoop frame . bah humbug.

what did you get exactly ? pics on arrival please

Just ordered so far, due to receive next June ish! Just keeping an eye out for potential Christmas / New Year offers.

I’m tempted by the x2 shock but love the feel of coil.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Rik, Mojo tuned X2 is the one. It was fantastic with the EXT Storia, but it killed some of the life of the steel frame.

My only concern is I had an x2 (Mojo tuned) and while it was very good, I found the initial sensitivity still wasn’t coil standard. I’m fairly light (65kg fully kitted) so think I sometimes struggle to overcome stiction even with decent negative spring.

In the longer term, the obvious answer is to get two shocks but it will be a while before I can afford this!

get a coil, you know it makes sense, If you can get the storia with the frame for a good price I’d go with that.

Mid-stroke support – sorry yep getting my x’s and y’s mixed up!

Joe, I’m definitely interested in the x2, just had concerns as outlined above. Also wondered how well the Fox shock would pair with a lyrik? I’d rather not need (!) to buy a 36!

As the owner of a starling and an x2, both are bloody excellent. Always been a coil fan but the sensitivity of the x2 is incredible. Does make the forks (Lyriks) feel a bit harsh by comparison though!

Mrsi, brilliant, do you run a normal Lyrik? I was hoping they might complement the x2, but sounds like a new fork might be needed…

Vivid Air matches very well with a Lyrik and is a superb shock, if you can live without a climb switch?

Running an rct3 at 160mm. To be honest it’s fine really. Joe leant me an xfusion while the x2 was at Mojo getting sorted and they felt fine with that. I’ve not put the time into setting them up yet so that doesn’t help compared to the shock which came with a base tune for my weight etc.

I wouldn’t buy anything from cane creek at the moment, I’ve got a warranty issue they haven’t responded to in 5 months and multiple emails and if you check the cane creek forum I’m not the only one, they haven’t answered emails in months. Were very good at responding a year ago.

Cane Creek are very busy at the moment. Currently dealing with them regarding a warranty upgrade from a less-than-reliable (but awesome when working) InLine to a DBAirCS.

Bought a second hand DBCoil off of here and it’s also awesome. To the extent I haven’t put the InLine back on. The InLine has been back to TFT 3 times now – stuck down at BPW the last time.

This is on a Banshee Spitfire.

Same shock, same problems. The IL should have been discontinued it’s a defective product. Works amazing, when it works.

From the email I got from Cane Creek 3 days ago, the Inline only got fully updated to deal with the issues from October onwards. Will be interesting to see how it improves things

Considering how many problems they’ve had with the air inline, I’m surprised they didn’t discontinue it, fix the problems, then relaunch under a different model name. I’d be very wary of buying one in case it was’t the latest, latest updated model.

Plus I suspect they won’t make much in OEM sales after the problems they’ve had. Not unlike YT dropping BOS.

Thanks all. Sounds like x2 or vivid to start is probably the best option, I can always get a coil at a later date if I want.

It would be great if the manufacturers offered shock demos!

Ohlins have demo shocks, my local shop (Pearce cycles in Ludlow) has some. Limited in sizes at the moment.

Ooh… Not sure my bank balance can cope with trying out ohlins stuff!

you should go with a coil as thats what you actually want.

riklegge – Member
Thanks all. Sounds like x2 or vivid to start is probably the best option, I can always get a coil at a later date if I want.

Get a proper CCDB if you’re worried about the Inline

I ran an XFusion vector hlr coil with my swoop – email in profile if you wanna chat

Edit – I’m just over the tops in Elland btw

Tmb, fab I’ll drop you an email, thanks!

the inline coil won’t have the same issues the air can have due as it doesn’t have the same seal requirement.

Poah, thanks for the info. It looks like I might be able to try out coil vs x2 on a swoop frame so can decide with a bit more certainty. Thanks everyone for the input, happy Christmas!

The lack of midstroke support is balls, you’ll have more for a given amount of sag – but you’ll have less bottom out resistance.

Incidently, properly shimmed shocks like Vivids, DVO’s, Mazocchis, BOS or Ohlins can be tuned to have progressie shimstacks and be fitted with heavy bottom out bumpers which negate the need for a progressive spring rate. The X2’s can’t be given progressive shimstack tunes (unless modded by avalanche…possibly) because they rely on bleed valves to regulate oil flow. Some shocks, like the Eleven Six, RC4, DHX5 can have the pressure in the piggback altered as well – which alters bottom out resistance. Reviews on the eleven six seem to indicate that it feels just as playful as an airshock.

You can also run less sag and still end up with similar grip that you get with an air shock, due to the more sensitive nature of the coil.

Tom, thanks for that. Out of interest then, what would your choice be in my situation? I also read your thread regarding the coil conversion on pike, would the same conversion work with lyrik?

Yeah, the guy does coils for the Lyriks – my choice would be an Ohlins TTX custom tuned from TF Tuned, a FAST Holy Grail or an Eleven Six if money was no object and I owned a bike that PUSH has developed the shock for.

I’d run a Float X2 on it. Having run one now for about 2 years it’s probably the best shock I’ve ever used, which includes a lot of coils.

I probably wouldn’t even run a coil on a DH bike these days. Air shocks are awesome.

Even the Penske/Re-activ Float on my Fuel is really, really good.

I’m not convinced, I managed to demo both an X2 Float and a DHX2. I had to reduce the volume loads to get the same support as the DHX2, which ended up making it harsher through rock gardens. Enough that my feet would get ripped easily from my flats at speed on the float, whilst I could be pretty lazy with dropping my heels on the DHX2. To be fair though, the difference is pretty slight these days, I mostly notice it in rock gardens.

http://www.mtb-mag.com/en/tested-push-industries-elevensix-shock/

I still really want to try one of these, “flabergasted” is the kind of description I have heard and seen used repeatedly for the Eleven Six. 1200 quid is a lot though…. 😯

I’ve never had an airshock that could go 9 months without a service either…

Other reviews of the 11-6 from actual users are not so great.