E-160RS - DPS Air Shock change out. What to go for?

[Geetsrevoel]

Hi All,

I have a E-160RS fitted with a DPS air shock which im going to change out soon. I ride pretty hard and fast (in my head ) over natural chunky stuff most of the time. No real bike parks and jumps as such. I do like a techy climb now and then.

I'm ~85kg with my kit on.

Im very interested in a coil but put off by a comment or two stating that the Whyte frame/suspension design doesn't lend itself very well to coils?

I like the DVO Jade X Coil or the Cane Creek Kitsuma DB Coil.

Any recommendations?

 

[EchoLima21]

Hiya,

this was the reply I got from Whyte a while back (Jan ‘22) when I asked about the viability of fitting a coil shock to my E-160:

“Thank you for your email, it’s always great to hear from riders.

“I’m glad to read that you are having a good experience with your E-160. It is certainly possible to fit a coil sprung suspension unit to your bike.
Sadly, I don’t have any specific recommendations for a particular shock as the development team didn’t experiment with them much during the bike’s development.

“I have heard of riders fitting Ohlins TTX or EXT units to their E-160’s and having good results so they might be worth a look. The leverage curve is quite linear on the E-160 frames so it might be worth seeing if you can get a shock with a tune that ramps up towards the end of the stroke for support on bigger hits.

Not a precise answer, but pretty positive about the prospect of a coil shock.

 

[EchoLima21]

Further: Just not a Fox or Marzocchi coil as they specifically exclude bikes like the Whyte range that use a shaft to connect the shock to the linkage. They will not honour any warranty (see the Silverfish site for me details) on a coil shock so fitted.