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Video: RockShox launches electric self-adjusting suspension


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We've had electronic suspensions on motorbikes for a while, nobody in the racing world uses them. Not sure what the future of this will be, let's see.

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9 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

So its the **** brain system but just electronic.

no no no this is just a auto high speed compression adjust that takes feedback from an extra data source, either a Flight attendant cadence sensor mounted in the crank or a Quarq PM. You set up the LS and HS defaults and it determines where the damping is best moved to best soak up the acceleration of the shafts and whether that is trail induced or rider induced.

basically a stepper motor on top of the compression valving assembly to replace the manual lever. The lekker goed is in the ability to adjust settings out on the trail without a laptop.

toys bru toys

Brain is a dumb on off switch

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12 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

no no no this is just a auto high speed compression adjust that takes feedback from an extra data source, either a Flight attendant cadence sensor mounted in the crank or a Quarq PM. You set up the LS and HS defaults and it determines where the damping is best moved to best soak up the acceleration of the shafts and whether that is trail induced or rider induced.

basically a stepper motor on top of the compression valving assembly to replace the manual lever. The lekker goed is in the ability to adjust settings out on the trail without a laptop.

toys bru toys

Brain is a dumb on off switch

Any idea if it helps you follow a low carb high fat diet and pay your R100 at tokai while we at it?

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1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

XCO Pro's don't use Livevlave because it adds weight (280gr)Ā  and the Enduro pro's don't like the wires.

Flight Attendant has neither of these issues and also tom Pidcock won the Olympic XCO Gold using a electronic active suspension by Suntour......

Ā 

I love the wireless aspect.
It does make the Fox Livevalve system seem clunky in comparison.

But the package adds 300g or so according to this:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/10/05/sram-flight-attendant-auto-pilots-your-suspension-with-wireless-electronic-damping-adjustments/

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Its not meant for weight weenie brain or lockout equipped marathon bikesĀ  - the longer travel your bike has the more you'll benefit allegedly. Soon DH bikes will be pedaled uphill like Epics ????.Ā 

Ā 

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1 hour ago, Mawbs said:

another set of batteries to chargeĀ ????

and you'll need an extra battery bank for your phone soon too because you'll be using it to tune and set all these new wireless things on the trail????

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1 hour ago, Jbr said:

We've had electronic suspensions on motorbikes for a while, nobody in the racing world uses them. Not sure what the future of this will be, let's see.

Ummm - do you watch motogp at all? If so you will know its only because of the rules that no automated devices are allowed - all have to be rider controlled. Otherwise they would be there as there is no way the wetware on a bike can make a decision thousands of times a second and optimise for conditions. Same thing in F1 - the only reason they arent there is because they are banned otherwise the rider would just be a bit academic and it would be one rider v another based on how good their software is.

Have a look at the era of active suspension in F1 and the Williams - the withdrawal of which was possibly a factor in Senna's death as the cars were too fast for mechanical suspension which they were then downgraded to

Motogp Ride height adjustments for launch corner exit aren't allowed to be automatic, they have to be hydraulic and rider operated. Watch some of Simon Crafar's videos on Youtube where he goes through all of this in detail. Launch control is the same - has to be rider activated by a Stoppie at the line - otherwise it would be very simple to make all this automatic.

So no the only reason they arent there is not because they dont work but because the rules ban them.

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18 minutes ago, Paul Ruinaard said:

Ummm - do you watch motogp at all? If so you will know its only because of the rules that no automated devices are allowed - all have to be rider controlled. Otherwise they would be there as there is no way the wetware on a bike can make a decision thousands of times a second and optimise for conditions. Same thing in F1 - the only reason they arent there is because they are banned otherwise the rider would just be a bit academic and it would be one rider v another based on how good their software is.

Have a look at the era of active suspension in F1 and the Williams - the withdrawal of which was possibly a factor in Senna's death as the cars were too fast for mechanical suspension which they were then downgraded to

Motogp Ride height adjustments for launch corner exit aren't allowed to be automatic, they have to be hydraulic and rider operated. Watch some of Simon Crafar's videos on Youtube where he goes through all of this in detail. Launch control is the same - has to be rider activated by a Stoppie at the line - otherwise it would be very simple to make all this automatic.

