Shocks

[hugh_]

A friend is looking at getting a new mountain bike for around £650, and is looking at the Marin Bobcat Trail which has Suntour XLM HLO shocks.

I'm completely out of touch with mtb stuff but was slightly surprised to see coil shocks on a bike of this price. Is this normal? How do coil shocks compare to air damped ones?

[Mars]

Before the experts jump in (I'm not one of them), my reading up on this stuff suggests two things:

1. They are air sprung, not damped. Pretty sure they're oil damped.
2. Air sprung forks are generally lighter.

[yellowjack]

Being a confirmed 'roadie', all I really know about shocks is that you should definitely never wear them with shandals, or folk will shtare at you and laugh.

[nammynake]

hugh_ said:

A friend is looking at getting a new mountain bike for around £650, and is looking at the Marin Bobcat Trail which has Suntour XLM HLO shocks.

I'm completely out of touch with mtb stuff but was slightly surprised to see coil shocks on a bike of this price. Is this normal? How do coil shocks compare to air damped ones?

On the contrary, I would be surprised to see air forks on a bike of this price. £650 is very much an 'entry level' bike these days (in terms of the heirarchy of components).

Nothing wrong with coil sprung shocks either. As mentioned, they're heavier than air forks, but for short travel forks (120mm or less) they tend to have a plusher 'feel' than air forks.

[hugh_]

Thanks for the replies, I'll pass them on. I'm surprised that £650 only gets you an entry level bike. I've got an 07 Trek 6700 and have just looked up what the current equivalent costs blimey...