5th Element Gravity Air Shock

What is this like, in a word, rubbish. Two of our gang have had these shocks and had identical experiences. The shock has two air chambers that are pressurised independantly of each other. One chamber is for the main shock the other for the 'platform' action. Pumping to the recommended starting pressures is straightforward and the valves do hold the pressure well. Optimising the pressures is not too time consuming and just requires on trail adjustments for the first couple of rides. It was obvious when the shock was set-up correctly: very little bobbing combined with active suspension that smoothed the trail. Very impressive.

The shock retained the 'optimised' feel for about one month and then the suspension action became increasingly stiff to the point where after approximately a further 2 weeks it would not move at all unless the pressure was reduced to almost zero. After much fiddling the shock was sent to TFtunedshox who diagnosed the problem very quickly. It was dead. Servicing would not help as the parts required were not covered by warranty, the cost of repair would be in the order of £150-00.

As stated above two of us had identical experiences and had to buy a completely new shock. When it worked it was good, the problem was it only worked for about 1 month!