Rockshox – Return of the Pike and more…

Dave’s been out in Sedona learning about the latest offerings from SRAM, here’s the official word on Rockshox and its new developments…

WHAT’S YOUR LINE?

RockShox was born out of a belief that the mold was meant to be broken. We know one size does not fit all. We know even the longest rides are too short to worry about your equipment. Our patented designs push the limits to bring the utmost in performance, control and adjustability to every product in our line. From our Motion Control damping to the easiest to use thru-axle on the market, the Maxle, we believe race-proven technologies shouldn’t just be for racers. Being on the leading edge of technology isn’t just our history. It’s our future.

PIKE

FOR trail riders, BY trail riders

The completely reimagined PIKE comes murdered-out for a reason. It’s the fork that’s ushering in a new era in suspension performance. See, the all-new PIKE is a completely different type of trail fork. One that meant walking all over the current engineering doctrine along the way. The result? PIKE is like a stealth bomber designed specifically for new-school trail riders. Its new damper rides high in the travel where it’s the plushest. Its industry redefining asymmetric approach to chassis design delivers an unparalleled stiffness to travel to weight ratio that will have other engineers playing catch up for years. But more importantly for you, other riders too.

Word on the trail

We could give you a laundry list of adjectives test riders have used to describe our newest trail fork. How it’s ultra refined, stable, and confidence building. We could tell you how they raved about its predictability, and the confidence it gave them over any terrain. Or we could just tell you how many have said it’s the best fork we’ve ever built. We like that one the best.

• Intended Use: TR/AM
• Weight: 1838g
• Travel: 140-160mm
• Upper Tubes: 35mm
• Wheel sizes: 26”, 27.5”, 29”
• Steerer: Taper only
• Axle: 15mm only

Available: May

PIKE Technology: RAPID RECOVERY

Rapid Recovery is More Control With Less Work

More tire contact means better cornering and braking control. Less energy for the rider to absorb over successive bumps means more energy to pedal or jump.

Successive bumps with standard suspension

• Wheel does not recover fully from impact leaving a gap between it and the ground.
• Suspension “packs up” as your body mass pushes the suspension down, reducing ride height and available travel for next bump.
• Pushed into the suspension you are in a firmer part of the spring curve. More bump energy is now transferred to the rider’s body to absorb and control.

Same ride with Rapid Recovery

• Ride height is maintained, leaving more available suspension for each bump.
• Wheel maintains better contact with the ground.
• Less energy is transferred to rider increasing control and decreasing fatigue.

PIKE Technology: New charger damper

Performance focused

• No compromise for lockout: The efficiency circuits (Pedal and Lock) sit behind the performance damping, meaning no sacrifice in bump performance for shredding downhill while keeping the ability to maintain pedaling stability for those leg burning climbs.
• Rapid Recovery: More control with less energy.

Bladder Charged

• Extruded bladder design is insanely durable, resists damping change during extended downhills and has virtually zero pressure offset for small bump sensitivity.

Trail Tuned

• RCT3 features Open with an adjustable low speed compression, Pedal and Lock.
• RC features adjustable low speed compression to Lock.

MAXLE LITE

• Increased clamping force
• Tool-less lever placement
• Refined design

MONARCH PLUS

Throwing gas on the fire

Unlike a dirt-bike, the new Monarch Plus rear shock has no rev-limiter. With its fusion of the Monarch’s exemplary lightweight with an all-new Solo Air system, and a damper design similar to the Vivid Air, the Plus will have you bombing all-mountain trails like it was born to downhill. In other words, you’re going to need some serious stopping power to slow this freight train down. So it might be time to look at some four-piston brakes for your wheels.

Monarch Plus Updates

• Rapid Recovery
• Twice the rebound range
• Increased compression flow
• Quieter action with more control
• New lower profile air valve location
• New adjusters

Available: June

REVERB STEALTH with CONNECTAMAJIG

As a rider, you’ve probably observed that it’s difficult to turn or maneuver your bike properly with the seat rammed up your bottom side, or pedal it efficiently with your seat dropped. But at the same time, you don’t want to stop and adjust it every time the trail dictates. Which is why enlightened riders use the Reverb. Its simple hydraulically-actuated control lets you raise and lower your seat instantly at the push of the button. And for all you control freaks out there—the Reverb lets you put your seat up, down, or anywhere in between, not just to a few presets like other systems out there.

Reverb Updates

• Connectamajig Stealth options
• 150mm Stealth options
• 34.9mm options in all travels

Available: Mid April

CONNECTAMAJIG

Saving time for both riders and mechanics.

• Hydraulic hose coupler for easy assembly and hose routing
• System allows for several disconnects and re-connections before a bleed is required

Dave’s first impression of the new Pike and Monarch Plus.

We haven’t had enough trail time on them yet to give you the full low down, but from the two days of riding out in the desert initial impressions are very positive. Rockshox have designed and produced a very simple to set up and tune suspension system focussed on performance at the burlier end of the mountain bike spectrum.

We rode a good mixture of techy and flowy trails with decent descents and a mixture of short punchy and longer more extended climbs which gave good opportunities to put the suspension through it paces and test out it’s performance under different settings.

It says a lot of the Monarch Plus that for most of the time we forgot it was there, it just got on with the job of dealing with the terrain either soaking up bumps on the descents or helping the rear wheel hook up and provide traction of the sometimes quite loose and steppy climbs without a hiccup.

The Pike is like you’d expect;  slightly more travel, slightly more weight but stiffer and better tracking than a Revelation. The fork is plush with consistent travel and incredibly easy to tune to your preferred ride characteristics.

Both are seriously worth considering if you’re building an all mountain or enduro orientated bike.

We’ll have more in depth reviews coming once we get samples we can run for a decent amount of time in the UK.

You can read about Sedona in the next issue of Singletrack.

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