I have been using this shock on my Orbea Rallón R4 since July 2020. Since there were very little pieces about it on the net at that time, at first I went by Vital's review to find my base settings, but the shock always felt overdamped in the rebound front. I felt like I was always waiting for it to spring back when I preloaded the bike to bunny hop or take off jumps. A side note: I'm not positive to riding a shock with the slow speed compression lever in any other position than fully open, except maybe for flow trails.
I even discussed this with Suntour's official US service reps, and they told me it was a weird, very uncommon thing and offered to revalve the shock for me if I was willing to send it over to them. This was a big no-no for me, given I'm in Argentina, and the shipping charges and customs fees would had ended up being more than what I paid for the shock.
Then, after some more riding, it started to loose itself until I ended up moving the rebound knob a couple clicks back from fully open. Adding a couple bands in the positive chamber also added to the mid stroke support, and now I feel like I have something to push against when preloading the rear suspension, but without losing the exceptional initial stroke sensitivity.
I've also found that as the Vital review recommends, the resi pressure could be used as a half-step spacer in the positive chamber: It does not affect the end stroke progression as much as it does with the mid-stroke support.
Time for another side note: this shock isn't just a close relative to the DVO Jade, but also a lost sibling to the Rock Shox Monarch DebonAir. In fact, it shares more with the SRAM unit than it does with the DVO one (if not for the DVO green inner bits).
All in all, I like the TriAir a lot. It's a pretty well composed package with a very good price. It might take some time until it begins to shine the way it should, but as Andrew points out, the simplicity it demands when servicing time comes makes it an option worth considering. It's also perpetually on sale on some European sites, so you can have a very good shock at an unbeatable price.
Feb. 24, 2021, 6:47 p.m. - Luix
I have been using this shock on my Orbea Rallón R4 since July 2020. Since there were very little pieces about it on the net at that time, at first I went by Vital's review to find my base settings, but the shock always felt overdamped in the rebound front. I felt like I was always waiting for it to spring back when I preloaded the bike to bunny hop or take off jumps. A side note: I'm not positive to riding a shock with the slow speed compression lever in any other position than fully open, except maybe for flow trails. I even discussed this with Suntour's official US service reps, and they told me it was a weird, very uncommon thing and offered to revalve the shock for me if I was willing to send it over to them. This was a big no-no for me, given I'm in Argentina, and the shipping charges and customs fees would had ended up being more than what I paid for the shock. Then, after some more riding, it started to loose itself until I ended up moving the rebound knob a couple clicks back from fully open. Adding a couple bands in the positive chamber also added to the mid stroke support, and now I feel like I have something to push against when preloading the rear suspension, but without losing the exceptional initial stroke sensitivity. I've also found that as the Vital review recommends, the resi pressure could be used as a half-step spacer in the positive chamber: It does not affect the end stroke progression as much as it does with the mid-stroke support. Time for another side note: this shock isn't just a close relative to the DVO Jade, but also a lost sibling to the Rock Shox Monarch DebonAir. In fact, it shares more with the SRAM unit than it does with the DVO one (if not for the DVO green inner bits). All in all, I like the TriAir a lot. It's a pretty well composed package with a very good price. It might take some time until it begins to shine the way it should, but as Andrew points out, the simplicity it demands when servicing time comes makes it an option worth considering. It's also perpetually on sale on some European sites, so you can have a very good shock at an unbeatable price.