As above.

Thinking of treating myself to a new shock for my birthday in March.

Will be going on an Alpine 160.

What does everyone think?

Thanks

If it’s not a cost or weight dependent decision the CCDBA all the way from all I’ve heard* about it the CTD has too many bells and whistles and is still cursed with the usual Fox air feel. By all accounts the Cane Creek is brilliant, if a little confusing/heavy/expensive.

Having said that it will depend on what type of rider you are. Are you sensitive to suspension or are you a bit numb in that department like me where so long as the front is pretty fast and the rear fairly slow I’m happy.

*Based on other people’s hearsay experience rather than my own admittedly so it may be bobbins.

Float X and have Avalanche revalve it?
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Fox%20DHX/Fox%20Float%20X%20Highlow%20Adjuster%20Kit.htm
Does start to get expensive but it’ll be unbelievably good

Tried out my CCDBA CS at the weekend. It is astonishing.
You cannot feel it working, but hell it works so well, kind of wierd really. The only bike I have ridden that feels as smooth is my DH bike with a coil shock and 200mm travel.
That is with the Factory preset for my Bandit and my weight.

Was a run round Coed y Brenin and Llandegla. Truly astonishing shock.

Also the CS setting is amazing, the shock even works going downhill fast when I left CS on at llandegla yesterday (ok not the most challenging terrain, but it was surprising).

I would recommend one to anyone, they are amazing.

The Nicolai Ion 15 I demo’d had a CCDBAIR on it. I liked it, but it felt like a CCDB… which is to say they feel good at speed but are not lively. With a CCDB on aim for those little rocks beside the trail and they get swallowed rather than used as booters for a little air tomfoolery.

Float X and have Avalanche revalve it?

This is what I’ve done. I had an Avalanche tuned DHX before and it was the best shock I have used. Like a CCDB at speed but lively and only uses the travel it needs on smaller or slower stuff. I bought the Float X off Pinkbike and had it shipped to Avalanche, cost will be on par with a CCDBAir. I’m looking forward to riding it when my frame comes in April 😯

i’d love a ccdb air but got a wc tuned rocco air shock. its amazing compared to the fox shock it replaced

Should hopefully be taking delivery of my ccdba cs (what a mouthful!!!) tomorrow for my alpine, will be replacing a tuned rp23, give the thread a bump next week once I’ve done a couple of decent rides on it and I’ll give you some feedback. No experience of the float x unfortunately, for me it was between the ccdb and a bos vip r but the ccdb was the sensible choice given the potential spares availability issues with Bos – run a deville already so could do without potential problems at both ends!

I’ve got a ccdb air, I find it pretty good. Once you’ve got it tuned in (the base settings from the website were pretty close) it feels smooth and bottomless at high speed over repeated rough stuff, it pedals well enough, and gives decent traction when climbing up a technical ascent.

Its miles better than the fox rp23 I used to have, it is heavier though, which would be a consideration for some.

I ve had both
The ccdba is in a different league
No question about it
Performance & longevity are miles better than the fox
Tuning is easy enough if you follow the instructions

Rockshox monarch plus rc3?

Love my CCDBA on my 5AM. No bob when climbing and was brilliantly controlled in the Alps. Only thing I found was due to my all up weight I had to fit all the volume reducers to achieve the required sag at a sensible air pressure. As for all the other settings once the sag was sorted the stock settings were spot on for me!

The rockshox could be on the list to. I work in the bicycle trade so can get a nice price on rockshox bits.

Any reviews on these?

Thanks

I replaced the rp23 on my alpine 160 for a ccdbc and I thought it transformed the bike, it made a massive difference at hi speed and made drops a lot less sketchy. (at the expense of some peddling efficiency) unfortunately I had to replace my alpine, I now have a nuke proof mega am which came with a rock shox monarch I have been riding this shock for a couple of months but last week swapped it during a trip to bike park wales for the ccdbc again the improvement was immediate. I can’t vouch for the air but the coil in my opinion is worth every penny

Every time I’ve looked for a Fox Vs ‘alternative’ review recently they all seem to perform better!
X-Fusion
DBA
Monarch
BOS

The only exception is if a bike has been built around a particular shock (EVIL Uprising built around the Float X for example), but with simple single-pivots like the Alpine, I don’t think that can play much of a part.

How much do you value, the CTD side of things on the fox shock. I couldn’t live without the ‘C’ setting on mine, though with 180’s up front I spend most of my time in the ‘D’ mode. Sure it wallows a little mid stroke like all air fox shocks do, but a PUSH tune largely sorted that out.

If you don’t need the easily adjustable lockout then go CCDB

really the uprising was built around a float x- seems a bit poor then–

The shock, links and massive portions of the frame sit near the bottom bracket keeping the center of gravity low. That’s a plus. While building the bike, however, we discovered that due to the shock positioning it’s a royal pain in the butt to install or remove the lower shock mount. To clear the chainstay it’s necessary to let the air out of the shock, remove the upper bolt to get an extra few millimeters of clearance, then bottom the shock out. Very tight tolerances to say the least… It’s also nearly impossible to reach the shock’s rebound adjuster without a small allen key – this problem is a FOX Float X issue, not Evil’s.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bikes,3/Evil-Bikes/Uprising,13270#product-reviews/1611

graham, would love to have a bounce on the ccdb, will have to sort out some riding, soon!

Could an RP23 not be tuned to perform the same as the ccdb air?

Every time I’ve looked for a Fox Vs ‘alternative’ review recently they all seem to perform better!
X-Fusion
DBA
Monarch
BOS

I find this funny too; I wonder how much of this is that a stock Fox shock has been replaced with something better tuned to the bike?

The first place to start with any stock shock is to get it tuned for you and your bike.

I had a tuned Fox Float (Pushed by TFT) which felt/performed (IMHO) like a VIPr, and was far better than a standard Fox DHX Coil I also had at the time. The CCDB which replaced the DHX coil was better again, but they were all trumped by the Avalanche tuned DHX air which is the best shock I have used. Get your shock custom tuned before buying a new shock (unless you have one of those OEM shocks which are not worth tuning).

I’m new to the world of full-sus bikes but I am astounded by the performance of the CCDBA-CS with the Spitfire.

Do we reckon a CCDBA-CS would be of benefit on a SC solo or bronson versus the standard shock options (Float CTD with/without kashima) ie on a vpp system as opposed to single pivot? As they climb pretty well anyway, so might be of less benefit, thinking aloud.

The cs seeing feels much better to me than the platform settings on the rp 23 it replaced.

Kimbers – not sure when for a ride but could do somewhere in a couple of weekends time

new cwmcarbn trails open soon, not sure if the new one looks a bit underarmoured for the recent weather?

Only got a couple of weekends free so not sure when or where.
Will have a think and let you know later. Trust me if you try the shock out it will be expensive as you will want one