The Adventures of George Ryan - Passing Time:
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On the left is X-Fusion's well received Vector HLR coil over shock, on the right you'll find the new Vector Air. Both are fit for use on a downhill bike, although the Vector Air is claimed to be the lightest DH specific damper on the market.
Vector HLR Air details:
- Air sprung shock built for downhill use
- High volume main air chamber means that the shock doesn't require an additional external air sleeve
- Adjustments: air spring pressure, piggyback air pressure, rebound, separate low and high speed compression
- Available in all popular sizes |
Air sprung shocks have not yet taken hold in the downhill arena, with the issue of heat management being the main argument against their use. How so? The hotter a shock gets during use, the less effective its damping adjustments become. This fact is doubly important when talking about a long stroke air shock that is intended for top flight DH use due to the trapped air that acts as the spring also rising in temperature. The shock's spring rate rises as the air gets hotter, meaning that whatever damping adjustments you've made will now have a different effect due to the "spring" being stiffer. A lot of us are looking for ever lighter downhill bikes though, so what can be done to combat those problems?
The first is to limit the areas in the shock that will trap heat. X-Fusion put a lot of effort into increasing the shock's air spring volume during the new damper's development. The goal was to have enough volume in the main air chamber that the shock would not require an additional external air sleeve, as found on a lot of other air sprung shocks, to get the desired spring rate curve. That extra sleeve, if they had used one, would have been another barrier acting to keep that heat trapped within the shock. To that end the Vector Air's main air chamber has been hollowed out as much as possible to create that extra volume that allows them to forgo having to use a secondary chamber. The second act in the battle against heat is the damper's larger internal bore that allows it to use more damping oil. More oil means that it's operating temps will stay lower during hard use.
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| Pictured at the top is X-Fusion's lightweight O2 RCX shock that is intended for trail and cross-country use, below it is the new Vector HLR Air. It is easy to spot the size difference between the two shock's air sleeves, with the Vector's being much larger. |
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| With the addition of the Vector Air, X-Fusion has every discipline covered. From left to right: the coil sprung Vector HLR, the new Vector Air, and the lightweight O2 RCX shock. |
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X-Fusion's Vengeance HLR fork was a sleeper hit in 2010, but it should be a more popular option now that more riders are aware of the fork's killer performance and competitive price. 2011 sees the fork get both an external travel adjustment and tool-less 20mm thru-axle added to its arsenal.
Vengeance HLR details:
- Travel increased to 170mm (internally adjustable to 150, 100, 80mm)
- 7mm lower fork crown compared to the 2011 model
- DLA (Down Low Adjust) external hydraulic travel adjustment lowers fork by 30mm
- 20mm Syntace licensed thru-axle
- Larger air spring chamber for more linear stroke
- Faster rebound damping speeds (slow range remains the same) |
With its impressively smooth stroke and dialed damping, X-Fusion's Vengeance HLR fork took many by surprise last season. The engineers at X-Fusion knew that the fork would still need a few additions to play in the big leagues though, namely an external travel adjustment system for riders that want to drop the front of their all-mountain rigs on technical climbs, as well as a proper tool free, 20mm axle system. Enter X-Fusion's new DLA (
Down Low Adjust) external, hydraulic travel adjustment. The anodized aluminum DLA dial sits atop the left leg and lowers the fork into its travel by 30mm for climbing or on tighter terrain. Another edition to the '12 model is the clever Syntace thru-axle system that mimics their X-12 axle, only up-sized to fit 20mm hubs. The air chamber's spring rate has also been fine tuned to allow lighter riders to use more travel throughout the fork's stroke (
heavier or aggressive pilots can add a few cc's of oil to shrink the volume and make the spring rate ramp more), and a new crown design has been employed that drops the fork's axle to crown height by 7mm over last year's model (2010/2011 models).
Perhaps even bigger news is the addition of a 170mm travel coil sprung version that uses X-Fusion's highly effective HLR twin tube damper. While I've yet to put on the new fork I'm willing to bet that it will make a lot of sense not only on the front of an all-mountain type of bike, but also a short travel downhill or play bike, due to what should be a very active coil sprung feel and their potent HLR damping system.
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| The aluminum DLA dial lowers the fork into its travel by 30mm to make climbing a slack all-mountain steed easier over technical terrain. |
Check out the
X-Fusion website to see their entire lineup.
Are you a fan of what X-Fusion has got cooking? Like the sounds of a 170mm travel, coil sprung Vengeance that uses their proven HLR damper? Let's hear what you think - put those thoughts down below!
I had dhx 5.0 before and X-F is muuch better. Btw, I have one new, never used for sale if someone want 
