Air shock technology has improved over recent years, but can they really challenge the reliability and turnability of a coil shock? We pitch the two mediums against each other in this battle of the bounce.

IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING to shout about when you're the first out of the blocks with the latest innovation. For freeriding the trend for 2005 is the 1.5inch headset design which, aside from the knock-on advantages of larger bearings and a stronger front end, brings double-crown performance to all long-travel single crown fork users