Well after
this thread, here's my quick review of the Fox DHX 4 Air shock, and specifically how it works on my '08 Meta 5.5.
Hopefully some might find it useful (I'll try not to blab on about it too much!)
First a bit of background on why I got the shock:
I've been getting a bit disheartened with performance of the Meta lately. From new it felt very stiction-y and not at all plush even with a ridiculously soft shock setup.
Having ridden the bike for almost a year now I figured it would be bedded in now, and after checking the bushings and bearings for play/friction I reckoned the problem lied squarely with the stock Float R shock.
So anyhow onto the shock. Bought it from RealCycles for a great price (it was cheaper for me to buy this than to get the Float tuned by TFTuned) fitted it up and took it out for a ride. The DHX 4 has a normal air chamber as well as a 'boost valve' which allows you to tweak the compression damping.
I initially started off with the same air pressure as my Float R (190PSI), the minimum in the boost valve (75PSI) and pro-pedal wound to 0 (there are 11 clicks of adjustment).
Here's how it looks:
I found that the shock was far too soft in this guise, and kept adding air until I got the right amount of sag (this was at about 205PSI) and took it for a ride.
WOW!
This thing is a revelation -the Meta now feels like a proper full sus bike! Small bumps (eg rocks 1-2inch in height) disappear almost completely. Medium / large bumps were handled well too, but the shock felt a little too happy to give up its travel. On jumps and drops it felt a bit out of it's depth.
To stop this I thought i'd add some pressure to the boost valve (and thus increase the compression damping). D'oh! Of course the linkage is in the way of the boost valve. There's a simple if slightly awkward solution though - undo the top shock mounting bolts and slide the shock forward. This allows you to sneak a shock pump onto it.
Not exactly great for making trail-side adjustments but at least you don't have to completely tear the thing down to get to it!
Anyhow, I upped the pressure in the BV quite a bit to 130PSI, (75PSI min, 200PSI max). This added quite a bit of compression damping to the shock, especially on mid-sized bumps taken at speed. The rear end of the bike now feels fully active, but controlled. Much more in line with the Push'd Pike I'm running on the front.
Traction uphill on rough ground is fantastic and predictable, as is cornering when heading back down the hill.
I did briefly experiment with the ProPedal settings. I found that with the full 11 clicks engaged, it felt a tad more active than the Float R it replaced, and bob when climbing was all but eliminated. That's not to say PP is necessary though, I was perfectly happy climbing with the ProPedal on 0 clicks. Probably good to have if you've got to use the roads to link bits of trail up, however.
In conclusion, this is a great shock and has really transformed the ride of my bike for the better. The only real negative so far is the issue with access the boost valve being hindered by the linkage but it's not too much of a problem really.
Hopefully this'll be useful to those unhappy with the performance of their Meta's suspension. It's hard to describe how much better it rides!
Andy.
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May 23, 2012, 09:06:00 PM
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