Coil shock vs air shock

Just idly wondering about rear shocks tonight. Have been considering replacing the Deluxe RT (with Megneg) shock on the rear of my Bird Aether 7 with a Cane Creek Db air IL for a while but wondering if I’d see a huge benefit. Will it be plusher, or will the mid stroke hold up better etc? I quite like a poppy feel rather than a magic carpet like ride.

Then I wondered about coil shocks and something like a db coil. Can coil shocks still be poppy or will it likely flatten everything out better. If it was setup right could it have better small bump and mid stroke ‘support’ (cliche alert 🤮) but still be poppy?

The Aether is a 130mm rear travel trail bike and it’s quite progressive as frames go so can be run with a coil apparently. The rear suspension setup resists Bob fairly well.

Just a load of random thoughts on a page really. Final thought is if I lock my rear shock (or actually pedal platform vs fully open on what I have) I’m terrible at remembering to re-open it again at the start of a trail. So having a coil shock where I’d need to use a pedal switch wouldn’t work for me.

Maybe a db air il would improve the ride somehow more than a db coil?

I had my Aether 9 out today for it’s first ride on a Cane Creek DB IL coil. You can basically tune it to ride how you want. I made a few tweaks for the base tune and even running a lot of sag on mine, I got it to be poppy, but still gobble up small bumps!

I have been down the other route you mentioned (swapped a Monarch for a CC DB IL Air on my Hightower). The Cane Creek shock transformed the Hightower and really unlocked it’s potential (especially downhill!).

I’ve also had the same coil shock on another bike, which is why I’m glad I have another, they are just really good. I actually forgot about the pedal switch on mine, doesn’t need it on the Aether 9, so I suspect it will be the same for the 7 too.

The DB coil’s climb switch isn’t a full lockout too. I think it just fully winds on the LSC (low speed compression), so it firms up, but still retains traction. The climb switch on the air version on the Hightower worked really well I thought.

So, I’d say they’re my favourite shocks for the money 🙂

Climb switch switches to a separate damping circuit, which has more LSC & rebound… it’s the fact that it does both that marks it out from others. If you want to keep ‘pop’, stay with air… because you can fine tune the air volume as well as the pressure (where as with a coil, without swapping coils, you just have the damping to play with). Nothing matches a coil for ground sucking grip though.

coil makes a lot less difference to plushness when you’re talking about a rear shock instead of a fork – all that leverage means the stiction in seals etc is more easily overcome, and you don’t notice the performance of a rear shock as clearly as a front fork anyway.

I just leave the (air) shock in my trail bike wide open at all times. Pinkbike did a test where it showed a 1% drop in climbing performance, fairly bro-science for sure, but not worth it for me

Switched to a coil on my Jeffsy last August. Brilliant thing, and the DBCoil IL lockout slows down both the low speed rebound and compression. And with the 4 way adjustable compression/rebound you’ll be able to set it up plush and planted and poppy.

TBH I only ever use the climb switch for properly long road climbs.

Maybe a db air il would improve the ride somehow more than a db coil?

The Air Inline would be my first choice for a mid-travel trail bike like that, I’ve had them on a couple in the past and really liked the feel. They don’t smother the trail the same way a coil or DBair can (which is what I do want on my bigger bike).

You can get a certain amount of pop from an adjustable coil shock – especially with a progressive spring – but it’s just overkill for my purposes.

I’ve been thinking the opposite and swapping my deluxe ultimate coil for a cc kitsuma air. Was hoping the large can shocks might be a good compromise between coil plushness and that poppy air shock feel

Poppy coil shocks can be had. Bit of a myth that they aren’t I feel

My super deluxe ultimate coil feels way more poppy now I have gone up a spring rate. It’s just not as plush as it was. Small difference though!
Think there are damper tuning options but haven’t looked into that yet

Can you borrow a shock/ test someone else Aether with a coil joe?

