Custom ENDURO MTB Coil Shock - EXT Storia Lok V3 Review

extreme racing shocks or ext is an italian suspension supplier known primarily for its rich motorsports history including working with legendary racers like sebastian lube who dominated the world rally championship for years aboard his citroens in 2014 ext decided to try its hand at making products for mountain bikes as well and it brought over many of the technologies and the expertise acquired during all those years of motorsports racing intended primarily for enduro and gravity applications the storia and arma shocks have been well received and are now on to their third generations respectively we've put the latest version of the story unlocked to the test and we're here today to tell you all about it so don't go anywhere the storia lock is a monotube damper equipped with a number of external adjustments high in low speed compression a single low speed rebound adjuster as well as an external climb switch called you guessed it lock flipping the lock lever engages a separate compression circuit which has been tuned to provide a strong pedaling platform it also features a blow-off valve should you forget to open it up again after the climb the storia makes use of relatively large pistons and the short and wide external reservoir which ext says allows them to run very low internal pressure behind the internal floating piston for maximum sensitivity with very low risk of cavitation and very low hysteresis for high dynamic response one of the unique features of the storia shock is the hydraulic bottom out control the last 15 of the shocks travel are controlled by a hydraulic bottom out piston which increases the force required to compress the shock by 50 as a result the shock does not need a big external bottom out bumper like those generally found on coil shocks it makes do with just a thin washer to absorb that very last bit of contact the hpc behavior is tuned from the factory on the storia whereas it is externally adjustable on the downhill oriented arma every ext shock is built specifically to order the customer fills out a detailed order sheet with information that will allow ext to tune the shock specifically for that rider and the bike in question the shock arrives with two different springs to allow the rider to test and choose the rate best suited to his or her real world requirements ext also provides the hardware needed to install the shock in the frame so it's a simple plug and play deal when the shock arrives for the v3 ext has also made changes to the physical aspects of the rebound knob to make swapping springs easier than before accessing the external compression adjustments requires tools a four millimeter hex key for low speed compression and a 12 millimeter open or adjustable wrench for high speed compression something to consider if you like making trail side adjustments as your multi-tool is unlikely to feature the open wrench rebound can be adjusted by hand all the clicks are well defined and provide a broad usable range of settings for each adjustment none of those fully open or fully locked settings at the extremes which serve no other purpose than to convince the rider that the shock is working as intended on the trail the storia provides a sensitive and controlled ride small bump compliance is excellent and the shock provides a general feeling of comfort and security when you charge a right trail paying attention to the smaller details it's easy to feel the effect of the different adjustments and we arrived pretty quickly at settings we were happy with our test bike features a progressive rear suspension linkage which develops a very low overall leverage ratio this works well together with the coil shock to retain both sensitivity and support the hydraulic bottom out bumper of the storia works really well in action and we particularly appreciate just how smooth the transition is as it activates coupled with the high degree of control provided by the rebound circuit the story is very well behaved in jumping scenarios where it again promotes a sense of calm and security on the way back up the hill the lock lever makes a marked difference to how the bike feels this test bike only suffers from a moderate amount of bobbing to start with but the lock lever still makes life easier on the climbs it not only removes any remaining bobbing but it also holds the bike up higher in its travel which improves the seat tube angle and provides a more lively response at the pedals when climbing if you forget to flip the lever for the way back down the bike is of course noticeably harsher but the blow-off valve still makes it ridable to compare the story to some of its competitors we did a day of back-to-back testing against the fox dhx-2 and the orleans ttx 22m because our test bike features a particularly long eye-to-eye measurement on the shock we were not able to source a version of the dhx2 with a climb switch so we couldn't compare that particular function all three of these shocks are high-end products that work very well out on the trail we found that the fox feels a little bit livelier than the other two both the earlines and the story app provide a very calm feeling under the pedals while the fox offers a little bit more pop the hydraulic bottom out feature of the storia really sets it apart from the others with unrivaled smoothness as you hit the last portion of travel you can feel the rubber bumper on both the oleans and the fox as you hit it whereas the hpc on the storya is completely unnoticeable this feature is particularly fun if you run a spring rate on the lower end of the spectrum for your weight to increase sag and small bump compliance without compromising too much on bigger hits to conclude our riding impressions a couple of words on noise the storia is not a particularly silent shock it produces a bit of a whooshing sound when it rebounds and you can also hear the check valves working as the shock transitions from compression to rebound some riders will absolutely love this aspect while those looking for a completely silent ride should probably look elsewhere additionally the thin bottom out bumper is not secured and can rattle around a bit on rougher trails not enough to be a real nuisance but we've heard of riders securing it with a drop of superglue to make this issue go away completely when it comes to longevity we've had the story running for well over three months by now without any performance degradation whatsoever three months is not a particularly long time of course but all signs point to a smooth ownership experience ahead in conclusion there's no shortage of good call shock options for your enduro bike today extoria lock v3 checks in at the higher end of the market in terms of pricing but it delivers the features and the performance to justify the expense ext does a good job of tuning each shock to the rider and the bike and the storia delivers a smooth and controlled ride even on the roughest trails the lockout circuit works really well for climbing and the unique hydraulic bottom out system is a boon especially for those looking to run a little lower spring rate thanks for taking the time to tune in and check out this review we hope you enjoyed it as always don't forget to like comment and subscribe and until next time happy trails you

Channel: Vital MTB

Views: 52,846

Keywords: mountain bike, mountain biking, mtb, bike, downhill, freeride, cycling, trails, coil shock, ext, arma, storia, enduro mtb suspension, is coil shock better than air shock, yt capra ext storia, italy, mtb shocks, mountain suspension, johan rules, israel, shock test, bike shock, shox

Id: QuF2DXKYXyA

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020