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Cane creek airshock showdown

Killingtonvt

Monkey
Sep 19, 2005
134
2
Bellingham, WA
Does anybody know the weight difference between identical sizes of Cane Creek air shock? Ie the DB Air and the DBinline? I read 200g online, but that's the difference between a 6.5" shock and an 8.5" shock per the website. My google-fu can't dig anything up.
When I weighed the Inline and the CS last summer there was a 176g difference between the two in the 200mm x 57mm, with our 22.2mmx8mm hardware.
 

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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Got a Monarch Plus RC3 Debonair on the way for the E29. Avy will revalve the stock Evos now and give them the same high/low that the higher end shocks can support, but I think the monarch will probably be a better platform for the riding I like to do. Will post my findings when I have them (likely in a few months when it thaws, unless i get some studded tires)...
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
I went with the DB Inline for my Trance SX, and although i'm only two rides in and still tinkering, it has improved my rear suspension so significantly that the Fox CTD (Evolution) it replaced shouldn't even be lumped into the same product category - where the Fox felt erratic the Inline is incredibly controlled.

Adjusting the air spring volume is a breeze and the range of damping adjustments is more than wide enough to achieve rather extreme tunes for my particular frame. I thought i might miss the quasi lockout of the CTD, but the climb switch is a far better solution and keeps the rear semi active yet very calm during climbs.

Here's hoping it holds up long term.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
I think the CTD Evo belongs with the likes of the Judy T2, Indy, Quarda, Proflex Marshmallow etc. Not much has been that bad to my recollection.

My complaints are probably the same as everyone else with this poor shock, rebound has to be set extremely fast or it packs like crazy, C mode is almost unusable on anything but pavement, causes huge clunk on any kind of bumps. T mode adds decent low speed stability and compression, but poor high speed absorption and D mode just blows through travel and is terrible for compression support in G-outs and anywhere else.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
I think the CTD Evo belongs with the likes of the Judy T2, Indy, Quarda, Proflex Marshmallow etc. Not much has been that bad to my recollection.
Yup, i might as well have stuck a coil spring coated sausage in there and called it a day. The CTD Evo is a special kind of awful though, and i would know, having owned a Proflex, a Nicolai trombone shock, a Judy DH and a 3G Urtho.

I can't make any comparisons to a properly valved Monarch, but for my bike and my riding style it seems like a fantastic fit so far.
 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,067
3,778
sw ontario canada
"...The CTD Evo is a special kind of awful though, and i would know, having owned a Proflex, a Nicolai trombone shock, a Judy DH and a 3G Urtho... "

Bad luck or just a boatload of fail?
 

SDet

Monkey
Nov 19, 2014
150
42
Boulder Co
Ctd factory isn't any better. Went in for warranty after 2 weeks, the rebuilt one doesn't have near enough damping. 170lb, 250psi, 75% travel on a pump track. Something is wrong. Saving for an inline
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
Bad luck or just a boatload of fail?
It's just what was available at the time, either privately or through sponsors. Except for the Proflex, all these parts have been ridden to world cup and world champs wins (not to say that they contributed much).

To me at least, the first suspension product that was actually convincing was the Z1 Bomber.
 

captainspauldin

intrigued by a pole
May 14, 2007
1,263
177
Jersey Shore
Got my CCdbCS yesterday, can't wait to try it out.. swapped it for the dbinline, due to being over the weight limit! DBinline felt good on my mellower trails, but taking it to the bike park or more aggressive trails it just didn't feel right, seemed inconsistent(maybe due to spiking?), but I was at the max psi, and still not getting the right sag... I'm wondering if adding volume spacers can get the dbcs to feel more like the dbinline? Anyone try that?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,919
borcester rhymes
I just picked up an inline, I'm not too worried about it. The biggest whiners are "Don't ask" Richard Cunningham over at Pink Bike Action, and the occasional fresh off the shelf unit that doesn't work out of the box. I'm guessing there are some significant teething issues after cane creek discovered that people actually want quality shocks inside small packages, rather than an awkward approximation of the three kinds of riding that people do. I mean, they messed up the up and down arrows on the rebound side annodizing? "oops"

whatever, it feels better than my fox so far, but the oil surrounding the entire shock area may explain some of that...
 

SDet

Monkey
Nov 19, 2014
150
42
Boulder Co
We use both on our demo bikes, I haven't noticed either needing to be serviced more often than the other. No big failures that weren't quickly fixed by cane Creek either.