[Nagaredama]

I finally got around to replacing the 5th Element on my 2004 AS-X with a ROCO TST. Whew what a big difference. It is so plush and can locked with the flick of a switch. Took the ole AS-X up to Mammoth over the weekend and it felt awesome.

 

[Quarashi]

RRRRrrrr,,, Sexy! How does the TST help with the climbing. Can you compare it to a DHX?

 

[Prexus2005]

Nice! I'm about to do the same... I was also up at Mammoth from the 1st till the 4th! all the riding took it's toll on my 5th element and made it leak. =/

I do have a question.. did you do the replacement yourself? Did you have a AS-X RateLink tool? or did you have a shop swap out the shocks?

Thanks,

Phil.

 

[crisillo]

nice! :thumbsup:

 

[Damon]

Looks sharp. The 5th Element on my '04 ASX just died and I'm looking at the Roco TST as the replacement. I had a couple of questions though. Does the Roco take a special shock pump to air up the piggy back unit? Does the AM setting actually work if your going to ride it other than downhill? What fork are you running? I have a Manitou Breakout Plus with an SPV valve and don't know if I can get it to match the plushness of the Roco.

 

[Nagaredama]

Hey Guys-

Here are answers to everyone's questions...

Quarashi:
The locked out position fells nice and stiff. It is pretty much locked out. I did a little 12 mile loop on Saturday that involved a climbing up a steep paved road and some singletrack. Standing up to climb felt awesome, definitely helped with the mushy feeling of the AS-X. I wish it would lock it out a bit more, when climbing in the 24 ring the pedal feedback is still pretty bad.

Prexus2005
I think I saw you at Mammoth. Do you have BB7 brakes?

Yes, I did the replacement myself. I have the Yeti Ratelink tool and as long as you follow the instructions pressing the bushings in is a snap. I also replaced all my pivot bearings at the same time. That made a huge difference in how the bike felt too.

The hardest part of the install was getting the busing lined up on the eyelet closest to the reservoir. The Yeti tool doesn't seem to have a way to center that bushing perfectly. Luckily I could press it in by hand and make minor adjustments to get it in.

Damon
The ROCO uses a standard shock pump. I'm using the Fox pump that came with my 575. So far I've only used the lock out setting and one click in from full open. When I ride on Thursday I'll try the middle settings. I'm running a 170mm Marzocchi 66RC2X. When I bought the bike it had a Sherman Breakout Plus. I would highly recommend getting rid of that ASAP! It is by far the worst fork I've ever used. If you can afford a 66 or Totem it is well worth it. JensonUSA has the 66RC2X for $529 right now which is a steal. http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/FK402A14-Marzocchi+66+Rc2x+07.aspx

My major compliant is with the rebound adjustment. Of the say 15 clicks of adjustment, 1-14 are all about the same, super fast, and 15 is way too slow to be usable. Luckily Marzocchi USA is a just up the road from me and I'll be taking the shock in to have it looked at pretty soon.

 

[bsphere]

i have an 06 170mm 66rc2x, i close my rebound 21 clicks from fully opened (fastest) so maybe your fork is broken

 

[Prexus2005]

I was up at mammoth from Monday till Wednesday... I think I also saw the ASX with BB7's.. but it wasn't mine. I'm now running Formula K24s. They worked awesome on Kamakaze runs! I was afriad to let go of the brakes for more than 2 seconds lol. I'll have to go up to 2.5 tires from 2.35 next time.

I haven't decided on which shock to go with yet.. Marz TST, Fox DHX 5.0 or Cane Creek Double Barrel... hmmm

Oh, I emailed Yeti tech support and was told that the ratelink tool is out of stock for another week or so. but he said that the DHX is superior to any thing else currently on the market... *shrug*

I understand what you are saying about getting the bushing lined up in the eyelet closest to the reservoir because looking at my 5th Element, it's poorly lined up right now. blah.


Phil.

 

[Nagaredama]

bsphere
The rebound on the fork feels fine, the rebound on the shock is what needs work.

Prexus2005
I too talked with Yeti and they said the DHX coil was the best option. Of course they're also part of Yeti-Fox Racing so I expected to hear them say that. After reading about the DHX and the TST on the Turner I decided the TST was the way to go. Aside from a PUSH'ed DHX the TST felt better. The shock feels so plush on big hits and fast rocky stuff and yet can be locked out. You really can't find that kind of shock anywhere else. The CCDB seems like an awesome shock but for the price I wouldn't be able to justify it. Maybe on a DH bike where I wouldn't be pedaling unless I was pointed down.

I ran 2.7/2.5 Nevegals. I broke a couple of rear spoke and now the the 2.5 is rubbing but that is to be expected.

I can't wait for the ROCO TST air to come out. I can finally ditch the POS DHX Air.

 

[Quarashi]

Those paved climbs are just terrible! How much did you get the TST for? A lock out seems like a really good idea for the AS-X. The propedal just doesn't do the job on the DHX.
But the blue knobs on my DHX seem to have a way of staying eternally shinny, and they go well with the orange bike . We all know how very important color is in these matters!

 

[Nagaredama]

The ProPedal knob on the DHX should be labled "slow speed compression". My friend has a DHX-C on his Saber and used to run the ProPedal either open or closed thinking it only affected pedaling. Once he started to run it in the middle did bike start to perform well.

 

[Damon]

Nagaredama

Thanks for the response and the link to the 66 fork. I think it would be a great match to the Roco. Can't do it at this time though. I see that you are running 2.7/2.5 Nevegals. How do you like that set up? I put the same thing on my ASX and haven't been able to try them out yet since I didn't notice the shock problem until I put everything back together and found that there was no damping at all on the 5th Element. I was a little worried that they may have been too much tire for the bike. Only ran 2.35 up until now.

The DHX Air must be on the 575. I have to agree with you that it is a terrible shock. There was one on the Nomad that I had for about 6 months, and I never did get used to it. Got rid of the Nomad instead of trying another shock and bought a 575 with an RP23 since I liked the ASX so much. The 575 works much better for me and I can do technical climbs again.

I'm anxious to here how the Roco does in the AM setting.

 

[Nagaredama]

Nagaredama

Thanks for the response and the link to the 66 fork. I think it would be a great match to the Roco. Can't do it at this time though. I see that you are running 2.7/2.5 Nevegals. How do you like that set up? I put the same thing on my ASX and haven't been able to try them out yet since I didn't notice the shock problem until I put everything back together and found that there was no damping at all on the 5th Element. I was a little worried that they may have been too much tire for the bike. Only ran 2.35 up until now.

The DHX Air must be on the 575. I have to agree with you that it is a terrible shock. There was one on the Nomad that I had for about 6 months, and I never did get used to it. Got rid of the Nomad instead of trying another shock and bought a 575 with an RP23 since I liked the ASX so much. The 575 works much better for me and I can do technical climbs again.

I'm anxious to here how the Roco does in the AM setting.

I only run the 2.7/2.5 combo for Mammoth because the soil is sooo loose. I normally run 2.5/2.35 Nevegals with DH tubes (to avoid flats). I'm thinking of switching over to some Michelin or Schwalbe enduro tires in hopes of losing a pound of so of weight and still not have any flats.