 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I have a DHX air on my specialized enduro with the factory set nitrogen charged boost pressure so effectively a DHX 4.5. Out of the box this shock had a slight squelch to it on the initial stokes when you get on the bike then went quiet for the remainder of the ride. Over time this squelching got louder and took longer to clear until the damping started to get a bit hit and miss.
I'm led to believe that this is cavitation within the shock where air or nitrogen has got into damping circuits where it is not supposed to be. I got the shock rebuilt at the start of this year and all was well with it with little noise on initial use. Over the course of about 3-4 months the squelching had come back and the shock seems to be getting worse at the same steady rate as before.
I know that TF refuse to service this shock and wondered if this was due to a design fault which leads to this sort of poor performance/reliability. I'm not really wishing to pay for a full rebuild once/twice a year to keep it working correctly. I am happy doing air can services and my fox triad on my 04 stumpjumper has never required rebuilding, makes no stupid squelching noises and damps consistantly.
My question is - do I have a bad shock or have other people experienced this?
The DHX Air 5 on my 575 has no such issues. It's only been serviced once in it's 5 year life and works just fine.
From what I remember when I was talking to TF about it, they refuse to service DHX Air shocks because they are really really rubbish, although they were far more concise in their description. 😯
The squelch could be caused by the small hole between the main air sleeve and the high-volume sleeve rather than the damping circuit?
Not sure about the nitrogen charged bit but if it's got a standard schraeder valve on the piggyback then you can service it yourself - plenty of info here:
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201454
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=491668
Matt
Mine must be a friday afternoon effort to boot! 😥
No shredder valve on mine - it is nitro charged and then sealed.
I found mine reliably poor no matter what was done. I just don't think they are a good match to the frame.
Try a Monarch+
From what I remember when I was talking to TF about it, they refuse to service DHX Air shocks because they are really really rubbish
not just TF,
Mojo don't rate the DHX air at all. a far better shock would be the rp2 or rp23. tuned for your bike and weight
i have a dhx air. i dont know better 🙂
I'm the same as Highlander, have had a DHX air 5 on my Turner for six years and it's not been serviced or loses any air - works just fine. I hope that this isn't too much of a crass comment but; I researched a little into the DHX air as it was getting a slating on the forums, and I was having no issues at all with mine - worried about the longevity. Anyway, the Specialised version at the time was an 'orignal equipment' part, in other words designed for Secialised and with less (sorry) spec. The DHX air problems I've read about do seem to be almost unique to Specialised - I have heard of one other though.
My opinion is that it is a bad design - the designed for (and at less cost no doubt) Specialised version. Get in touch with Spesh?
Interesting. I thought the only deletion is the valve and use of nitrogen. Could well be a Specialized problem. I have witnessed a DHX coil doing the same squelch.
I've had two DHX Air's (both 5.0's) and had no issues with either. Don't see the advantage of them over RP23 though. I bought the first because it was silly cheap and the 2nd has come on a second hand frame i just bought. It seems to do the job but an RP23 is lighter and ,i think, more tuneable to the intended frame.