[Closed] Cane creek inline reliability

I've been running mine for a few months and so far... touch wood.. mine's still fine.

Apparently the shocks with blue seals visible are uprated and shouldn't have the reliability issue.

Mine lost damping after 4 months, fixed under warranty by TF tuned last month and had new blue scraper seal.

Mine blew it's seals a couple of weeks ago but a service has put it right it would appear, that's after 16 months use (although it was an antur uplift day that did for it). I don't think it's as good a shock as the db air though.

I bought mine secondhand from the forum a few months back, after it had a major warranty rebuild.

So far, so good. I'm no flyweight, but the shock seems to cope with an idiot riding it. It's very active, the climb mode is sympathetic to comfort too.

For what bike? apparently they don't get on with specialized yoke mounts, sideways movement in yoke + ccdb inline = sad face. Specialized replaced them all with monarch plus debonair which can be had new for about £250 from r2-bike.

For other mounts I have no idea on reliability.

Excellent shock. Coming up to 12 months on mine, hasn't missed a beat.

Still working great for me after a year and a bit. I think the problems were on high leverage frames with heavier riders.

Its for a nukeproof mega tr, anyone tried one on a mega?

Got one on my Gyro 18 months. Lost damping after a few months but has been sweet since. Needs its first service soon because the bike does lots of miles.

They also don't getting with the ibis HD3 linkage, work fantastic however I'm on my second one in a year and it's broke again and needs to go to Tf tuned to be fixed, save a few quid and get the float x2

Float x2 looks good but its another £150 and i was kinda pushing it a bit looking at a new £350 shock, the ccdba i got off ebay was £177 which would have been great if it hadnt turned out to be knackered. Not sure how long i would have to wait for another to come up and then theres the chance ill end up with a dud again.

If cost is a concern you could do far worse than the monarch+deb, I like mine. I've never ridden ccdb, float x2 etc but its a lot better than the fox float ctd/rp2/push and all that sort of thing I've used before, and either cheaper or more reliable than the other shocks people lust after.

So the question is inline for £330 or dbair cs for £450? Sure i read somewhere the the db air cs wasnt actually as good as the standard db air?

I think the issue was more that the climb switch isn't really needed on the db air if you've set it up properly.

I've seen some frothing on here about the CS version allegedly being inferior, but from one of the usual suspects IYKWIM.

I had the CS Inline and while you didn't "need" the CS - it was very useful indeed and much better than Fox or RS propedal-type systems.

On the subject of the Inline, mine was fixed under warranty but then popped again - so while it was an exceptional shock performance wise, I wouldn't buy another.

got the db air on my norco sight, I love it. Agree with mrhoppy, at 14 stone I can set it up and climb and descend without needing to touch the climb switch. If it broke I'd fit another one. great shock.

I had the CS Inline and while you didn't "need" the CS

The damping system on the inline is less effective than the db air though so you do need to resort to the climb switch more.

Love my inline. 18 months with it on a Banshee with no issues. Couldn't believe how good it was compared to the fox rp23 on the previous bike. I understood that most of the failures were with specialized bikes who had the initial production run.

It had started to feel less impressive for the last couple of months after plenty of miles so just had it serviced by tft. Came back with the blue seal showing so hopefully any potential gremlins fixed. Rode like a dream at CyB last weekend.

I would go for a db air without the climb switch if i could find one the right size but they dont seem to do them in 190x50 anymore. Gutted as planet x were selling them for 300 but sold out now (whilst i faffed buying a faulty second hand one!)

Bought my inline to replace the RS rt3 on my Transition scout as it just couldn't handle the rapid repeated rough stuff (and the reoccurring knocking issue). After sending it to TFTuned immediately after I bought it for a inital fix it's been superbly super.

Don't forget you'll need the mounting kits (£30ish).

I thought about the air as well but for the scouts size I really didn't think it was needed. Saved myself 200g and the extra cost.

It's such a good shock that I think it's easy to forgive more than you might normally.

I'd want a backup shock if I was taking it on a holiday or trip away though.

For what bike? apparently they don't get on with specialized yoke mounts, sideways movement in yoke + ccdb inline = sad face. Specialized replaced them all with monarch plus debonair which can be had new for about £250 from r2-bike.

Friend of mine has blown his twice in about 9 months on an HD3.

Thinking about one of these too.

Do we conclude from this thread that the reliability issue was nearly all on the original version and so the current one should not be much less reliable than other shocks generally?

It certainly sounds like most of the problems were on earlier models but maybe not all. I think I'll get one if the serial defect has been solved - I'll keep my current RP23 as a spare anyway.

Thinking about one of these too.
Do we conclude from this thread that the reliability issue was nearly all on the original version and so the current one should not be much less reliable than other shocks generally?

Correct. And yes, keep the old one as a spare. It's a brilliant shock, you'll love it once it's dialed in.

i Spoke to TF and they said that they are better now but still not that reliable. Im leaning towards a db air cs (if i can find the money!)

If you use Cane Creek shocks on a frame with a yoke like a Specialised Enduro or a Ibis Mojo HD3 etc the side loading on the shock will cause it to fail. Regardless if it been a Inline or a DBA CS death is only around the corner.

I spoke to TF and basically said "I can buy an Inline from you today, I can't afford a CCDB Air CS yet which is the alternative, trailbike, some enduro racing and occasional uplifts, what do you reckon" and they said no, don't buy the Inline. Fatality!

What is the inline recommended for? Light xc??

I do exactly the type of riding Northwind describes on my inline-equipped bike, and as my comment above, have done so for over a year without issue or servicing. When I bought my Prime I asked for it instead of the CCDB Air to save a bit of weight.

I do have a coil shock for that bike too, but that's been bought mainly for trips abroad.

Having said that, if I was reading this thread and hadn't had one before I'd definitely be seeing it as a risk.

I think i would be very wary of buying one second hand, thought about buying a new one but im definitely swaying towards a db air

had a new internals replacement for a few months now. much better than the first generation. It has the blue washer.

Also looking at one of these due to problems with the last couple of RS shocks I've had. So what's different with the mounting hardware?

nothing, the hardware for the inline is the same as fox/RS

I had no issues with my inline which was one of the first ones, bloody brilliant shock

That's good to hear as I've just bought a new set from Burgtec!

I thought the hardware was a different size. Annoying as ive bought the hardware but no longer have the shock and apparently didnt need the hardware anyway.

ive been using an inline which i bought of here for the past 8 months without issue. It was a warranty replacement job so brand new when i first started using it and has been flawless. Miles better than the fox ctd kashima that was the original shock on the bike.
I recently sent it in to TF for a service and the chap i spoke to told me they sell loads of them and dont really have that many issues with them.
As part of the service the bladder was replaced as mine had the old version (didn't charge me for the new one) and it now also has the blue seals.
I had the old shock back on the bike whilst the inline was in for the service and its like night and day swapping between them.

The inline on my Specialized Enduro died about 7 weeks ago, so Shock went to TF Tuned under warranty, But TF Tuned have been unable to get the spare parts, so the bike shop have now agreed to replace it with a Rockshox shock.

Drop in performance but better reliability is what I'm suspecting will happen.