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Fox Racing Shox Ava RL

MSRP $
Weight 283 grams
# of Reviews 6
Average Rating 4/5
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Submitted by Matthew McCulloch a from Las Vegas NV. USA
Date Reviewed: June 6, 2006
Favorite Trail:Bootleg Canyon
Duration Product Used:2 Years
Purchased At:Bike Stuff
Strengths:Light weight, very adjustable, durable, long lasting, easy to service yourself, very plush...
Weaknesses:NONE!!!
Similar Products Used:5th element, Rock Shox, Manapoo
Bike Setup:Santacruz Superlight, LX hydro brakes, XTR componets, Fox Vanilla 125 RLC.
Bottom Line:Thid shock is awesome, works great on single pivot and vpp bikes. With any Santacruz bike a pro pedal is not needed, i have the 03 model with out pro pedal. I have been hard on this shock for over 2 years now and it keeps on working like new, the lock out works great, the AVA acculy does what it says it does, the reason why its hard to turn the AVA when its pumped up is because your not suposed to, de pressureize it first. nothing out there can beat this shock, i will use it untill i break it, i dont think that will happen.
Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

Submitted by Jason a Cross Country Rider from Johnson City, TN
Date Reviewed: January 27, 2005
Favorite Trail:ETSU, Warrior's Path, Hampton Watershed, Buffalo Mt.
Duration Product Used:1 Year
Price Paid: $350.00
Purchased At:Ebay
Strengths:Adjustability. Good ride.
Weaknesses:Setup quite difficult. Instruction manual blows, Fox customer service blows, lockout is useless(never worked all that great, now it doesn't work at all). Fox said they would service the shock for $100(what a joke, stand by your product).
Similar Products Used:My first rear shock.
Bike Setup:Santa Cruz Superlight
Bottom Line:This shock rides well, and has a lot of adjustability. The lockout is not a true lockout(its supposed to have a blowoff valve). I've never used the lockout except when climbing or when on pavement and it still managed to blow the seal. Fox offered to service the shock for $100. I say if you're going to charge $400 for a shock, stand by your product and at least cut your customers a break. I'll never have another Fox part again. Terrible product, terrible service, terrible prices.
Value Rating:1Overall Rating:1

Submitted by Mike L a Weekend Warrior from Canada
Date Reviewed: November 24, 2004
Duration Product Used:Less than 1 month
Price Paid: $226.00
Strengths:I was very impressed when I first got the shock. It's fairly light and the AVA works well. The shock is also well built, doesn't leak air and is incredibly smooth.
Weaknesses:The only thing I don't like about this shock is how hard it is to turn the AVA screw once you put air in the shock.
Similar Products Used:Fox float R
Bottom Line:Other than being hard to adjust the AVA when you have the right amount of air inside. The shock works exceptionall well. I was impressed when I first tried it, it took the bumps without a problem and much better then my previous Float R. The lock out feature is very useful, easy to use and work well.

Overall, I would recommend this shock to any one. Preferably not to Xc for it's weight but any epic mountain or where weight doesn't really matter
Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

Submitted by aidan a Cross Country Rider from cambridge, uk
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2004
Duration Product Used:1 Year
Price Paid: $680.00
Purchased At:ben hayward cycles
Strengths:super plush, but after a year im still messing about with setting the thing up! lock-out is fantastic though and the low weight is definately a plus
Weaknesses:slightly over-complicated
Similar Products Used:fox vanilla r (std oem shock)
Bike Setup:2001 Schwinn Rocket 88 Stg 3, LX group, manitou scarab super, use atom bar, woodman carbo 400 post, selle italia tt, x317 rims on outland hubs, hope mini discs, ritchey stem
Bottom Line:While getting the shock light weight (air) and lockout were at the top of my list so after a bit of research the fox was looking like the best option and i felt it was worth the relatively high price (£340) as it is so adjustable. i haven't regretted it one bit. i must commend the service from the shop and fox, both delivered exactly on schedule.
Value Rating:4Overall Rating:5

Submitted by Thomas Nicholson a Cross Country Rider from San Diego, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: June 7, 2004
Favorite Trail:Los Peñasquitos Canyon
Duration Product Used:1 Year
Purchased At:Bicyclewarehouse.Com
Strengths:Nice shox with lots of tuning ability.
Weaknesses:Not that customizable. Not good for riders over 200lbs.
Bike Setup:03 Santa Cruz Superlight R
Bottom Line:The shock that came with my Superlight is ok but I would have like to had a chace to try the 5th Air. Since I am a larger rider a coil might even be a better upgrade. Helps to keep the bob at a noexistent level.
Value Rating:3Overall Rating:3

Submitted by Mike a Cross Country Rider from Eastern Pennsylvania
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2004
Duration Product Used:6 months
Purchased At:Came w/ Intense Spider
Strengths:AVA is awesome, Regardless of VPP's anti-bob features, a true lockout is still the way to go for that hard-tail feel (road, etc)
Weaknesses:Weak product manual. Setup can be difficult for an air shock newbie. The AVA requires you to exhaust the air cylinder before adjustments can be made. Field adjustments require you to carry the shock pump. I guess this is to be expected, but you can count on multiple adjustments before finding "your" sweet spot.
Similar Products Used:Rockshox, various older Fox shocks
Bike Setup:Intense Spider
Bottom Line:The spider is my first full-suspension bike, so I have little to compare against. Unless I count the limited use of my friend's bikes. And I'm not about to count the bikes I've ridden at a bike shop. (Of course the parking lot can be rather technical. LOL) In any event, the AVA lives up to what I expected from a rear shock. I gave consideration to the 5th element (air), due to the performance praises.. but I also heard lots of bad feedback pertaining to seals, leaks, etc.. so I stuck with the AVA and haven't looked back since.
Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5






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