Aether 7 feels nice with a coil to me. However I’ve never run it with an air can (I like coils).

Poppy coil shocks can be had.

Yes they can. By getting the right coil (which might mean having different spring options to swap in/out to try things out). The big volume air shock just have the advantage of being tuneable with volume spacers and air pressure.

Hmmmn, think there’s going to be equal support for both options 🤔

Very tempted just to get the db air il because I don’t need to mess about with spring rates on coil springs then. Although coil shocks do look ace – one with a nice red spring would go well with my red forks.

depends what you define poppy as I suppose. I just use a bunch of slow speed compression damping to get a poppy feel, which stiffens the shock up as you push into it on a jump or similar. Works for any spring mechanism

Coils look sick too, which , lets face it, is the most important.

They do look ace tbh

I put a ohlins coil on my 2017 Smuggler (after I’d seen lots of other people do it). It’s brill.

I put a coil on a Nicolai CC which has a regressive linkage.

Nice and firm and tracked the chatter with non of that nasty air spring stichion you can get and no wallowing around.
Used full travel and made the BO bumper work when needed with none of that nasty buckaroo action you can get with air springs, you could preload and pop without getting sent into a front flip…

It did require a few spring changes to find the sweet spot and it ended up lowering the BB and slaking it out a wee bit because sag was something something probably more than whatever but I never stuck a measure on it…. sweet setup and not much heavier than a decent air shock with a ti spring.

I have a ohlins tx22 coil on my firebird set up by the beautiful people at tftuned and it rocks the disco

it will make the bike feel less poppy for sure, unless you are over sprung in which case it will feel poppy at the expense of grip.
you can try and tune some pop back in but if you are just aiming to replicate what you already have but with a coil whats the point?
without understanding what is wrong with your current shock, or what you are trying to achieve with the new one its impossible to offer much of an opinion.
nothing wrong with just getting one to experiment with though, although i would go for a TTX rather than a DB

I love these sort of threads. I have deluxe ultimate and often think about whether an air db inline would be better, or a db coil, or maybe an air piggypack shock, or just megneg what I have…etc.

But then I ride what I have and it’s fine. The second fastest rider at the mash-up southern enduro at the weekend was on an alu hardtail. Made me re-think my body positioning in corners the day after – immediately faster! Anyway, I don’t need to improve my bike. I need to improve me.

But enough of my ramblings. The db air il is an awesome bit of kit in a small package and can be tuned to do most things. I would go for that.

I think I’m just wondering if there’s ‘more’ of something to be had from a better shock. Could I keep some pop but also have a bit more grip / comfort from a shock with better / more refined damping?

I see comments online that changing to a better shock has made a bike better and faster and I’m on the bottom rung of Rockshox deluxe shocks – just with a Megneg to stop it charging through its mid range. I’ve literally got one rebound damping adjustment and nothing else damping wise. With the Megneg I can tune the negative spring size and I can use positive tokens for ramp up but I’m running none of those since the megneg (had 2 in before) and not bottoming out.

Running about 30% sag currently – needs 220 psi in the shock for that.

I think I only have an additional bit of low speed compression damping over the rt and only run a click or 2. Not much. If the shock is fine, then stick with it if you like a poppy ride.
Give Dan at Bird a call – he will probably have the right recommendation if you need to change.

Yeah I wish I’d stumped up the extra for the deluxe ultimate at the time of purchase now (and the same as when I bought the Aeris 4 years ago I’d not cheaper out on the fork and got the non-boost version instead of boost as it saves £60).

I think the db air il probably is what I should go for if I fancy a change. Ultimately the bike is great but I just like to change bits on it from time to time. The fork is fine (I’d like a pike ultimate rc2 to save a bit of weight) and with a view to a 29er in the next few years it’s not worth changing just to save a bit of weight on it.

However the shock could carry over to an Aether 9C as it’s the same eye to eye and stroke length.

