Trek Rail Coil Shock Options

NETTA17

Member
Jun 24, 2020
36
9
Israel
Hello,
Off-topic (or not).
Do you lose travel by moving to coil shock (with the same claimed stroke) due to the rubber bumper?
It is never squeezed to Zero...

Cheers,
 

Doug Stampfer

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2018
736
751
NZ
Hello,
Off-topic (or not).
Do you lose travel by moving to coil shock (with the same claimed stroke) due to the rubber bumper?
It is never squeezed to Zero...

Cheers,
Do you mean by comparing them in a workshop side by side or out on the trail? I find it pretty hard to guage how much travel the back is using out on the trail, as if it getting to the stage of bottoming out the rear my mind is more focused on the exit line.
 

Gman086

Member
May 11, 2021
32
23
Portland, OR
Hello,
Off-topic (or not).
Do you lose travel by moving to coil shock (with the same claimed stroke) due to the rubber bumper?
It is never squeezed to Zero...

Cheers,
No you don't because the air shock has an internal rubber bumper that also compresses. That's why I just cringe when I see someone post a pic like in post 21 of this thread "claiming" they have 5mm of clearance to spare... would love to see the downtube now after some big hits.

Have FUN!

G MAN
 

Gman086

Member
May 11, 2021
32
23
Portland, OR
Ive said elsewhere on here though, the Rail isn’t really progressive enough for a coil, without a hydraulic bottom out - even more so if you ride harder.

I have to call you out on this one Hob Nob... unless you're a really heavy rider, a coil shock with a progressive spring works awesome on the Rail with NO bottom out issues. I've known this for a while and I'm a 190 lb aggressive rider. Your ad nauseam posts about Rails not being coil friendly actually swayed my buddy into not considering one. That is until he actually rode my Rail with Jade X and 525-650 lb progressive coil. He went out and bought one the next day. FWIW he weighs 220 lbs and owns most of the KOM's in the Pacific NW and I don't know of anyone going bigger these days so... unless the upper range of the progressive spring is still too little for your weight then you are far better off on a coil IMHO.

Have FUN!

G MAN
 

Jamo

Member
Jul 25, 2020
52
22
Fife
No you don't because the air shock has an internal rubber bumper that also compresses. That's why I just cringe when I see someone post a pic like in post 21 of this thread "claiming" they have 5mm of clearance to spare... would love to see the downtube now after some big hits.

Have FUN!

G MAN

Post 21 is mine, and i can guarantee it has never hit the downtube on any big hits, so all your cringing has been in vain

You’re probably now default thinking if thats the case it can’t have been taking hard hits, but thats not the case either, its had a fair number of heavy landings and the odd unplanned flat landing. It doesnt get an easy life, and also has a few koms (if thats your measure)

perhaps the clearance is more than 5mm, i didnt measure it with a ruler 😀
 

Bomble

Well-known member
Subscriber
Nov 11, 2018
646
380
Yorkshire
I have to call you out on this one Hob Nob... unless you're a really heavy rider, a coil shock with a progressive spring works awesome on the Rail with NO bottom out issues. I've known this for a while and I'm a 190 lb aggressive rider. Your ad nauseam posts about Rails not being coil friendly actually swayed my buddy into not considering one. That is until he actually rode my Rail with Jade X and 525-650 lb progressive coil. He went out and bought one the next day. FWIW he weighs 220 lbs and owns most of the KOM's in the Pacific NW and I don't know of anyone going bigger these days so... unless the upper range of the progressive spring is still too little for your weight then you are far better off on a coil IMHO.

Have FUN!

G MAN

Got to agree with this. I’m14 stone, usually ride super rocky tracks and have the line choice of a broken shopping trolley yet have never bottomed my coil.
When I had my Levo I read the same thing about it being too linear but again it was great with a coil.
Lastly I believe 3 lads at Tftuned have rails with coils on, if they weren’t suitable I’m sure they would know.
 

Hob Nob

Active member
Jun 4, 2020
152
149
UK
I have to call you out on this one Hob Nob... unless you're a really heavy rider, a coil shock with a progressive spring works awesome on the Rail with NO bottom out issues. I've known this for a while and I'm a 190 lb aggressive rider. Your ad nauseam posts about Rails not being coil friendly actually swayed my buddy into not considering one. That is until he actually rode my Rail with Jade X and 525-650 lb progressive coil. He went out and bought one the next day. FWIW he weighs 220 lbs and owns most of the KOM's in the Pacific NW and I don't know of anyone going bigger these days so... unless the upper range of the progressive spring is still too little for your weight then you are far better off on a coil IMHO.

Have FUN!

