[uberclyde]

What about a Cane Creek Cloud Nine or Fox RL AVA for Heckler?

Lots of comparisons here on 5th element coil vs. air for the Heckler. Anyone tried the Fox RL AVA or Cane Creek Cloud Nine instead of the 5th E air? I run a Cloud Nine on a Sugar and it is hands down the best air shock I've ever ridden, plus Cane Creek provides the best customer service on planet earth. Not sure if they make one for a Heckler but curious......

 

[TNC]

The falling rate of the Heckler's suspension.

Lots of comparisons here on 5th element coil vs. air for the Heckler. Anyone tried the Fox RL AVA or Cane Creek Cloud Nine instead of the 5th E air? I run a Cloud Nine on a Sugar and it is hands down the best air shock I've ever ridden, plus Cane Creek provides the best customer service on planet earth. Not sure if they make one for a Heckler but curious......

The Heckler is designed to work better with a stable platform shock, but an air shock does offer a higher rising rate that a coil shock, so, though not the optimum setup, it would probably be rideable. I experimented with a Cloud 9 on a Bullit which has a linear, but somewhat similar rear suspension design. Though it worked, it was a little mushy under anything but really smooth pedaling. This tells me that a Heckler would be even softer because of it's falling rate.

 

[AL29er]

I wouldn't do the cloud nine. Since the lokout is basically a non damped/small volume it turns into a bouncing mess for those of us not blessed with a smooth pedal rate. I ran one on a 4 bar bike and was not impressed. I can only imagine the feedback it would give on a single pivot rig.

Ava would probably work out better. A friend of mine swapped back to an ava on his blur after his third 5th air blew out. Nothing quite matches the fox shocks for durability.