Hey all:

Just discovered this forum and figured I'd better register. At any rate, riding a Dawg Dee-lux and would like to put a Romic on the rear and possibly a Z1 on the front. Any experience with how the added front travel will affect the bikes balance and overall handling (rear is 4", Z1 would make 5" on front)? Also, who's making a swingarm linkage if I wanted to increase rear travel. Thanks in advance. Peace!

These guys make what you need: http://www.betd.co.uk

Hey all:

Just discovered this forum and figured I'd better register. At any rate, riding a Dawg Dee-lux and would like to put a Romic on the rear and possibly a Z1 on the front. Any experience with how the added front travel will affect the bikes balance and overall handling (rear is 4", Z1 would make 5" on front)? Also, who's making a swingarm linkage if I wanted to increase rear travel. Thanks in advance. Peace!

My Girlfriend has a Dawg Deelux & we have installed a Black 120mm fork. This makes for a sweet lightweight trail bike. She has a real short stem & the slack angle now with a taller fork balances it out.
Konameister is right Beta do the links to get 5" or 6" of travel, this plus a 130mm fork would be very cool. Just don't start dropping it off real big drops as the Dawgs are quite lightweight if you are a heavy rider.

See a pic of our Dawg below in Kona from Downunder!

Chers
Deeboy :D

if I were you, I'd add the new fork and the Romic first. Then, decide about the linkage. The reason I say that is the Romic is going to make the bike pedal fantastic and will be waaaay more plush than the Float shock that they come with. Additionally, I spoke to Romic about putting their shock on my bike (which has the BETD linkage) and they highly recommended that I didn't use a Romic with the aftermarket linkage due to the fact that it sets my leverage ratio at 3.3:1. They say anything over 3:1 is too high and the shock won't work correctly. Bummer....because I'd love to have one on my bike.

Also, if you're going to get a new fork, you may want to consider a Fox Vanilla vs. the Z1. Both are awesome forks and half of my crew rides the Z1, but it has an extra inch of axle-to-crown height. This is going to additionally slacken the angle on your headtube - which would be great for descending, but may make it a bit tough for climbing. Just something to consider.

Best of luck,
EB

You can read more about my setup on this different post:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=3407

Here's some reviews (including mine) about the linkage:
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Shock_Upgrade/product_86929.shtml

Hey all:

Just discovered this forum and figured I'd better register. At any rate, riding a Dawg Dee-lux and would like to put a Romic on the rear and possibly a Z1 on the front. Any experience with how the added front travel will affect the bikes balance and overall handling (rear is 4", Z1 would make 5" on front)? Also, who's making a swingarm linkage if I wanted to increase rear travel. Thanks in advance. Peace!


Are you still looking for a Romic shock for this frame? If so I have a brand new 04 shock (Romic) that will fit on this frame.

.....then, I would be.

But only If it's the right eye-to-eye and shock stroke lengths. What bike was it originally designed for though? Just curious due to the various leverage ratios. Also, what spring weight do you have on it currently? Why are you getting rid of it?

Tell ya what....if Forester isn't interested, then email me and we'll shoot the sh*t about it.

EB

[QUOTE=ebxtreme].....then, I would be.

But only If it's the right eye-to-eye and shock stroke lengths. What bike was it originally designed for though? Just curious due to the various leverage ratios. Also, what spring weight do you have on it currently? Why are you getting rid of it?

Tell ya what....if Forester isn't interested, then email me and we'll shoot the sh*t about it.

Yes, it was made for my Kona Bear, same frame. i2i is 6.5", 1.5" stroke and 45 or 50 mm shaft with spacers.


ebxreme, check your PM's

[QUOTE=ebxtreme].....then, I would be.

But only If it's the right eye-to-eye and shock stroke lengths. What bike was it originally designed for though? Just curious due to the various leverage ratios. Also, what spring weight do you have on it currently? Why are you getting rid of it?

Tell ya what....if Forester isn't interested, then email me and we'll shoot the sh*t about it.

Yes, it was made for my Kona Bear, same frame. i2i is 6.5", 1.5" stroke and 45 or 50 mm shaft with spacers.


ebxreme, check your PM's

Go for it guys - I got cold feet on the Romic because of recent reliability/qc issues but, cs is supposedly outstanding - hope it works great for you!

I just opted to have my Vanilla RC revalved by Darren at Push Industries rather than getting a Romic for my Stinky due to those same reasons. However, I have 4 buddies who have Romic's on their bikes and have had mostly good things to say about theirs (so far). The good news is that Romic's CS is supposed to be stellar so it's worth looking at.

