I'm just contemplating changing the coil on my nomad from a steel to a titanium one! Other than the weight saving, are there any other 'real' advantages?

i use a heavy spring but ti gave me small bump sensitivty back over steel one

I thought that was the only reason! The bigger the spring, the bigger the saving – not for your wallet though.

Jedi – are you saying small bump sensitivity is a good thing or a bad thing?

I'm only just under 11 stone and I have been playing with different coils, I started with a 450, then a 400 and now a 350 which is very plush, so having decided on the coil size I was just trying to see if there was an advantage in paying 4 times the price for the titanium one?

What size and brand are you looking at?

I was looking at a fox 2.8 350 (i think 136mm) and from mojo i'm looking about £199!

no its a good thing. enabled me to set my bike up for big drops and keep sensitivty for small hits

so Jedi, why did you swap back to steel?

Go second hand.. I have a 350lb of my 2.75 stroke DHX that'll be for sale if I find a 400lb to buy..

Ok rock, I'll check if that'll fit! what length? how much 🙂

Can check for you.. whatever it costs to replace!

146mm. Email in profile..

nomadic, i didnt swap back. i love the ti

Jedi, got you!!! my mistake 😀

you'll only save about 100g changing to a Ti spring.

you can save more than 100g for less money if you look at other components…

Assuming it's a linear spring rate, a spring is a spring – ti wont give you anything else other than weight loss, and if it's not a linear spring rate you can get that with steel ones anyways, just heavier. Weight (And bling) is the only reason for ti springs.

100g? I saved over a pound with my old one!
Personally I would suggest having your shock shimmed to your weight and the bike its fitted to before buying a ti spring.
For example I had a DHX5 coil fitted to my old V10, I ran a 550lb spring as I found this was the best weight spring that worked for me after trying quite a few. But it still seemed to sit in the sag when trying to lift over roots/rocks etc. Mojo mentioned to me that the dhx5 is set up out the box to work with a 450 spring, any other weight and it wont perform to its maximum. I had it shimmed to my weight and for the V10, then fitted a 500lb spring, the difference was unreal. You would think a lighter spring would couse it to sit in sag more, but with it being setup properly, completely the oposite. Trust me, its worth spending the money. The DHX on my nomad will be going after xmas.
hope this helps.

Titanium coils – a good thing?

ANY form of contraception is a good thing on this overpopulated rock of ours.

100g? I saved over a pound with my old one!

hmmm… over a pound you say? 😕

1lb = 453g

V-10s use 2.75" stroke shocks don't they?
a 2.75" stroke DHX steel spring weighs about 550-600g.
So are you saying your Ti spring weighs less than 150g or are you talking out your arse? (FWIW your Ti 500×2.75 will more likely actually weigh somewhere in the region of 350-400g)

as for the rest of your advice, I'd agree custom tuning the damping on a shock is well worth doing, but only really if you know what you want, sounds like Mojo has you eating out of their hands. 😆

my bag, closer to half a pound then, either way its a weight saver and pretty pimp, and yeh the boys at mojo have got it sorted. each to thier own!!

no worries, at an educated guess the OP will be able to lose somewhere around 150g by switching to Ti, just wouldn't want him to waste £200 thinking he'd save 3 times that.

IMHO the only real advantage other than weight savings of Ti springs is that they are generally a lot more accurately rated (spring rate) than most steel springs. They do have a few disadvantages too, Ti is weaker and less durable and will often rub shock bodies more during compression than steel.

How can a spring affect "bump sensitivity" (whatever that is)? The main characteristics of a spring are:
1) rate (possibly variable due to winding)
2) weight (depending on dimensions & density)
3) hysteresis (negligable for metals)

assuming the springs have a similar rate for the same purpose, changing the material on affects the weight

bump response depends on the damping

I agree with Coffeeking and sfb from a logical stand point. However, I fitted a ti spring over a year ago and it does feel more supple and quicker to respond to the trail. It does feel more supple over the small stuff without losing big hit capabilities. I can't explain it, it doesn't make sense, it just feels better.

no Mike, you saved about a quarter of a pound.

my steel spring weighs 460g – i've weighed it, calibrated scales and everything.

(it's a 2.75" 450lb spring)

Mojo CLAIM that thier equivalent weighs 318 grams, saving me a whopping 132grams.

(a Ti spring is on my excel-spreadsheet of weight saving steps to take, but it's way below lighter/tubeless wheels, ti-mag pedals, carbon bars, Xt cranks and half a new headset (it's complicated))

Onzadog, i hope you keep your CD's in the fridge…

Q: Does a Ti spring have different 'speed'/inherent damping compared to steel?

Sorry but I'm another one to agree with the 'Ti is lighter but that's it' side – how can it offer different small bump sensitivity? Springs are simple and well understood so unless the suggestion is that steel has high hysterisis (which it doesn't) then there's no way that there can be a real-world/significant difference.

Now, of course, you may 'feel' a difference but I'm sorry, I'd be confident of putting that in the same category as all the HiFi mods discussed at length in another thred – eg placebo/feeling what you want to feel.

Different number of coils in a Ti spring than a Steel spring normally, I can see how this might theoretically change its performance. Less binding as the spring doesn't try and "turn" as much when compressed? In practice the damping circuits of the shock make the real difference I'd have thought.

There will be a tiny difference but then there will be a difference between the same 'weight' springs from different companies (or even from the same company). It's just that those differences will make sweet FA real difference to your ride.

I'm considering changing one of my shocks to a Ti spring, mostly for the weight saving, but also because I have been told that there are small performance benefits.

I'm guessing the difficult issue is how quantifiable is the increase in performance is, when compared to the price tag?

You can measure the weight difference, but reading above (those people who have actually ridden one), the benefits appear to be pretty good.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/jan/14/badscience.uknews

Same thing…

Gavin, I do have a Ti spring on my main DH bike, the main reason I bought it was the 375lb spring rate (not available in steel) my DH bike has a pretty low leverage ratio and my ideal spring weight is right between my 350lb and 400lb steel springs. I don't believe Ti feels any better but the correct weight spring offers far more in performance than any percieved magical qualities of Ti..

for those of you that do believe Ti offers better performance, how do you choose which Ti spring to use? there's actually a pretty big difference between the main Ti spring manufacturers springs

Thats interesting GW as I'm right between sizes too.

Thanks for the info.

It would be instructive to disconnect the damper and see how the springs compared then as you pogo-ed down the trails :o) Boingtastic!