Product Review
3 Rear Shocks Reviewed
By: Matt Witkowski

Get the lift running, strap on the full face and head for the mountains. downhill (DH) season is upon us in New England. Equipment plays a big role in downhilling with rear suspension being a big part of it. I figured I could share my experiences with a couple of newer offerings in the rear shock department to an old standard .

Fox RC The Fox RC has been almost the standard for coil rear shocks for almost 8 years. In the past few years, more and more shock choices have been made available for DH and FR (free-ride) bikes. Among these are the Avalanche DHS and the Stratos El Jefe. The Fox Vanilla RC came stock on my DH bike and I put a full season of DH racing and lift riding on it. The Fox feels incredibly plush just sitting on the bike. Very smooth and the travel seems very deep. On the trail I never felt the love for the Fox. With the correct spring rate it took small (it works very well on small fast stutter bumps) and medium hits well but bottomed constantly on bigger hits. Moving up to a heavier spring rate helped but made the small and medium bump capability suffer. The compression adjuster didn’t do anything but make the shock harsh throughout the stroke. Along with the bottoming problem, the biggest issue I had with the Fox was damping fade. By the end of a run, the shock would suffer fade so bad it made that much harder to control. At the end of a run where your arms are burning and you are panting from exhaustion, the last thing I wanted was to have to adjust my riding style to compensate for the rear end kicking up from lack of rebound damping. Other gripes included over-compressing - using too much stroke for the size of the bump and a constant wallowing feeling. Just no control over the stroke. To its credit although the Fox started showing signs of leaking oil, it never completely blew. Comparing the Fox to the Avalanche and the El Jefe, the Fox looks like a toy. Both the Avalanche and the El Jefe are huge. The bodies are much larger, both have remote reservoirs attached to the main body via braided lines meaning much larger oil volume. Both have massive coil springs. They look like they are right off a motocross bike. Think of the difference between a Monster T and a SID. Weight? Who cares - this is downhill right?

Avalanche The Avalanche (www.avalanchedownhillracing.com) is mounted on my freeride bike which occasional serves as my back-up DH bike in a pinch. The Avalanche valving in custom suited to the rider and it delivers a ride that is far superior to the Fox. It feels firm when pedaling with minimal bob. The shock seems to settle at a point in the travel and stays there. It’s very well controlled. When things turn down, the shock really starts to shine. It gobbles up hits like they don’t exist. On water bars and logs, loft the front wheel and slam into them. The shock isn’t fazed in the least. Because the shock is more controlled, the bike corners better as well. Fading is a thing of the past and reliability has been a non-issue (I have never heard of anyone actually blowing an Avalanche). The shock does seem to be a tad harsh on drops but that also could be my poor technique. It never seems to bottom. One word to describe the shock is controlled. Very well controlled. No surprise on the trail will phase it. The shock just shrugs it off and begs for more. My one minor gripe with the shock is the compression adjuster doesn’t have a knob so you have to change it using a flathead screwdriver or a dime. Again, its minor as I don’t change the setting much but a pain on the trail if I want to. Ok the bad part. They are expensive. It’s a high performance piece of equipment and my opinion is the price is warranted for such a reliable and superbly performing product.

Stratos El Jefe Sr My dh bike runs a Stratos El Jefe Sr (www.stratos1.com). This new-to-the-market shock is EXTREMELY similar to the Avalanche. Small changes like the shaft size and a slightly larger reservoir but otherwise it’s almost a direct copy. This shock is new but I have a full weekend of lift-assisted DHing on it, as well as a weekend of racing (about 25 hours of riding). I initially bought the shock because I was curious as to how it stacked up against its "inspiration" - the Avalanche. To say that the shock is an improvement over the Fox RC it replaced would be an understatement. The bike doesn’t feel nearly as plush sitting on it or in the parking lot as it did with the Fox on it - in fact it almost feels over sprung. All that disappears when you hit the trails. The shock improves the pedaling of the bike and absorbs bumps, big to small, far better than the Fox ever did. The El Jefe keeps the bike well controlled and predictable through bumps of all sizes. The rear tire just stays glued to the trail the whole time. Most noticeable about the shock is the consistency. The shock has the same wonderful ride from the first run to the last. No fade at all. All that extra oil seems to do the trick. I run the same spring weight as I did on the Fox but have never felt the shock bottom. Even off badly landed drops and the occasional rock that catches you by surprise, the shock just soaks it up and readies for the next hit. The shock has large and easy to use adjuster knobs for hi-speed compression and rebound. Both have very good range and have distinctive click between each setting. One nice change with the El Jefe is my bike is now considerably quieter. With the Fox, it would clank and bang and make a ton of noise. No more. Price was a big motivator in trying this shock (it is less expensive than the Avalanche) but at this point, I am extremely pleased with its performance. I think this shock is a huge improvement over the Fox Vanilla RC and gives up very little, if anything to the Avalanche DHS. The shock is completely user tunable and serviceable so if the need arises, I can service it myself. Tuning so far seems spot-on. Reliability has not be an issue. It looks like the old standard Fox has some catching up to do.