Coil shock on short-ish travel 29er?

Hi,

Just had reasonable offer of coil shock from friend of mine.
Never used any coil shocks and associate them with rather longer travel and more rowdy part of MTB spectrum…

However… Is that silly to try to put coil shock (CCDB in-line) into Whyte T129?

Cheers!
I.

Pretty much exactly what the CCDB inline is designed for, I’d have thought

Do it.

Thanks for encouragement chaps!

However would love to hear from someone with similar travel/type of bike experience…

Cheers!
I.

I’m running an Ohlins TTX on my Orange Stage 5 (135mm travel). Its mint!

I’ve been running Rockshox Monarchs for last couple of years on various bikes and there is a marked improvement with the TTX.

There’s obviously a weight penalty over an air shock, but the amount of grip and stability that a coil gives you far outweighs this!

A few people have said that it can cause a bike to lose its playfullness but i’ve not found that.

It can take a few rides to dial in your settings (esp with the CCDB), but once you’ve found a good base line you’ll be laughing.

Just make sure you get the correct spring for your body weight/riding style.

ti spring to save some weight? spendy but tasty

Absolutely – if you remove the weight aspect from it, there is probably all the more reason to run a coil, unless you are on an XC race bike.

The lesser amount of travel with a coil shock to me means make the suspension work as well as you can, a coil is an obvious choice.

I’m in the process of putting a coil on my Fuel EX. I’ll be running an Ohlins TTX.

Thanks!

Not fussed about weight.

I was considering Ti spring as from initial calculations on CC website I will need something as silly as 228lb spring.

Not too many off the peg springs below 300lb mark.

So might go for the whole kaboodle 😀

Cheers!
I.

I have a T129 and I would say go for it!

It’s a far from plush bike and whilst this is great for efficiency there are times I’d like something that tracks the ground better. With this in mind, I’d expect a coil shock to be the perfect solution. The travel is short enough to not be too inefficient but it would surely give the back end more ability, which the geometry is just crying out for.

I’d certainly be interested in the result!

Might be minimal weight saving on a ti spring for a smaller shock like that.

Good point

From here: http://linkagedesign.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/whyte-t129-29-2016.html?m=1 looks like the leverage ratio is progressive at the start and then regressive at the end of the stroke, which isn’t ideal for coil.

You may find it bottoms out easily unless the shock has adjustable bottom out resistance.

That said, if it’s from a friend can you give it a test run and see how you get on?

On those graphs what is the ‘ideal’ to look for use with a coil?

140mm travel 29er, absolute beast with the coil on I love mine. Jeffsy does suit it mind.

Thanks!

One more thing to consider

I thought CCDB got all possible bells and whistles, so that might work the trick…

Cheers!
I.

Friend of mine just put one on a geometron g13. His bike now weighs about 35lb but he says it rides fantastic. Downhill at least.

I believe you want the leverage ratio to decrease as it sits through its travel so you want something that drops from left to right overall.

What it does in between will affect how it rides as well but the reducing ratio will make the coil shock harder to bottom out. I think.

Hobnob – where are you getting yours from? Have to say I’m not happy with the performance of the standard shock on my Fuel no matter what I do with it or what MBR say

I thought CCDB got all possible bells and whistles, so that might work the trick…

No bottom out adjustment on a Cane Creek

On those graphs what is the ‘ideal’ to look for use with a coil?

I believe you want the leverage ratio to decrease as it sits through its travel so you want something that drops from left to right overall.

Yeah, as coils are linear, you need the suspension linkage to add the ramp up as the suspension goes through it’s travel.

As air shocks naturally ramp up through the stroke you can have a linear or regressive suspension curve and it still work well.

I’ve tried a coil on a linear bike and needed to use a higher spring rate than on my old bike which had a much more progressive linkage, otherwise it would bottom out too easily. Whilst this worked, it reduced the small bump to worse than the air shock it replaced, making the whole thing a little pointless.

Hobnob – where are you getting yours from? Have to say I’m not happy with the performance of the standard shock on my Fuel no matter what I do with it or what MBR say

It will probably be TF – as it does need to be custom made.

Ouch, that won’t be cheap! Didn’t think I had seen the TTX or CC IL in a stock size that would fit.

Think you mentioned in another thread that a 210 x 55 would give 140mm travel, are you having that done?

No, sadly not – although I can do it through the shop I ride through & get it at trade, it’s still not cheap sadly.

There isn’t an off the shelf size that fits, they start with a 216×63 shock and shorten it, basically.

I think i’m going to keep it as is, as i’m happy with the amount of travel, just not the quality at the moment. Just trying to decide what 150mm fork arrangement to put on the front now also.

I am thinking of putting a coil shock on my Smuggler
Only reason I am not is that I do have a Vitus Summet as the big bike 160 front 155 rear although the Smuggler is bike I ride the most.

Yeah, as coils are linear, you need the suspension linkage to add the ramp up as the suspension goes through it’s travel.

Not good 🙁 That might put the idea out of scope.

Thanks!
I.

At least you know a better air shock will help!

The Fox CTD on my Bandit is awful but the leverage curve is about as weird as it gets and is heavily regressive for 3/4 then turns slightly progressive at the end. I’m really not sure what to do other than a custom tune. I feel a thread looming.