Thanks for the review. Have you tried a coil shock on the Nomad? If so, what model? Wondering how that would compare to the Vivid. I want to upgrade the shock, and am thinking about a coil.
Vivid air review
I just got back from 3 days in St. George. We put in 65 miles in those 3 days, and my legs are shot. This was the first time that I got to try the Vivid air out on my Carbon Nomad. It replaced a Fox RP23. The vivid is great! We rode a variety of terrain. For those in the know, here is a comprehensive list of what we rode:
Day 1: Barrels, Zen, Bear Claw Poppy
Day 2: Broken Mesa, Bear Claw Poppy, Barrels
Day 3: Hurricane Rim, Goulds wash, JEM
It was a mix of smooth single track, techy chunky goodness, doubles, drops ect. The Vivid air was an improvement over the RP23 in every aspect, but most noticeable on medium to big sized hits. Square edge bump performance was also improved by a great margin. I fiddled with the LS Compression quite a bit. I left it wide open on Day 3, and the nature of the VPP kept the rear end from bobbing. While hitting the gaps and drops on Barrels, I only hit full travel on a flatish landing. I was impressed. Santa Cruz needs to pull their heads out and start spec'ing their bikes with superior equipment.
Day 1: Barrels, Zen, Bear Claw Poppy
Day 2: Broken Mesa, Bear Claw Poppy, Barrels
Day 3: Hurricane Rim, Goulds wash, JEM
It was a mix of smooth single track, techy chunky goodness, doubles, drops ect. The Vivid air was an improvement over the RP23 in every aspect, but most noticeable on medium to big sized hits. Square edge bump performance was also improved by a great margin. I fiddled with the LS Compression quite a bit. I left it wide open on Day 3, and the nature of the VPP kept the rear end from bobbing. While hitting the gaps and drops on Barrels, I only hit full travel on a flatish landing. I was impressed. Santa Cruz needs to pull their heads out and start spec'ing their bikes with superior equipment.
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I've heard nothing but good things about that shock. You'll laugh at my reason for not wanting a vivid air on my nomad: I use propedal not to reduce bob, but to reduce sag. I run 30% sag, with propedal I'm at 15% which steepens the HA and raises the bb, both help me quite a bit on the ups. I know vpp sucks with prodedal, but the steeper HA is more important to me than vpp working as designed on the climbs. I hate travel adjust forks because you drop your bb, and it's often too big of a geo change. My HA is just south of 66 so reducing sag brings me back up to around 67. I'm sure the vivid out performs my dhx air in every way. I have run a coil on my nomad so I'm sure it feels pretty similar, though I hear it's even better than coil. I've heard the vivid needs more maintenance than other shocks? Any truth in that?
I haven't tried a coil shock on the Nomad, and at this point don't feel I need to. The Vivid air felt pretty darn good on the big hits. As for maintenance, that remains to be seen. I'm sure I'll end up doing a seal kit on it every 50 hours of riding or so, just like I did on the RP3 etc.
Not sure, but don't you have to have special tools or send it to push or something for a service?
Slima - I know exactly what you mean. The PP on my Firebird jacks up the rear end for climbing... very, very useful for a particularly steep climbe we have called "death climb" and 4x4. I might rename it to propedal...
Slima - I know exactly what you mean. The PP on my Firebird jacks up the rear end for climbing... very, very useful for a particularly steep climbe we have called "death climb" and 4x4. I might rename it to propedal...
That may be the case. I haven't looked into at all. I have no problem sending to Push when it finally does need some love.gticlay said:Not sure, but don't you have to have special tools or send it to push or something for a service?
..
The Monarch and Vivid series both lend themselves to some home servicing. By design or by luck, RS seems to have made it relatively easy to service these shocks...their forks too for that matter.
^^ Yeah, this.
The Vivid Air is a little more involved for service. Not impossible, but more stuff to disassemble.
http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/sram/dealers/2011-Vivid-Air-Technical-Manual.pdf
The Vivid Air is a little more involved for service. Not impossible, but more stuff to disassemble.