So no the only reason they arent there is not because they dont work but because the rules ban them.

Suspensions and shape shifters are two different things even though the one acts around the other, and yes it would be much easier if the holeshot devices could be controlled electronically rather than mechanically, but it's a whole other subject.

I race superbikes, I watch WSBK and motoGP, and at any level I only know 1 person that races "self-ajusting electronically controlled fourks" (meaning compression/rebound etc self adjust depending on all the data the bike collects), and when the R1m first came out most tests were saying the electronically controlled suspensions are amazing for the road, but not great on the race track (kind of like the ABS).

But for sure they will get better in the coming years (maybe they already have, I'm not completely up the speed as to what is currently used it the main championships), but when it comes to racing, you want everything to be predictable, but I'm sure it would still be interesting to electronicallyĀ control some of the settings, and let the hydrolics do the work. Like for instance if one sector of the track is very bumpy but the rest very smooth, just having presets that ajust the suspension corner by corner, a bit like you can do for TC and RPM) : THAT would truly be amazing, more than a "smart suspension" than makes it's own decisions.

Edited by Jbr
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2 hours ago, Mawbs said:

another set of batteries to chargeĀ ????

And more stuff to go wrong go wrong go wrongā€¦ā€¦..

that being said, the technology improvements over time are impressive

Ā 

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Ah yes. The solution to a problem we didn't have to begin with.Ā 

Prohibitively expensive no doubt.Ā 

Rent a shockwiz and spend some time on your favorite trails and get everything dialed in. Write your settings down and forget about it.Ā Ā 

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32 minutes ago, Jbr said:

Suspensions and shape shifters are two different things even though the one acts around the other, and yes it would be much easier if the holeshot devices could be controlled electronically rather than mechanically, but it's a whole other subject.

I race superbikes, I watch WSBK and motoGP, and at any level I only know 1 person that races "self-adjusting electronically controlled fourks" (meaning compression/rebound etc self adjust depending on all the data the bike collects), and when the R1m first came out most tests were saying the electronically controlled suspensions are amazing for the road, but not great on the race track (kind of like the ABS).

But for sure they will get better in the coming years (maybe they already have, I'm not completely up the speed as to what is currently used it the main championships), but when it comes to racing, you want everything to be predictable, but I'm sure it would still be interesting to electronicallyĀ control some of the settings, and let the hydraulics do the work. Like for instance if one sector of the track is very bumpy but the rest very smooth, just having presets that adjust the suspension corner by corner, a bit like you can do for TC and RPM) : THAT would truly be amazing, more than a "smart suspension" than makes it's own decisions.

okay agreed. I think wrt racing and at that level where it's seriously being ridden the rider still wants control. But this is the fine line use case again. Active suspension for road use is agreed. The point is the rules in motogp also prohibit it being automatic but if they didn't racing would be like F1 rather than Motogp.

Just have a look at how much tech there is on a bike and how many rules there are limiting the use of automated devices and traction controls etc which they then spend times to get around (through things like ignition timing etc).

If we had to have kept it all standard then you would still be setting points and using coil to generate spark.

Ā 

Something like the UCI tries to do in cycling.

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This device is an elaborate ploy by bike manufacturers to get a modern mountain bike to cross over that elusive R299k threshold by getting enough consumer conscious idjits to fall for the ploy and stupidly hand over wads of cash in the form of thinly disguised debt.

I'm gonna pass.

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55 minutes ago, Steady Spin said:

Ah yes. The solution to a problem we didn't have to begin with.Ā 

Prohibitively expensive no doubt.Ā 

Rent a shockwiz and spend some time on your favorite trails and get everything dialed in. Write your settings down and forget about it.Ā Ā 

Write down? What ancient scroll type BS is this.

Obviously you note it down in whatever online identity management tool you use, this way it will eventually sync to whatever bike you use. As long as it supports the RS app store.

Or, at the very least, store your settings in the cloud. Don't want to get caught in another country without your settings.

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