G MAN

You can call me out as much as you like, no skin off my nose. I ran various coils on mine (with an HBO, which masked the issue) but sticking a GoPro on the shock to see what it was doing (then comparing it to the behaviour of a decent air shock) showed it wasn't ideal.

The (reported) 18% progression on the Rail confirms it for me. That is absolutely not a progressive enough system in my world to run a coil. Personally I found the best performing shock overall I used on the bike was a '21 Float X2.

But hey, we're all different.
 

duri1

Member
Nov 3, 2020
9
4
Slovakia
XL Rail with DPX2 from 2021 Trek Slash. Different stroke, 230x62.5 but fits fine.

First third of travel is easy to blow through, could do with a tune but the Slash curve I guess is similar to the Rail so I’m just happy with it as it is at the moment.

Works out around 163mm rear travel now.

View attachment 51470

View attachment 51472
Hi Rob, I have the same 230x62,5 shock from Slash as you have but I need upgrade the fork. I'm considering 170mm Yari / Lyric or 170mm ZEB. What do you think? Thanks mate.
 

Gman086

Member
May 11, 2021
32
23
Portland, OR
Post 21 is mine, and i can guarantee it has never hit the downtube on any big hits, so all your cringing has been in vain

You’re probably now default thinking if thats the case it can’t have been taking hard hits, but thats not the case either, its had a fair number of heavy landings and the odd unplanned flat landing. It doesnt get an easy life, and also has a few koms (if thats your measure)

perhaps the clearance is more than 5mm, i didnt measure it with a ruler 😀

Sorry that I ruffled your feathers Jamo... my point is simply that the clearance in your pic is NOT the actual clearance. Glad it worked out for you and I would suggest a follow-up post or edit saying as much versus slapping a shock on and saying "it's good". On my medium Rail I wouldn't be so sure... also why I got the Jade X and not the Fox X2 as I know for certain it's fine with the longer 60mm stroke (that I wasn't going to compromise for the way I ride).

Have FUN!

G MAN
 
Last edited:

Boltdude

Member
Jan 18, 2022
23
24
California, USA
Hey sorry for reviving this thread, just want to know if you remember if you have to order new bushings to mount your jade x on a Rail 7. Just need to know the bushing size. Cheers!
Very late response, but I elected to get new mounting hardware for my DVO Jade X on my 2021 Rail 9.7, keeping the stock RS shock intact as a spare or if I sell the bike and want to keep the Jade. It may have also taken some effort and special bushing removal tool to use the old parts and I didn’t want to mess around with that. It was a bit hard to find the right parts so thought I would post to save others time. Fox actually makes a generic 9 piece mounting hardware kit that works perfectly for Rail/Jade pairing. After much research the guys at the local Trek shop helped figure it out for me. The part number for the top mount is 803-03-311, 10mm, mounting width 54mm/2.126 and for the bottom 803-03-314, 10mm, 39.88mm/1.570. The kits include the DU bushing, spacers and inner and outer washers (also includes includes 2 igus bushings not needed). Each kit is about $20 and available from multiple sites. Hope this helps others looking into this.
 

kane

Member
May 16, 2018
26
18
Brechin, Scotland
Hi guys. I am looking for a replacement shock for my 2020 Rail9 large. I see everyone is or has changed there's........My question Has anyone got the standard shock that came off lying in there garages . I would be interested in buying if one was selling . I'm located in Scotland
 

Masta_Fro

New Member
Apr 24, 2023
1
2
Sdq
Just wanted to add to this thread since it helped me out quite a bit as I made the decision to upgrade rear shock on my Trek Rail 9.8 GX AXS build (2021 size L).

Went with Ohlins TTXM.2 coil
Using FULL 65 mm stroke (230x65) instead of 230X57.5

Shock clearly is far enough from frame when fully compressed without coil and bottom out bumper. No issues here. On Large frame at least. Works up to about 169mm rear travel.

Front fork upgraded to Zeb 170mm

This beautiful beast of mine now shreds downhill and still climbs decently.

Mini Link still set at low position.

Might push a bit further and go with a 180mm air spring up front and Mino link set to high, but currently very happy.

Effective Trek Rail 9.8 build 170/170mm
Head angle 64.1 degrees
So pretty she makes my wife jealous.

IMG_7336.jpeg IMG_7335.jpeg
 

irie

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
May 2, 2022
1,943
1,874
Chichester, W.Sussex, UK

Have since changed from Ohlins 525lb spring to a Valt 500lb spring and removed one 2.5mm spacer to increase travel from 150mm to ~156mm, and upgraded forks to Zeb Ultimate A2 160mm.
 

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