Rock Shox Dual Air vs Solo Air

[Pittstop]

Looking at getting a new front for, and wondering if there are any other reason to go for a fork with dual air over solo air, other than the extra adjustability dual air gives you?

[davetapson]

<minor hijack>

What's the difference between dual air and solo air>

<minor hijack off>

[LazyTrailRider]

OK, so there's definitely a difference Dave, to start off with.

 

Modern RS air forks use air as both a positive and negative spring. Positive being the portion which offers resistance against your weight, negative being the portion which offers assistance to get the sliders moving. Essentially, the fork sits in a slightly compressed position at all times, "floating" between the two chambers. The negative chamber helps to reduce stiction and prevents top-out.

 

With a solo air model, you inflate both chambers at the same time, there is a valve which balances out the pressure automatically.

 

With a dual air model, you can set the two chambers independently.

 

Solo is easier to set up (no worries about balancing pressure), but dual air then of course offers more customisation of the initial travel characteristics.

 

Pittstop, if you're after the ability to set your fork up very sensitively, dual air is the way to go. With my Revelation, I run quite a bit more negative than positive pressure, which I've found makes a huge difference to that initial bit of stroke, it's buttery smooth. At even pressure in comparison (what you'd get with solo air), the fork feels quite clattery.

[TNOSE_E]

Solo Air- An extremely durable spring system. The positive and negative air spring chambers are simultaneously filled to equal air pressures through a single Schrader valve, simplifying suspension setup while retaining the light weight and plush ride quality of Dual Air.

 

Dual Air-With independently adjustable positive and negative air spring chambers, Dual Air is race or trail ready, highly tunable, and one of the lightest air spring systems on the market.

[ramsew]

OK, so there's definitely a difference Dave, to start off with.

 

Modern RS air forks use air as both a positive and negative spring. Positive being the portion which offers resistance against your weight, negative being the portion which offers assistance to get the sliders moving. Essentially, the fork sits in a slightly compressed position at all times, "floating" between the two chambers. The negative chamber helps to reduce stiction and prevents top-out.

 

With a solo air model, you inflate both chambers at the same time, there is a valve which balances out the pressure automatically.

 

With a dual air model, you can set the two chambers independently.

 

Solo is easier to set up (no worries about balancing pressure), but dual air then of course offers more customisation of the initial travel characteristics.

 

Pittstop, if you're after the ability to set your fork up very sensitively, dual air is the way to go. With my Revelation, I run quite a bit more negative than positive pressure, which I've found makes a huge difference to that initial bit of stroke, it's buttery smooth. At even pressure in comparison (what you'd get with solo air), the fork feels quite clattery.

Hello MH, are you saying if I bias the pressure towards the negative the fork will respond with a plusher ride? Also does plusher equal a greater propensity for softness and pitching?

[KnobbyMech]

The dual air is worth the bucks. Whatever you do, don't get a Fox. Long story (and they don't have dual air).

[covie]

weird setup have the negative more than the positve, since the negative is for small bump absorbtion? everyone i know including myself follows the 10psi rule, i.e +@120psi -@110psi and it works really well.

 

Solo airforks are not as tuneable as dual air. with a solo air both chambers are balanced at for example +120 -120 which is still better than a spring fork in my opinion, since you can set the resistance according to your needs and riding style. A dual airfork however you can change the characteristics to a level thats pitch perfect for youre riding stye.

[davetapson]

Thanks MH.

 

Have a DA Revelation and love it. I've not tried the greater negative pressure as it seemed a bit counter intuitive to me. Will give it a go.

[LazyTrailRider]

Hello MH, are you saying if I bias the pressure towards the negative the fork will respond with a plusher ride? Also does plusher equal a greater propensity for softness and pitching?

 

"Plush" means different things to different people (some may refer to it as that bottomless feeling when you compress your suspension with a big hit), so I don't think I could simply say that it's plusher...

 

Biased towards negative will definitely give you two things though:

• Increased small-bump sensitivity.
  
• Increased traction in situations where there is little weight on the wheel. This is because the fork's neutral position is deeper into its travel, so it actually has some negative travel which helps with keeping the wheel in touch with the ground when you roll *into* holes as opposed to *over* bumps.
  

More pitching (also called bobbing) is part of this, unfortunately.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Martin Hattingh

[LazyTrailRider]

weird setup have the negative more than the positve, since the negative is for small bump absorbtion? everyone i know including myself follows the 10psi rule, i.e +@120psi -@110psi and it works really well.

 

Yep, it's slightly different to the norm, largely I think due to my riding style. I'm very "animated" when it comes to absorbing bumps (a habit retained from DH racing) and tend to float big hits with my arms/body, so I prefer my forks to be quite soft and biased towards taking care of traction, as opposed to just eliminating big hits. On almost all rides I end up using 90-95% of my suspension travel at some point.

 

In my opinion, if you're not using your travel, you're wasting it

[ramsew]

"Plush" means different things to different people (some may refer to it as that bottomless feeling when you compress your suspension with a big hit), so I don't think I could simply say that it's plusher...

 

Biased towards negative will definitely give you two things though:

• Increased small-bump sensitivity.
  
• Increased traction in situations where there is little weight on the wheel. This is because the fork's neutral position is deeper into its travel, so it actually has some negative travel which helps with keeping the wheel in touch with the ground when you roll *into* holes as opposed to *over* bumps.
  

More pitching (also called bobbing) is part of this, unfortunately.

great that was very clear - thanks

[Iwan Kemp]

With MH on setup. I run 5 - 10% more negative air than positive and it does make the fork soooooooper plush especially small bump.

[(Deon)]

 

 

Yep, it's slightly different to the norm, largely I think due to my riding style. I'm very "animated" when it comes to absorbing bumps (a habit retained from DH racing) and tend to float big hits with my arms/body, so I prefer my forks to be quite soft and biased towards taking care of traction, as opposed to just eliminating big hits. On almost all rides I end up using 90-95% of my suspension travel at some point.

 

In my opinion, if you're not using your travel, you're wasting it

 

I'm with you on this.. I run my spring quite soft too and use every bit of my travel. I have a high/low speed compression setting so can fine tune sensitivity as needed. I love my FOX.

[HaydenE]

Sorry my knowledge is limited, but from what I hear it seems that Fox is perhaps not the best fork to go with now? I have had a RS Recon on my kona (solo air), and then a RS revelation on my Yeti (dual air), and on my Santa Cruz Blur XC I'm running a Fox RLC FIT, so am finding this interesting, as I have found all the forks very good with little to choose from..

[Pittstop]

Thanks. Now to see how available I can get my hands on a revelation with 20mm axle. Or go with one of the 2012 Sektors

Edited January 30, 2012 by Pittstop

[ramsew]

Sorry my knowledge is limited, but from what I hear it seems that Fox is perhaps not the best fork to go with now? I have had a RS Recon on my kona (solo air), and then a RS revelation on my Yeti (dual air), and on my Santa Cruz Blur XC I'm running a Fox RLC FIT, so am finding this interesting, as I have found all the forks very good with little to choose from..

http://www.bikeradar...-fit-15qr-34973 RLC FIT is an excellent fork, my LBS tuned me how FOX had (but no longer have) seal issues - however I've never had any issues with FOX Edited January 29, 2012 by ramsew