Suspension Manufacturer Cane Creek just unveiled its latest creation, the DBinline, which is a slimmed-down version of the Double Barrel Air. The DBinline looks poised to offer shorter-travel trail bikes the same broad range of tuning options as the Double Barrel Air in a lighter, more streamlined package.
“I like to say we hit the DBair CS with a shrink ray,” said Josh Coaplen, Cane Creek’s vice president of engineering. “We set out to bring Double Barrel performance with CS-optimized climbing damping into a smaller, lighter shock. Riders of shorter-travel bikes now have access to the adjustability and control that characterizes Cane Creek suspension without paying a weight penalty."
The claimed weight for the US$495 DBinline is 295g in a 165x38mm length without hardware (approximately 214g lighter than the DBair CS)
The DBinline is targeted at aggressive trail bikes with 120-150mm of suspension travel. It appears to pack the all the features of the DBair CS into a lighter, more manageable package, which should also fit on a wider range of mountain bikes frames than the company’s piggyback shocks. As the name implies, the DBinline lacks the piggyback reservoir of the other shocks in the Double Barrel series. It does, however, retain the Twin Tube design that allows for wide range of tuning options.
The Twin-Tube design of the DBinline gives it more tuning options than competing inline shocks
The DBinline has separate chambers for compression and rebound damping. This Twin Tube design allows oil to continuously circulate through the damping circuits, allowing for independent high- and low-speed compression and high- and low-speed rebound damping. All four of these damping adjustments are externally adjustable. Cane Creek claims the DBinline houses 37-48 percent more oil than competing inline shocks, meaning there should be significantly less shock fade from heat, resulting in more consistent damping performance on extended descents.
The Climb Switch is much more than a lockout lever
In addition to the four external damping adjustments, the DBinline also uses Cane Creek’s innovative Climb Switch. Introduced last year for the DBair CS, the Climb Switch is much more than a lockout or a traditional platform damper. It lets the rider increase low-speed compression and rebound damping with a flip of the switch, allowing the shock to firm up and better follow the contours of the trail while climbing.
For more information visit www.canecreek.com/products/suspension/dbinline.
