Quarq introduce ShockWiz suspension tuning system

[Headshot]

This thing is aimed at Enduro and DH riders in the main I suspect. Short travel suspension presents far fewer tuning issues/options than the 120mm and over department. As forks and shocks get more settings parameters a device like this becomes more useful. But at that price they can keep it. 

[mtb impi]

Could have bought a handful, saving me twice the trip to a hospital, due to poor suspension setup.

[Cogent Industries]

+ Arduino or Raspberry Pi

 

reverse engineering this is not a big deal.

 

pressure sensor - 5$

3 axis accelermoeter - 10$

 

if it really works, then someone else will do the work

[Capricorn]

+ Arduino or Raspberry Pi

i think the true value of shockwiz resides within the software and the thousands of existing data points the device seems to rely on to make recommendations on changes to the shock&fork settings. the hardware in comparison, is childsplay.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Capricorn

[Rigardt@Scott]

Eish, great idea, but at that price it is complete insanity!

[NINER_boy]

Looks nice, but sure once the shock pressures are tuned in they are tuned in, and you can dot them down and top up to that.

 

Don't quite understand how this will be something fitted permanently on a bike...

[GLuvsMtb]

Looks nice, but sure once the shock pressures are tuned in they are tuned in, and you can dot them down and top up to that.

 

Don't quite understand how this will be something fitted permanently on a bike...

I think the aim would be to fine-tune suspension for the type of ride you intend doing and to see how changing one variable affects other variables (think about the downforce setup of a F1 car for various tracks). Imagine doing a few practice runs for a DH race and being able to review various suspension setups for your timed run. It certainly has some appeal.

[Odinson]

Lets say the improvement is 5% ( I don't believe you'd be able to improve much more with this tool) its still 5k-6k for that small margin.

 

 

And to the guys who 5% matter to like pro downhill or enduro riders they already know exactly what they need from their suspension and don't need A tool like this to tell them that. Their bodies are probably more sensitive to how the suspension setup must be to get the most out of it.

 

I think the ShoxkWiz only has value in mid-to long travel bikes. It's pointless to use this on something like a 100mm bike, as the range of suspension tuning that you can really do is so limited.

[Donovan Le Cok]

I think the ShoxkWiz only has value in mid-to long travel bikes. It's pointless to use this on something like a 100mm bike, as the range of suspension tuning that you can really do is so limited.

 

Don't you think that it is not the opposite? With only a 100mm of travel, it is more important to be setup correctly? You do not have the luxury of those extra mm?

[Capricorn]

Don't you think that it is not the opposite? With only a 100mm of travel, it is more important to be setup correctly? You do not have the luxury of those extra mm?

was thinking the same thing, especially wrt XCO.

[Odinson]

Don't you think that it is not the opposite? With only a 100mm of travel, it is more important to be setup correctly? You do not have the luxury of those extra mm?

 

 

was thinking the same thing, especially wrt XCO.

 

I agree with the reasoning, but in general longer-travel forks have wider tuning ranges. It's piss easy to blow through 100mm of travel and thus you could spend less time in the different strokes (beginning, mid and end stroke). Thus, you 'feel' the different strokes less as you move through them quickly during hard riding.

 

HOWEVER, taking the update RS SID as an example, it has a wide range of tuning options (bottomless tokens, compression damping (with independent LSC), rebound), so with such a fork you can benefit from ShockWiz.

 

Personally, I think in XCO you could get away with poorly set-up suspension (just as long as the air pressure is sufficient, whereas in gravity racing you would be definitely penalized by poor suspension set-up.

[Donovan Le Cok]

I agree with the reasoning, but in general longer-travel forks have wider tuning ranges. It's piss easy to blow through 100mm of travel and thus you could spend less time in the different strokes (beginning, mid and end stroke). Thus, you 'feel' the different strokes less as you move through them quickly during hard riding.

 

HOWEVER, taking the update RS SID as an example, it has a wide range of tuning options (bottomless tokens, compression damping (with independent LSC), rebound), so with such a fork you can benefit from ShockWiz.

 

Personally, I think in XCO you could get away with poorly set-up suspension (just as long as the air pressure is sufficient, whereas in gravity racing you would be definitely penalized by poor suspension set-up.

 

I definitely agree that short travel forks of old have not had adequate tuning options. Changing compression rates on my fox float means running different thickness oils. On a DH fork it would have been a quick dial setting. It is good to see that both RS and Fox both releasing short travel forks with more adjustment options. The stepcast float fork from Fox now has 22 clicks of compresssion. They went from no clicks to 22 in one update.

 

An XC bike that is not properly setup can be a big problem. Just two weeks ago I crashed out of a race and I think part of the reason for the crash was that my rear shock was way too hard with no rebound damping and the setup contributed to me chucking it down the road.

 

Regardless, I think the device is great and I am going to pull the trigger on one. I have always enjoyed the setup side of things on the bikes. Too often guys spend huge money on bikes with the best suspension available and they ride around with no setup whats over in their suspension. On a R100k bike a R4k tool is worth it.

[Capricorn]

I agree with the reasoning, but in general longer-travel forks have wider tuning ranges. It's piss easy to blow through 100mm of travel and thus you could spend less time in the different strokes (beginning, mid and end stroke). Thus, you 'feel' the different strokes less as you move through them quickly during hard riding.

 

HOWEVER, taking the update RS SID as an example, it has a wide range of tuning options (bottomless tokens, compression damping (with independent LSC), rebound), so with such a fork you can benefit from ShockWiz.

 

Personally, I think in XCO you could get away with poorly set-up suspension (just as long as the air pressure is sufficient, whereas in gravity racing you would be definitely penalized by poor suspension set-up.

 

as I see it, a longer travel has an associated wider tolerance on any setting within each travel zone: beginning, mid and ending travel zones.

 

for short travel suspension, those tolerances are tighter, and the sweet spot is thus smaller making ideal setup fidgety Air suspension by its nature can be tricky, so trying to find a rider preferred, track-matched balance between various settings on air-suspension in a short travel package could be pretty much blackmagic when going on a touchyfeely approach. If shockwiz has very tight measurement tolerances, and a solid basis for recommendation, then it could take a huge amount of guesswork out of short travel suspension travel.

 

I don't think any XCO rider would want a sloppy suspension setup. there was benefit to be had moving from rigid to suspended setups. To have all that effort wasted in a highspeed lapped race would be a rather silly approach, and negative the very value of suspension that you initially sort.

 

Ultimately, what I, and I think DlC is saying, is that there's likely benefit for all manner of suspension travel.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Capricorn

[Eugene Oppelt]

Gotta love the innovation culture at SRAM hey

[Eugene Oppelt]

Yes except for the life of their cassettes and chains ....otherwise they are pretty much the market leader in my opinion.

 

I still prefer shimano in most cases

Just the innovation culture now, I like

 

I use Shimano on my dirt bike

Only because I don't have a sponsor ????

[Iwan Kemp]

We'll get one for Bike Hub HQ. Will maak 'n plan to make it available / loan / hire for hubbers.