EB

I just opted to have my Vanilla RC revalved by Darren at Push Industries rather than getting a Romic for my Stinky due to those same reasons. However, I have 4 buddies who have Romic's on their bikes and have had mostly good things to say about theirs (so far). The good news is that Romic's CS is supposed to be stellar so it's worth looking at.

EB

Now that I'm not going Romic, I don't know what rear shock to get. Considered the 5th Element but price is excessive. Also, I really want plushness and I've heard the 5th is a bit harsher on the small stuff (relatively speaking). Thinking Fox Vanilla - what do you think? Other suggestions? Thanks.

....on my Bear and I think that's the minimum you should go for on that bike. I have a buddy who has the Vanilla (with no rebound) on his older Stinky and man, he gets bounced around like crazy on that thing!

That said, if you found a Vanilla RC with the right spec's, I wouldn't hesitate to get that shock. I was running it on my Stinky and really enjoyed it (man is it plush!), but I wanted to have the benefit of a stable platform for pushing around my 42+ lb. bike....as it's quickly becoming my do-all rig. Anyway, I sent my Vanilla RC to Darren at Push Industries and he completely gutted and revalved it for me with a Romic or ProPedal like platform. It's riding so nice right now...really phenomenal.

The Romic, Swinger and 5th Element are all worth looking at....but there are so many good deals on the Foxes out there, that they're kind of hard to pass up. The others are going to set you back a bit.

Cheers,
EB

I would always perfer a nicer ride like that of the Romic over the 5th, tried one one my Chamuco, yes it pedaled great but lost some of that small bump suppleness that the oil dampened shocks give. I went back to my original Romic and Im happy with it. The problems that most people have had with the Romic's were due to a batch of mis machined valve bodies. There CS dept. is good and fast, I did have this problem with the shock that came on the Ventana, Romic had the shock for about one week, been fine since. I will point out that I have seen some posts of 5th Element riders with shock problems, either way you go including Fox, problems due happen, keep your air shock as a back up so you wont have any down time. Its wise to have your shock serviced once or twice a year, and that goes for any one of the three shocks that have been mentioned here.
Good luck and keep us posted!

....I was running it on my Stinky and really enjoyed it (man is it plush!), but I wanted to have the benefit of a stable platform for pushing around my 42+ lb. bike....as it's quickly becoming my do-all rig. Anyway, I sent my Vanilla RC to Darren at Push Industries and he completely gutted and revalved it for me with a Romic or ProPedal like platform. It's riding so nice right now...really phenomenal....

I was thinking about doing the Push revalving - during the off-season. Well . . . the weather has been so good in the Northeast, there may not be an off-season.

Which upgrade did you get, the Platform Damping Upgrade, or the "Works" - Race System? I'm inclined to go for the later and have more adjustability options.

They're claiming a 2-4 day turnaround. With express mail, this would only result in missing a couple-a-rides . . . or if we happen to get more snow . . . it'll probably take me longer to explain it to my wife . . .

Regards

I figured that I may as well pay the extra $30 to get it completely overhauled. I actually took it for a proper day of riding yesterday... Hit a local Freeride trail in the morning and then went and rode XC with my buddies in the afternoon. The new shock is ridiculous. Seriously, it pedals so much better on climbs and undulating terrain than my old RC.

While it's a bit firmer on some terrain, it's totally plush on bigger drops and hits. I did the biggest gap jump I've ever done (approx. 15 feet in length) yesterday and landed catywampus (sp?) but my bike still stuck like glue on the ground. What could've been a really ugly crash was only a mild freak-out for me. :eek: I also did a few medium sized drops (6-8 feet) on it and it was butter.

As far as turnaround on the shock, I sent my shock to Darren on a Wednesday (USPS) and got it back from him the following Friday (granted, I'm also on the west coast). His turnaround was awesome and his communication with me was really great. I'd recommend calling Darren directly before sending it and give him all of your specs (e.g. weight, bike, leverage ratio, riding style and terrain, etc.). He'll then create an RA for you to print out so you can send it along with your shock. I'll give my shock a more complete review on the shock and Kona board as soon as I get a few more rides on it and better understand its nuances and experiment a bit more with the compression/rebound controls. Hopefully, I'll take another trip to the North Shore in the next week or two (weather dependent) so I can really test its big-rop abilities. :)

EB