To make sure he rarely sleeps and to fund his custom tandem habit, hes also penned a handful of bike-related books and talks to a GoPro for YouTube, too. I dont have an answer for that. New York, While the preferred feel Venn diagrams for most riders will generally match across how much high and low speed compression they like, I deliberately ran opposing setups just to verifying the separation claims. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America. (1) How does the new Charger 3 damper stack up against the Charger 2.1 that it replaces, and the rest of the high-end market? Cheers, I didnt see the separate components to say if its a quad seal, x-ring, or o-ring between the bushings myself - so I probably should have just said rubber ring.. These two adjustments function completely independently from each other, allowing for very tangible differences between each click. Ive ridden Avy-equipped forks with their hydraulic bottom out system as well as Manitous and I think its a great feature in forks, even air forks where you can add volume spacers to create spring ramp. It works by gradually closing off damping oil flow in the last 20% of travel, making it more progressive to prevent a harsh bottom out. Now you'll just have massive glide ring/damper body wear. *Great piece (as usual) by the way, love all the tear down pics. RockShox recommends choosing the optimum air can over putting volume spacers in the negative. On the air version of the Super Deluxe they've also put a bunch of extra energy into supporting the shaft and keeping crap out. Tags: At the time I'm writing this there isn't pricing available for the lower-end Select+ and Select shocks but for riders I've talked to who think HBO would make a massive difference to their bikes' performance - like everyone I know who's recently ridden a long travel Santa Cruz with an air or coil setup - I think it's sweet there will be an option to experiment with the feature at a significantly lower price point. Both get five clicks, which doesnt sound like a lot, but Rockshox says theyre meaningful changes. Feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call! All three new forks get chassis updates that well describe in more detail in their respective sections below, but the core technology chiefly, an entirely new damper and air spring is shared across the range. The big bottom out bumper is designed to be progressive as well. The valves come standard on Ultimate and Select+ series forks, but can be retrofitted to the other models with the new 2023 chassis versions. Theres a lot to cover here, so lets dive straight in. Copyright 2022 Bikerumor, All Rights Reserved. These glide rings are not replaceable, only o-rings get replaced in an air can service. And the versions for each fork have significantly tweaked positive and negative air chamber volumes to work best with each respective chassis and travel range. Since then hes written several million words about several thousand test bikes and a ridiculous amount of riding gear. The coil versions of the Super Deluxe that come equipped with HBO get 5 clicks of adjustment. This may be a negative for owners of bikes designed around multiple stroke settings who want to experiment with difference setups. The Super Deluxe Ultimate Air has a new DebonAir+ air can, which comes in two options: progressive or linear. This shock will be offered in all metric sizes with an MSRP of $599 for the air version and $529 for the coil version. Down empress bypass? Learn how your comment data is processed. We're looking at the Ultimate versions which have the most sophisticated RC2T damper. Coil-like plush with air adjustability, awesome all-round control and next level tuneability at a great price. Great forks are one thing, but if you want your bikes suspension performance to feel properly balanced front to rear, the rear shocks need performance to match. In order to have the most usable adjustment range and achieve the best performance for your bike, a retune may be required. Adding or removing the HBO system would require a full damper overhaul and swapping a number of parts, so its not going to be an easy DIY, or probably all that cost-effective rather, some OE-spec shocks may skip the option if the frame manufacturer decides that its not suitable for the frame in question but its essentially baked into the shock (or not) from the factory. Hopefully this has been insightful. Choose from two different air cans, with a larger Progressive air can to add more playfulness to a bike with linear leverage rates, and a Linear air can to maintain a more linear spring rate on progressive bikes, helping you use all the travel. Volume spacer Tokens let you fine tune the volume from there, for both the positive and negative air chambers. In the seal head there are now two sized DU bushings with an o-ring sandwiched between them. As with air shocks, I wonder how many folks are running their coil-equipped bikes oversprung as a way of managing end stroke behaviour. I can only imagine that HBO will change a lot of aggressive riders' setups and I wonder how it will affect base compression tunes as well. The machined ribs on the air sleeve make it really easy to unscrew the can for adding volume spacers too. The base tune is set by the bike brand, based on each frames kinematics, and sits right in the middle of the shocks tuning range so that you have the maximum amount of adjustment in both directions. This thinking is informed by the number of riders I've talked to with premium carbon Enduro bikes who were most blown away by the performance difference deep in the travel when they purchased a Gucci shock replacement from the likes of Push or EXT. I've also seen full