[keen]

I am sure this has been discussed but those that have made the jump was it woth it in terms of performance ? Did you go w/ the same shock ? I currently have a 5th Element coil and from what I have read the DHX is a step above the 5th ? Thanx

 

[67degrees]

Shock Jump

I am sure this has been discussed but those that have made the jump was it woth it in terms of performance ? Did you go w/ the same shock ? I currently have a 5th Element coil and from what I have read the DHX is a step above the 5th ? Thanx

I've used 3 different shocks on my Heckler and the latest shock is a DHX Coil 5.0 with the 2.25" stroke. I also have a Manitou 4 Way Swinger Air shock as my backup shock. I've also tried a 5th Element Coil shock. All three are awesome in their own ways. The 4 Way Air is the least noticeable shock of the bunch. What I mean is, the shock works well but you really don't notice any thing unusual through its' travel. It is the best shock for trail riding because it gives you a very firm pedaling platform, it reacts to both small and large bumps and does so very quickly. It can take pretty bigs drops/bumps and seems to soak them up well. It is the firmest ride out of the three. The 5th Element is very good on the trail as well but is a little more active than the 4 way. The beauty of the 5th Element is how smoothly it lands drops and jumps. It soaks up everything and feels bottomless and very controled. It is not the best jumping shock as it is not active in a way that gives you a lot of spring when you leave the lip of a jump. I think the 4 Way probably has a little more spring to it for jumping than the 5th but not by much. Finally I purchased a DHX and upped the shock strok to 2.25". It is the plushest riding of the bunch but also the most active. I still need to play with the adjustments some more to give a total accessment. The DHX definitely is the best jumping shock of the three as it will give a lot of spring off the jump. It seems to me that the shock has the most bobbing out of the three when it comes to climbing. It lands drops and jumps well although I have bottomed it out whereas I never did with the others. I am also running fairly high air pressure and using a spring that is 50lbs over the recommended spring weight for me. I am going to have the correct spring in a couple of days and then I will really work on dialing in the shock. You can notice a difference in the travel with the extra 7/10" of travel. I think you really need to try it with a longer stroke fork as well. I recently picked up a Fox 36 Vanilla with 160mm of travel and combined with the DHX the bike is incredible when hitting a rough downhill run. It really has transformed into a point and shoot machine with that fork. My other fork is a 150mm Z1FR1. It is not nearly as plush as the vanilla and also not nearly as stiff. You can really notice the flex when going from one fork to the next.

If you are buying a shock used then you can probably pick up a 5th Element pretty cheap. Seems like they have fallen out of favor because Progressive is discontinuing production of bicycle shocks. They are going to continue to service them for three years and that company is not going anywhere.

 

[keen]

Thanx for the detailed write-up. I purchased the Heckler w/ light trail bike in mind. Went for its maiden voyage last night and was impressed by the bike in the rough stuff. Still I felt the 5th wasn't as active in the rough stuff and I am pretty sure the spring is a tad soft. I weigh 200lb. w/ gear and have a 350lb. spring. What do you weigh and spring were you using on the 5th ? I currently have a 150mm Z1 FR fork - the fork never had that plush feeling compared to other Z1's I have had. I will probably stick w/ the fork for trail use and would like to stay w/ the 5th. I run a DHX coil on my Bullit and its active nature suits the Bullit well.

 

[m0ngy]

heckler fox dhx 5.0 problems...

hi,

i have an 04 Heckler, and have just replaced my trusty old 5th Element for an 07 Fox DHX 5.0. i weigh about 200 lbs and after asking around decided to go with a spring 50 lbs above the Fox/Santa Cruz recommended. so i got a 400 lbs but i was sitting too far into the travel. so now i've got a 500 lbs spring with no real preload and no added air pressure in the shock (75 lbs), but it just seems too stiff. attmitedly i haven't gone out for a ride yet, but just cruising around the block, off gutters etc. it doesn't seem any better than the 5th Element. what's the deal?

i appreciate your feedback, cheers :thumbsup:

 

[keen]

hi,

i have an 04 Heckler, and have just replaced my trusty old 5th Element for an 07 Fox DHX 5.0. i weigh about 200 lbs and after asking around decided to go with a spring 50 lbs above the Fox/Santa Cruz recommended. so i got a 400 lbs but i was sitting too far into the travel. so now i've got a 500 lbs spring with no real preload and no added air pressure in the shock (75 lbs), but it just seems too stiff. attmitedly i haven't gone out for a ride yet, but just cruising around the block, off gutters etc. it doesn't seem any better than the 5th Element. what's the deal?

i appreciate your feedback, cheers :thumbsup:

Did you ride the bike w/ the 400lb. or just tool around the street ? If in fact you gave the 400lb. a good test why step to a 500lb. and not a 450lb. ?

 

[m0ngy]

you're right...

hi,

thanks for your help. yeah, my lbs are a bunch of f#%kwits. in fact, all the bike shops here suck balls. apparently it's just too much hassle for them to order the right damn spring after i've spent mega $$$ on an after-market shock. gotta be more assertive with these pricks, they just wanna sell huffy's to idiots who'll never come back. :madman:

ok, with the 400lbs spring i was getting too much sag, like 50%+. the santa cruz distributors suggested, as others have here, going 50lbs above the recommended - i'm about 200lbs so the recommended 350lbs spring + 50 would mean a 400lbs spring. i didn't hit the trails with it, but from just sitting on the thing, and minimal cruising around the block, it seemed too soft. felt like it was potentially gonna bottom-out just coming off the curb. the shock came with a 500lbs spring from the fox distributor (supposedly there recommended spring weight), so the lbs just threw that one back on. well, with approx 130lbs air and almost no preload i seem to be getting the right amount of sag, about 17-20mm, but it's real f&%king harsh ride. feels like a brick. i dunno, i'm at a loss. gotta try the 450lbs you say? sounds like a good idea. :skep:

cheers