Pro's and Con's on Air Shocks against Coil

I've only used coil shocks but am thinking of going for a air shock on the giant in the future as they're lighter, are they're any pro's or con's to air shocks obviously the lighter weight is a pro, but things like service, setup, reliability etc?

depends on which air shock brand you are talking about but i would use air all the time as opposed to coil. you can adjust the spring rate anytime you want with a few pumps and the i have never had an air shock fail on me.

if you're buying a fox i would say go for an rp23 or similar, the propedal adjustment lets you dial out most of the pedal induced bobbing while still retaining the smaller bump sensitivety.

servicing wise, tftuned or mojo(official) can work on both and it's not too daft cost wise.

what bike is it for?

I've tried both types, though not on the same bike and I'd say that air is easier to tune to the correct weight spring (and hence sag), because its just due to the air pressure rather than having to mess about with replacement wound springs, as well as being lighter.

However I've yet to ride a rear air shock, or forks, which are as plush as coil, they seem to suffer from more initial stiction. Coil probably has a few less bits to service than air but there's not much in it tbh, and I've had no reliability issues, though obviously air shocks has some bigger seals to maintain than coil, but as long as you keep em clean its ok.

I'm looking at upgrading an air shock on my Heckler to coil as I'm jumping it harder and taking bigger hits, and I think a coil is better for heavier riding as I worry about regularly bottoming out the air shock.

For a giant mcm990 they're pretty old and come with a rockshox deluxe on them but have seen pics of one on google running a fox air shock and a few others on a forum, I quite like the look of the DT swiss carbon one but its expensive lol

i recently changed my coil fox vanilla to an air float. it feels more progressive and a bit less wooden i do worry about bottoming it out too and i havent managed a proper wheelie with it installed, still prefer though i think. im like nike but better, riding on air since 2009!

I've used air and coils shocks and personally I prefer the feel of the coil shock. However, I'd like to try a Fox DHX 4 or 5.0 Air if I could get one cheap enough. I'm currently running a Fox Vanilla RC with custom spring for my tubby ass
As you may have guessed, weight penalty of the shock really isn't an issue for me.

xizang":1ai30vie said:

I've used air and coils shocks and personally I prefer the feel of the coil shock. However, I'd like to try a Fox DHX 4 or 5.0 Air if I could get one cheap enough. I'm currently running a Fox Vanilla RC with custom spring for my tubby ass
As you may have guessed, weight penalty of the shock really isn't an issue for me.

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i found with the air shock it was more progressive towards the end of the stroke where the air was being heavily compressed although the coil is progressive i dont think its as much.

xizang":32e1l7xe said:

I've used air and coils shocks and personally I prefer the feel of the coil shock. However, I'd like to try a Fox DHX 4 or 5.0 Air if I could get one cheap enough. I'm currently running a Fox Vanilla RC with custom spring for my tubby ass
As you may have guessed, weight penalty of the shock really isn't an issue for me.

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Well I think anything will be plusher or smoother than the rockshox deluxe on it at the minute, I've got a marzocchi rocco world cup on my Balfa and thats a completely different animal so so plush and feels like its got endless travel but then again weight isn't a issue on the Balfa as its a downhill bike lol

are you selling your balfa? is it a bb7? are they retro now?

cyfa2809":1q11qh0n said:

are you selling your balfa? is it a bb7? are they retro now?

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Lol no god no I'm not selling it, I'm a little bit attached to it lol, not sure if they're considered retro probably not, mine is a 2005 model but thats when they ended production you can get older though, the forks are old school shivers though, and the wheelset are is oldschool too, biguns laced sun doublewides although I've considered getting rid of them to get something a bit lighter lol