http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/sram/dealers/2011-Vivid-Air-Technical-Manual.pdf
So any long term reports on this? What the heck happened to El Chingon anyway? I'm bored with my RP23 because it just sits there and soaks up stuff perfectly and I can't mess up the settings 
vivid
I agree EL C - the vivid air makes the bike come alive. Had a 1st then a 2nd gen nomad and never could get the second gen to feel good all around.No longer have a nomad but rode my buddys carbon nomad last year with a vivid air and was really impressed with the ride up and down. The carbon stiffened up the frame and took care of the rear end wag the aluminum bikes have.The really nomad needs to be specked with the vivid. the shock makes the bike ride MUCH better than the other shock options that are offered with it. I hear the Push kit also changes the bike for the better. :thumbsup:
I agree EL C - the vivid air makes the bike come alive. Had a 1st then a 2nd gen nomad and never could get the second gen to feel good all around.No longer have a nomad but rode my buddys carbon nomad last year with a vivid air and was really impressed with the ride up and down. The carbon stiffened up the frame and took care of the rear end wag the aluminum bikes have.The really nomad needs to be specked with the vivid. the shock makes the bike ride MUCH better than the other shock options that are offered with it. I hear the Push kit also changes the bike for the better. :thumbsup:
Is he running the same tune as El Chingon and the other guy (the light setting, dunno what letter that is).dbuilt said:I agree EL C - the vivid air makes the bike come alive. Had a 1st then a 2nd gen nomad and never could get the second gen to feel good all around.No longer have a nomad but rode my buddys carbon nomad last year with a vivid air and was really impressed with the ride up and down. The carbon stiffened up the frame and took care of the rear end wag the aluminum bikes have.The really nomad needs to be specked with the vivid. the shock makes the bike ride MUCH better than the other shock options that are offered with it. I hear the Push kit also changes the bike for the better. :thumbsup:
I'm still here Clay. I'm a full time nursing student, so most of my spare time is spent riding when the weather permits. I'm still loving the Vivid air. I'm headed to Moab and Fruita for a week on May 12, so I'll post up a report and some pics of the trip when I get back. The LyrikDH + Vivid air + NomadC are fast becoming my favorite setup ever. My new Formula The One's will be here this week to replace my 2011 Codes. I love the Codes, but they are a bit on the heavy side. Trying to keep my ride under the 29lb mark.
Cool, care to share your current shock setup? I think we are close in weight.
I dont know the set up. It as a stock shock not a push shock . Just rode it for 1 ride and did not adjust anything. All I can say is I rode the DHX air and coil, rp2 , rp23 and a large volume rock shock air shock on my Version I and II nomad. I never could find a setting with any of the above shocks that made the VII feel as good as the VI. the carbon VII I borrowed was a total different bike in a really good way with the vivid - IMO just have a hard time justifying a $2400 frame and then having to drop another 600+ or more to get a shock to make the bike feel good.I will say the cabon frame is nice and stiff too. also it will take a beating and hold up.gticlay said:Is he running the same tune as El Chingon and the other guy (the light setting, dunno what letter that is).
Was at a Santa Cruz demo (with their trailer) couple of weeks ago, most of the carbon nomads they have to demo are now set up with the vivid air. Course none of the bikes are set up with standard build kits since their trailer bikes are sponsored by sram if my understanding is correct. Bottom line though, the SC guys are aware how good the NomadC is w/the vivid air and I wouldn't be surprised to see it as an option in the future. It really does kick ass.El Chingon said:Santa Cruz needs to pull their heads out and start spec'ing their bikes with superior equipment.
Thread resurrection.. Just bought a vivid air for my nomad c. I'm 80kg. Suggested air pressure? Same as rp23? I ran a 400# pound spring on the coil vivid that I've just taken off the bike. Thanks
You have to mess with it... The neg spring has to be properly charged, etc. I liked about 35% sag on mine.Thread resurrection.. Just bought a vivid air for my nomad c. I'm 80kg. Suggested air pressure? Same as rp23? I ran a 400# pound spring on the coil vivid that I've just taken off the bike. Thanks
Have a play - I can't remember exactly what pressure mine is at, I seem to recall it's a similar PSI to my weight in lbs to run ~30% sag, which I find about ideal.
Been out on it 3 times now since I put mine on. So far, i'm giving it the big thumbs up. Cliche as it sounds, it really does feel like a coil shock, just half the weight
Been out on it 3 times now since I put mine on. So far, i'm giving it the big thumbs up. Cliche as it sounds, it really does feel like a coil shock, just half the weight
I bolted it up, sat on it, twiddled beginning stroke rebound and rode it today. Added two clicks compression. Wow! Like butter. What a fantastic shock. Super stoked on money well spent. Will have to play with air pressure but it felt spot on out of the box. I have the medium tune r & c. A tech trail ride at slow speed rooty and tight trails today. Had sag at 30% out of the box and no bottom outs so I'm pretty comfy that it's not too far from optimal for me. Looking forward to riding some faster stuff with some jumps.
Any new reports yet meta? I was able to try this shock a couple weeks ago at a Rock Shox ride experience. Although I did not get to fiddle with it much, and I think air pressure was probably about 5 psi high, the shock performed awesome compared to my RP23. Interested to here more reports from Nomad riders who have had some time to fine tune it.
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