I have not long received an Aether 7 and I am finding the ride quite harsh when it gets a rough, I am coming from an Aeris with DVO diamond fork and a monarch plus RCS shock. I have just the Pike select fork and it doesn’t seem great to me. I’ll probably upgrade the damper at some point or swap the fork for another DVO. Like yourself I do fancy a coil shock, but cost will nock that back so maybe try the meg neg first. Personally I always find if I have a hankering for something then eventually it will happen, so Id advise just to get a coil shock 😁

Haha – I’ve got a Yari on the front of mine that has the b1 debonair air shaft, charger 2 rct3 damper / skf seals and is now red with Lyrik decals (as it’s essentially a Lyrik). I find that pretty good – but I’m sure my Pike ultimate rc2 on the hardtail is plusher – plus being boost can fit bigger winter tyres through easier.

I don’t find the back of the Aether too bad – at Rowberrow the other day it felt pretty good. I just wonder if I’m missing out on a better shock. I like the look of coil but less like the weight and having to get the right spring. I also don’t want the bike to feel totally glued down to the ground.

I think I might go for the air il – it looks shinier than my Deluxe so it must be better!

Edit – to add I had a 145LT Aeris before this with the same fork set at 170mm travel and an rt3 deluxe with Megneg.I don’t feel the Aether slows me down too much on really chunky stuff and for the majority it’s quicker.

I was struggling on the last descent at Cwmcarn the other day with borderline cramp in my trailing leg. My mate seemed to be getting an easier time on his SC 5010 with dpx2 on it. Maybe he’s just fitter then me – but I’d like to rule that out!

Here is my experience with my Aeris 120. I have had a RS Deluxe RT3, a RS Super Deluxe RT3, a RS Super Deluxe RT3 with MegNeg, a Marzocchi Bomber CR and finally a Ohlins TTX Coil over the last 3 and a half years. Also in that time I bought the LT linkage as soon as it came out, extended my forks to 140mm and installed an angleset so the head angle is a around 65 degrees (same as the Ather 7).

The RS Deluxe RT3 was good for what I wanted at the time, the upgrade to the RS Super Deluxe RT3 was small but noticeable as I started to ride downhill more. I found if I ran enough pressure for the mid stroke support I wanted, I had to sacrifice the small bump sensitivity. When the MegNeg came out I bough one straight away and this gave the small bump and mid stroke I was after; but the extra pressure required meant I rarely used the last bit of travel. So the balancing act moved to sagging too much vs bottom out resistance.

I saw a second hand Marzocchi Bomber CR in the right size and as I was coil curious I went for it even though it was a M M tune which isn’t quite right for the Aeris 120 (or Ather 7). But I just preferred the feel of the coil, the suppleness is just fantastic and it doesn’t ramp up the way the RS Super Deluxe RT3 with MegNeg did (with the progressive linkage). I was running a 400lbs spring and bought a 375lbs spring to test going a little softer.

Before I put the 375lbs spring on, I decided to just go all out and commit to coil by buying a coil shock with the right tune for the bike. I called TF Tuned who recommended the Ohlins TTX Coil and they could tune it to my bike, weight and what I ride. Whatever they did to the Ohlins, it is brilliant. I’m using the 400lbs spring and it seems to sag more than the Marzocchi Bomber CR; but still gives the mid stroke support I want (I won’t be putting on the 375lbs spring as I don’t want to run more sag). On rough downhills it just seems to let a certain amount of feedback go through to the rider, and anything harsh it will just soak it up. My feet are much calmer on my flat pedals with the Ohlins TTX Coil than any of the other shocks and I just love the feel of it.

I don’t think air is better or worse than coil, it’s just what you prefer on the bike you ride. For me that’s coil on the 120LT; I don’t even notice the extra weight and I got TF Tuned to not bother with a climb platform (they gave me an extra HSC setting instead) as the 120LT climbs so well anyway. I believe the Ather 7 has even more anti squat than the 120 did.