suspension rigs with alignment issues so bad that they unwind shocks, break shafts, load bodies against air cans, load shafts against bodies, and generally eat shocks - no matter what brand shock comes spec. I think this makes a lot of sense. The idea was to simplify tuning, by having a consistent and repeatable baseline thats actually a middle-of-the-road, viable setting for a lot of riders (instead of fully closed compression damping, which few folks would actually run in practice). I've witnessed some particularly egregious examples over the years where bike companies fully threw their shock providers under the service truck and the suspension companies just took it. Notably absent in the new fork releases are updates to the Boxxer. Get your head round that though and the new Super Deluxe Ultimate is an absolutely superb feeling damper that can be setup easily to suit a very wide range of riders, bikes and styles without punishing those who dont want to invest excessive dial time. I'm not a suspension tech, or a suspension engineer. Thanks to some brilliant suspension nerds I've been privileged to work with in the past I'll even give myself credit for being more than competent at setting suspension bikes up and doing bike fits. RockShox says that the new spring both increases small-bump sensitivity and provides better midstroke support than the prior iteration. The two different air cans let you choose (or, more likely, let your bikes manufacturer choose) the best air volume to augment each frames particular kinematics. So what exactly have RockShox done to create one of the best mountain bike rear shocks available, how does that feel on the trail and are there any downsides? The Ultimate-series forks also get a new bushing package, with a 53% longer lower bushing, which RockShox says increases overlap and reduces friction by distributing the load over a greater area and helping to mitigate binding when the fork is being heavily loaded. Also in keeping with the new Charger 3 damper, each click of the the adjusters on a Super Deluxe shock will deliver a perceptible and equivalent difference from the last. Very cool to see someone, anyone, opening up new products like this. Even the HBO is designed such that it only affects the last 20 or 25% of the stroke (for Coil and Air, respectively) but outside of that pocket, it's imperceptible. There are five clicks of HSC via a 3mm hex-key, five clicks of LSC via the side-mounted adjustment nob, and 15 clicks of rebound oriented at the top of the shock on the air systems, and at the bottom of the shaft on the coils. First of all, this requires the manufacturer to do a proper job testing suspension settings and working with RockShox to come up with their best base setup. But - and I know I've covered this I just think it's really important - it also behooves riders buying a shock aftermarket to be certain that it's properly tuned for their bike. Much better than the typical marketing fluff the others have. Like the updated forks, the main aim of the changes are to separate cross talk between low and high speed compression adjustment for a fully independent feel. The air can is faceted externally top and bottom now and all the elements of the body have a much sharper finish than before. Theres definitely no way this is going to open or close on its own, and it may not be as easy to give a quick flick open or closed while riding along as the previous version. Excellent write up but I do have one question that mayor may not be answerable at the moment. Nice. The climb/lock switch is also very stiff, so its not the easiest thing to move on the fly unless your thumbs are strong enough to pry on DH tires without levers. It's the little details. RockShox has given the core of their suspension lineup a major overhaul, and a lot of the updates seem awfully promising on paper. For the air-sprung Deluxe, youll find a new DebonAir+ design that gives you a lot of tuning options. It does make me wonder if a coil fork with HBO is in the works though So, designing a fork is more ~straightforward~?. Rock Shox has had two bushings separated by a "rubber thing" in the seal head for years, nothing new there.The fact that Fox now has the same design in the Float X is new however. ;). We seriously love what we do, and seriously love bikes. The elimination of cross-talk between the HSC and LSC compression circuits are accomplished the same way as the Charger 3 damper. Some of these OEM air shocks will also come with a hydraulic bottom out bumper, while some will not. Posted in: The Super Deluxe Air also gets a new bottom-out bumper thats supposed to be smoother and offer a more cushioned travel stop, along with the new DebonAir+ air spring and both air can options, just like the Deluxe. The Deluxe Ultimate gives you all the tuning options with separate lockout and low-speed compression adjustments, plus a rebound adjustment knob. The DebonAir+ spring can be retrofitted to earlier models of the ZEB but isnt compatible with prior versions of the Pike or Lyrik. Yeap, we're up in your social medias too. So while I'm very excited about seeing hydraulic bottom out at min-maxable price points, both for OE spec and after market replacement, I can't comment on how SRAM's system performs relative to other HBO-equipped shocks on the market that I've played with. So no matter what bike youre on, if its sprung correctly and has the right tune the HBO range should be good. The Zeb is still available for both 27.5 and 29 wheels and with 160, 170, 180, or 190 mm of travel. Photo: Andrew Major, For the new MY23 air shocks equipped with HBO, the hydraulic bottom out is preset and affects the last 25% of the stoke. And along with that, theyve