The Cane Creek Double Barrel supershock is available now on all 224-evolution, Alpine 160 and Blood models.

The Cane Creek Double Barrel is one of those few components that causes a genuine stir in the mountain bike world. It hasn’t been hit hard with marketing or hype, it’s quietly come onto the scene and blown everything else out of the water. That’s how it works on the bike too, no crazy graphics or showy dials, it quietly gets on with annihilating the trail and every other shock you’ve ever ridden.

The key to the success of the Double Barrel shock is Öhlins' Twin Tube technology. This system pumps oil through a continuous circuit allowing full control of both rebound and compression movements. Circulating the oil through the valving instead of the main piston allows independant remote adjustment not possible on other shocks. External adjustment eradicates the need for expensive custom tunes and allows easy setup according to track or weather conditions. You no longer need a factory race truck to revalve your shock, you can do it yourself. Öhlins might have made a name for themselves in motorsport, but along with Cane Creek their technology has revolutionised mountain bike suspension setup.

There are four key adjustments and two that are often overlooked, here’s a quick summary of what each controls:

Low-speed compression:

Modulates small bump sensitivity and pedal-platform stability to dial in the balance between immediate plushness and pedal load effects.

High-speed compression:

Adjusts how the shock reacts to the initial high-speed impact of a big hit.

Low-speed rebound:

Controls rebound in slow shaft speed situations such as pedaling, exiting corners, G-outs and unloading weight before rough sections of the trail.

High-speed rebound:

Dials in high-speed recovery after big impacts, sudden compressions or shock extension after leaving the lip of a jump.

Preload:

Preload is the amount you compress the spring from its normal state. This effects how much the shock sags when weighted.

Spring rate:

The correct spring rate ensures the usability of travel for riders of a certain weight. Recommendations below.

Steel spring only.

Model	Rider Weight (lb)	Spring Rate (lb)
Five	140-155	450
	160-175	500
	180-200	550
Blood	135-155	350
	160-175	400
	180-205	500
Alpine 160	135-155	350
	160-200	400
	205-255	500
224-evo	170-185	350
	190-200	400
	205-255	500

 

We offer three options per model, with the spring rates provided above as a suggested baseline. These have taken into consideration rider weight distribution and preload based on approximately 30% sag at two collar turns. You can select your preferred option on ordering your upgrade, if you come outside these limits spare springs can be sourced through Extra UK.

So why upgrade your Orange to the Cane Creek Double Barrel? True versatility. It “seemingly knows what terrain you are riding over and deals with it in stealth mode” (2010 Dirt 100). The movement is stiction free creating a limitless feel to the travel allowing the damping complete control of the shock and creating unbreakable traction on the trail. If you ride flats and continually bounce off the pedals, the Double Barrel will give you more control and let you hit stutter bumps without the fear. “This is one of, if not THE best piece of mountain bike equipment you can buy. It’s impossible to put into words how good this shock is” (Dirt #87). 

The Double Barrel is the only upgrade you can buy to push even more out of your Orange frame, only you know if you need that sort of performance…

Read an Orange staff longterm review here.

Cane Creek Double Barrel

 

If you're looking for some setup tips, here's the advice Dave gave to an Alpine 160 rider in North Wales:

"Adjustments on the CCDB take time, and there isn’t a magic formula unfortunately. Basically, low speed compression and rebound are the first places to start, these are the easiest to measure bouncing around outside the house. Slow speed rebound is similar to on an air shock, I generally set it about midpoint in the clicks. Generally, I try and have it as fast as possible, but ensuring when I ride through a sharp ditch or compression seated, it DOESN’T kick the back wheel in the air when it rebounds. If it loses traction and you feel it kick you forwards when the shock re-extends, you need to add a couple of clicks until it rebounds smoothly leaving you seated comfortably and ready to attack the next section of trail. That done, it’s time for slow speed compression. Too much and it will feel dead, too little and it will feel wallowy and sit down in the travel when you move your weight around on the bike. So again, start from the standard mid-point – and you might find this okay. If the bike sinks too much when you lean back, or it bobs ridiculously when pedaling, add some slow speed compression to make it less sensitive to these shifts in weight that effect the efficiency of the suspension. So for riding that includes a good amount of pedaling, I’d suggest a mid point in the clicks, then add a couple more clicks towards plus, this should help it sit up better when you’re pedalling. That’s slow speed adjustments well on the way...

High speed, you need to go playing on a proper trail, more hardcore sections of trail that you ride. High speed rebound is how the shock reacts to bigger hits. When you hit a large ‘square-edge’ bump – i.e. A big sharp rock, perhaps on a slight incline after a large downhill section. The bike will perhaps try and kick you as the shock recovers – similar to the description of riding through the ditch above, but more abrupt, and something you’ll feel through the pedals. Worst case scenario would be hitting a big ditch or bomb hole and as it recovers it catapults the rider over the bars – the kind of thing you see on G-outs as riders hit berms at ridiculous speeds and catapult themselves using their shock out of the corner. This is difficult to explain, but if you feel the shock is throwing you too much in these situations i.e. You’re losing traction or feel like you’re being pitched over the front, add some high-speed damping (towards plus) to dull this effect. This might be an adjustment you don’t really use until you find a place on the trail you ride where you notice this kind of thing. An example where it would work for you in North Wales would include the section on the Coed y Brenin trails after the initial pedal up from the visitor centre, you hit the steep tarmac climb and turn right. That smooth fast descent there – you head down over the whoops, then at the fastest point the trail turns left slightly and as it goes uphill there’s two whoops you hit at break neck speed. If you pump the first hump, then the bike compresses hard and fast in the gap, invariably it fires you over the next, losing traction and nearly causing me to crash EVERY time. With slow speed rebound you can control this feeling and retain better traction – in turning making you faster – but this adjustment is maybe most relevant when riding on the edge!

High speed compression is easy enough. It relates to big old whacks. Basically it relates to shaft speed – if it takes a hit of a certain frequency it dampens the speed it goes down. So I’d suggest taking the bike to a drop you’re comfortable with. You want the bike to use all or most of its travel on the biggest hits you take. If it bottoms, high speed compression can be added and this will slow down how quickly it compresses on these impacts, slowing it down or reducing shaft speed means getting to the end of its travel will take a split second longer theoretically, but drastically improve the feel and harshness as it goes through its travel. This again needs starting at the midpoint, then based on your experiences on the trail and the way you ride, either turn more on (+) to dampen bigger hits – or turn it off to make it more supple on the trails you’re riding.

Finally, if it feels right, it is right. Shock setup is personal to every sort of rider and every kind of bike, only you know what works for you.

Oh, and remember spring rate and preload is important. To add sag on a coil shock you turn the collar on the shock (where the coil hits its stop at the front of the bike). To get your sag right, about 30% on most bikes, you’re best using a ruler to measure from shock bolt to shock bolt, then work out when you’ve got it right by measuring the difference. And if you can’t get the adjustments right, remember spring rate does what air does on an RP23. 

I'm no suspension guru but it helps explain the adjustments a little and how to work out what's what"