Foxy!

Me in action!



As promised, the time has come to write a review and after some really varied riding over the last month, I think that I've tried the Fox DHX 5.0 on all sorts of terrain. So here goes!

Setting up the 5th was allways a bit of a stab in the dark, the rebound adjustment wasn't remarkable and sag setting didn't always seem to factor in what the terrain would through at you, so in comparison, the DHX is dripping with adjustability that actually works! Firstly, I'm glad that the 2007 version has done away with the seperately presurised boost valve as that'd just confuse me more, so like the Manitou Swinger and others in the world of air shocks its just running at 1/3 main chamber presure.
One thing that I really like on this shock is the bottom out resistance dial and I've been playing with this quite a bit as it really effects the shock downstroke action without compramising the general running characteristic of the shock. With the 5th, I'd up the presure in both chambers if I was doing some 'big' drops that day to limit the bottoming, making for a stiff shock in general running, with the DHX, you can have a responsive, smooth ride in the trail and rely on the BOR dial to take care of the bigger stuff. Perfect. Have also been much more impressed with the rebound characteristics of this shock and you definately notice the difference of dialling in/out a few more clicks as appropriate. For most of our time in the Alps, I ran the shock with a lot less propedal dialled in and the main chamber at slightly less capacity (220psi, I'm fat and normally run it at 250-60) in and was pleased with it as it didn't bob much even when you needed to put in those frantic pedal strokes before the next lip and really sucked up the hits and roots on the fast stuff. The overview is that it feels much more reliable, I'm not afraid to tinker as I was with the 5th. When I bought my Enduro I was very worried about the 5th as I'd read loads of comments on poor performance and blowing the damping seal and really considered other bikes based on this. Both my and Mike's 5th blew the damping seal (Mike's within three weeks of purchase and both in S.Wales too!) and in a strange way I'm glad mine went as the Fox is so much nicer and really does the rest of the bike justice.

Dave