done something pretty interesting with the adjusters: rather than indexing them from fully closed and counting clicks from there, RockShox has set the middle of the range as the default, index position and says that those middle 0 positions are consistent from one fork to the next. Besides this tear down of the new shocks, there is a tear down of the new forks as well as Cam and Pete's riding impressions of some of these new RockShox releases. Hey Markus, the bearing eyelet option is still available. I love suspension teardowns. With this new design, theyve added a high speed compression circuit to go along with the low speed compression circuit. It's important to note that while less expensive shocks have decreased external tunability, the internal structure will be the same (tune dependent). As someone who has had multiple coil shock pistons unthread while riding due to questionable frame alignment/design/QC, that keyed piston is a great idea! Dial in more HBO damping for more bottom-out resistance as needed. If all of this sounds like a lot, check out the new Rockshox Trailhead web app. Size and tuning information. These new air cans are not backwards compatible. Bushing overlap is increased for a structurally stiffer and stronger shock, but more sensitive movement and RockShox have upgraded to the latest Maxima Plush Dynamic fluid. In short, varying the amount of oil that can flow through the low-speed circuit changes the threshold at which the high-speed one has to take over and start taking on some of the oil flow, which in turn means that the amount of oil flowing through the high-speed circuit, and therefore the amount of damping force that it generates, isnt constant at a given shaft speed, depending on how the low-speed adjuster is set. While I know a lot of riders appreciate the tunability of high performance shocks, I do wonder how many riders are on an a top-end unit who would have been perfectly well served on a more basic shock like the Super Deluxe Select+ where they could set their rebound and HBO settings and accept that the compression settings were set-and-forget from the factory. They're half the size of the previous units for better fine tuning and they're colour coordinated to easily identify the units that work with your shock. RockShox has also added pressure-relief valves, similar to what Fox has offered for a while now, onto all three of the new forks. Inside of these air cans, you have the option of running up to one negative air chamber token to tune your initial stroke, and up to 4 positive air chamber tokens to tune the end of your stroke. It's probably important to note that adding hydraulic bottom out doesn't change spring rate, it's ramping up the compression damping significantly in the last 20% of the stroke, but for some riders on some bicycles it will let them think about optimizing traction and support separately from how their bike performs when dropping to flat. Just as an FYI, the downside to this is that you need really tight seals to keep that gas from escaping, and those tight seals create friction, so the piston cant move as freely or react as quickly. RockShox had two main goals for the new damper: (1) decoupling high- and low-speed compression adjustments, so that one truly doesnt impact the other and (2) reducing the amount of harshness / high-speed spiking that occurs on sharp and repeated impacts. There's a secondary compression assembly inside the shock with its own piston and valve, as well as a couple of shims, and it's position sensitive for the last 20% of the shock's stroke for coil shocks and the last 25% of the stroke for air shocks. (2) The outgoing DebonAir C1 air spring didnt have the best midstroke support, especially in the ZEB. The low speed compression (LSC) dial is now a big knurled dial on the end of a barrel that sits across the head of the piggyback chamber. With all the adjusters clustered around the top of the shock, the new Super Deluxe gives easy access to all the dials and the crisp clicks give a reassuring, quality feel to each adjustment. As part of its new 2023 suspension line up, RockShox has completely overhauled its rear shock models both inside and out, as well as adding new models. With so much commonality between Ultimate, Select+ and Select shocks, less nerdy riders could probably save some cash by choosing one of the simpler dampers. Four-position high speed compression damping adjustment is then done with a 3mm Allen bolt. We're real, passionate riders, just like you. From a performance perspective, I can't think of any reason a rider wouldn't want to have the HBO system on their shock, but bike companies can still buy non-HBO versions of these shocks at OE, so if you're buying a bike with a MY23 RockShox Super Deluxe and this matters to you, you'll want to confirm the spec up front. I believe the story with the bushings, and sized glide rings, is the effort thats gone into sizing everything (tolerances). Changing stroke changes the position for HBO as well, so it's not just a matter of the sag graphics being in the wrong spot on an HBO-equipped shock. I'm not sensitive or tuned in enough to know which of the features between my current and old Fox setup is making the most difference, since obviously there are many differences between the two, but I'd be hard-pressed to go "back" to forks or shock without HBO. Any thoughts on that? This decision will be left up to the frame manufacturer and is largely based on the progressivity of the frame it is being installed on. Typically for RockShox it doesnt overly punish a simple setup either so you dont have to be an expert fettler to get the best from it. Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. Especially as the lock out lever is hard to operate and hard in terms of its effect too. Especially being available down to the most basic shocks with just rebound adjustment. Particularly helpful on bikes with poor QC that sideload the sh*t out of shocks. Despite the next level feel its still significantly cheaper and lighter than Foxs Float X and Float X2 shocks too, making it a boutique vibe damper at a relative bargain price and trail-friendly weight. It actually debuted last fall, in RockShoxs Flight Attendant-equipped forks, but wasnt widely touted at the time. This is the feature were most excited about, because it allows this shock to play nicely with a wider range of progressivity curves. The new separated low and high speed compression strategy from RockShox also requires a complete rethink to what's gone before add some LSC to reduce sensitivity and pedal bob. My plan for a future follow up piece is to check out what brands are releasing bikes with Super Deluxe shocks without HBO and to follow up on why they made that decision. You will be happy to know that the coil shock springs carry forward in the same ID, OD, rates, lengths, and colours. Leave it wide open for a typically linear coil spring feel. RockShox calls that phenomenon cross talk, and says that theyve reduced it to the point where the amount of damping at 300 inches per second of shaft speed (squarely in the high-speed range) only varies by 5% across the entire range of the low-speed compression adjuster. Weve got all the same high and low speed compression and low speed rebound adjustments as on the air shock, as well one extra knob to play with your bottom out control. [Forum] "Buckin Hell trail run race. The rider would then tune the exact bottom out characteristics of their shock by adding and removing air tokens, as with most air shocks on the market. Start riding though and the difference that dial makes in terms of cornering support and ride height are very clear. The HBO circuit on the Super Deluxe air you would tune (support) with volume spacers (aka bottomless tokens). We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices, It looks superficially similar but Super Deluxe is new inside and out, Low Speed Compression gets a big new clicker and works in a different way to normal, The chunky climb/lockout lever lives on the left but it's stiff to shift, Super Deluxe gets an optional Hydraulic Bottom Out Damper as well as a reshaped bump stop, USWE Outlander 2 Hydration Pack review minimalist bag for gravel and trail adventures, Best XC tires 2022 the fastest mountain bike tires for outright speed and control, Bespoken Word sisters are doing it for themselves, DMR Vault Mag SL pedals review the lightest, fanciest, and spendiest version of a classic pedal, Best water bottle for MTB stay properly hydrated without a riding pack. [Forum] What are you doing to prolong bearing life? I know some frames are so bad theyre going to eat shocks regardless but its nice to see companies (DVO is on it too, CaneCreek has made changes to their seal head over the years) putting in an effort to protect their shocks from premature wear (or at least protect themselves from some of the ridiculous warranty claims) caused by design and alignment issues. And then the whole lineup gets the same new Maxima Plush Dynamic Suspension Lube as the fork lineup, too. But what about going the other way? Super Deluxe, We have loved it for its reasonable price, ease of setup, wide range of fitment options, and reliable performance. Both the Air and Coil versions get some chassis tweaks to increase bushing overlap and help keep the shock more rigid, especially for frames that introduce significant side loading to the shock. The biggest new change is a Hydraulic Bottom Out (HBO), with both fixed and adjustable options.
Tasco MTB Apparel - Shirt, Shorts, Gloves and Socks, OneUp's New Dropper Post Remote? I think we can assume a Charger 3 and DebonAir+ Boxxer is on the way. Along with the HBO system the least harshness at full travel is the design goal. The big updates for the 2023 Rockshox rear shocks are: Across the range, most of the best new tech sits on the top models, which are also the only ones you can buy as aftermarket upgrades, so well focus on those. The Deluxe lineup is their inline option, offering both air and coil spring models. I think the SRAM version becomes more interesting than what other brands are producing when you look at the application of their HBO feature. Hydraulic bottom out systems are becoming increasingly common at the premium end of rear shocks. And theres an all-new Deluxe Coil, meant for e-bikes and other models that might want to run a coil shock but have packaging constraints that rule out the Super Deluxe with its remote reservoir. Your SRAM service center can custom tune a generic aftermarket shock for your frame. The flagship Ultimate versions (both air and coil) get a high-speed compression adjuster that was absent from the prior-generation shocks, and the new RC2 shock damper features the same decoupling of the two compression adjusters as the Charger 3. If the seal head is anodized purple then the carrier for the Counter Measures lattice spring and the volume spacers will be purple as well. Photo: RockShox. Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device, A fully redesigned Super Deluxe Ultimate and Super Deluxe Ultimate Coil, DebonAir+ Air can in linear or progressive. Its hard to tell where the balance is between the more sophisticated, back pressure quietened damping circuits, smoother bushings and fluid, and better overlap in terms of influencing the feel, but the overall result is delicious.
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