In my mind, the coil vs. air argument is a simple two-stage process.
1) Will my bike perform well with a coil shock?
A lot of bikes are designed to work best with the inherent progressiveness of an air spring and a lot of riders have really come to enjoy being able to easily tune how progressive their forks/shocks are using tokens.
If the answer is no, then stick with the air shock. Depending on what air shock you have there could be upgrades, valving options, or replacement models that will significantly increase performance on your bike.
2) If yes, do I care about weight?
Even with the new lighter springs from Fox, Cane Creek, PUSH, and etc a coil shock will add weight. How significant the penalty depends on what your bike weights now and usage. A 25lbs carbon trail bike super sled? It’s<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> a big jump. </span>
My personal rig is an aluminum Marin Rift Zone with alloy wheels, a GX drivetrain and smorgasbord of miss-matched parts and I ride a lot on my own so if a few pounds of bike add a few minutes to my climb up No Quarter I'm really not stressed about it.
I have a used Cane Creek CCDB CS coil that SuspensionWerx rebuilt as a metric (210x50) shock to fit my Marin. It's not particularly light as coil shocks go and I'm running their standard spring not the new lighter Vault spring so the weight increase was significant.
My bike has 120mm of travel so being able to get great traction while running my suspension a bit firmer (spring rate) keeps my bike riding high pedaling in and out of the saddle (I stand a lot) while the lack of stiction makes everything move directional changes seamless.
If you have a bike that will work well with a coil, are legitimately not concerned about the additional weight and have the budget to buy one then I can't think of any reason to run an air shock over a coil.
Feb. 5, 2018, 1:17 p.m. - Andrew Major
In my mind, the coil vs. air argument is a simple two-stage process. 1) Will my bike perform well with a coil shock? A lot of bikes are designed to work best with the inherent progressiveness of an air spring and a lot of riders have really come to enjoy being able to easily tune how progressive their forks/shocks are using tokens. If the answer is no, then stick with the air shock. Depending on what air shock you have there could be upgrades, valving options, or replacement models that will significantly increase performance on your bike. 2) If yes, do I care about weight? Even with the new lighter springs from Fox, Cane Creek, PUSH, and etc a coil shock will add weight. How significant the penalty depends on what your bike weights now and usage. A 25lbs carbon trail bike super sled? It’s<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> a big jump. </span> My personal rig is an aluminum Marin Rift Zone with alloy wheels, a GX drivetrain and smorgasbord of miss-matched parts and I ride a lot on my own so if a few pounds of bike add a few minutes to my climb up No Quarter I'm really not stressed about it. I have a used Cane Creek CCDB CS coil that SuspensionWerx rebuilt as a metric (210x50) shock to fit my Marin. It's not particularly light as coil shocks go and I'm running their standard spring not the new lighter Vault spring so the weight increase was significant. My bike has 120mm of travel so being able to get great traction while running my suspension a bit firmer (spring rate) keeps my bike riding high pedaling in and out of the saddle (I stand a lot) while the lack of stiction makes everything move directional changes seamless. If you have a bike that will work well with a coil, are legitimately not concerned about the additional weight and have the budget to buy one then I can't think of any reason to run an air shock over a coil.