In recent years, RST suspension has worked hard to shake of the bottom shelf component reputation it used to have in the ’90s and is going up against big players for a share in the fork (and shock and now, dropper post) market.
In keeping with the other fork companies, it showed a 27Plus fork, with a full set up on a Foes so people could see how these new cartoon wheels will fit.
All that was to be expected, but in the ‘Come round the back and look at this’ box were a couple of surprises. The first being an inverted fork prototype. It’s nowhere near ready for production yet, but it has the potential to challenge the Rockshox RS1 for the hearts of the racing fraternity for a little less cash too. It will come in 80 and 100mm lengths, but also up to 150mm (with a 27.5 wheel) and 130mm (on a 29), which Rockshox is currently shy of doing.
Another surprise was this neat (and very light!) carbon crown and steerer assembly. RST is definitely shaking off it’s old elastomer bumper image.
RST also showed its new-ish dropper post that offers external cable operation, Stealth routing or ‘crotch grab’ under-seat lever – all in the same seatpost, which we’ve not seen anyone else do. So if you don’t currently have a Stealth routing frame and fancy a dropper without drilling a hole, you can fit the RST post and still be able to swap it over to your new frame.
We have some RST forks on test at the moment, so stay tuned to find out how we got on with them.