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The RockShox Domain Fork Is Back! First Look & Podcast

I didn’t know there was such a thing as 220mm rotors, let alone direct mount 200mm!

I think my idea of gnar is different from other peoples…. 😉

Looking forward to seeing if they’ve deliberately hobbled the Damper as they seemed to do to the Yari. Ancient Boxxer – no spiking when things get rough, modern Yari – hold onto your hat!

I didn’t know there was such a thing as 220mm rotors, let alone direct mount 200mm!

I think my idea of gnar is different from other peoples…. 😉

Mine too. My idea of gnar these days is to choose rocky-road over millionaire shortbread after a pootle round a green trail centre route 😉 haha

I didn’t know there was such a thing as 220mm rotors, let alone direct mount 200mm!

I think my idea of gnar is different from other peoples…. 😉

Logical progression isn’t it :

How much? you could buy a motor bike for that!
How big? You could stop a motor bike with that!

Next thing they’ll put engines on the things.

choose rocky-road over millionaire shortbread

@fazzini It might be too difficult for you, and there’s no shame in that, but I think you’re ready to be introduced to the concept of “and”

I didn’t know there was such a thing as 220mm rotors

Yep, I think technically they’re for eMTBs but they’ll fit anything.

The fork looks great, it wasn’t hard to work out they’d make a Yari / Revelation for the Zeb chassis and with RS being so modular I’m sure it will be popular as an OE fork or just a ‘cheaper’ fork that you can throw a £200 charger damper on when you want to.

Also I’m sure RS will make some lower end OE Zebs which are technically lower spec than the some higher end OE Charger equipped Domains at some point just to confuse us all.

http://www.rockshox.com?

To repeat my comment from pinkbike – this fork has a little eMTB decal at the top of the damper leg. e-specific components is the new enduro specific socks.

Also, because it often goes unsaid, in this case the small team at STW have deliviered a far better and more detailed article than our pink canadian friends.
Well done STW.

What’s the axle to crown length of these, compared to the forks people are likely to want to replace on their bikes?

Yep, I think technically they’re for eMTBs but they’ll fit anything.

220mm rotors? That’s all that’ll fit on an old fork of mine that predates eMTBs by a long long way.

Would the motion control updated or same as the years old model

Yep, very good article! (it mentions “sending a 150mm damper” to change the fork travel, is that right? Usually you’d just change the spring not the damper, a pretty big change if true)

Honestly it seems like a faithful recreation of the old Domain, ie a good sturdy long chassis with too little damper to do the job. Big forks need good damping. If it makes any sense to have an 180mm 38mm fork then it makes little sense to have motion control in it.

But still, it looks a good cost proposition and the charger upgrade isn’t that expensive. I’m confused by the question about fitting a Zeb’s debonair- don’t these already have debonair as standard? I guess the zeb’s is bigger.

hainman
Free Member

Would the motion control updated or same as the years old model

TBH motion control’s changed loads over the years- the modern ones I’ve ridden felt pretty similar to the ones that you got in the last 32mm Rev chassis like my 2010 blackboxes, with the dual flow rebound damper. That feeling of “something basic, but done well”. Miles better than the classic Pike 426 that a lot of people still think of

Big forks need good damping.

These are going to be lapping massive jump lines for instagram.
If you really cared about/were competitive in big mountain rocky enduros, you’d pony up for the Zeb (or this and change the damper…) Gotta cut costs somewhere, otherwise its just a zeb in a ever so slightly heavier chassis.

The fork looks great, it wasn’t hard to work out they’d make a Yari / Revelation for the Zeb chassis and with RS being so modular I’m sure it will be popular as an OE fork or just a ‘cheaper’ fork that you can throw a £200 charger damper on when you want to.

But still, it looks a good cost proposition and the charger upgrade isn’t that expensive. I’m confused by the question about fitting a Zeb’s debonair- don’t these already have debonair as standard? I guess the zeb’s is bigger.

Sounds more like a 35 than a Yari/Rev?

In which case the debonair spring isn’t the same, it’s just a big solo-air spring.

Would the motion control updated or same as the years old model

I was going to add comment but held back initially. Isn’t it about time RS started offering something a bit more sophisticated in their mid-tier forks than the old MoCo damper. I mean, N-Sync were in the charts, and we still thought white and brown were a good colour combo when the MoCo came out!

sooo heavy – bugger having that on the front of a bike.

@dangeourbrain that just cost me 2 hula hoops!! Chapeau sir 🙏🤣

I’m assuming the issue with not being able to run the Zeb air spring internals is down to wall thickness of the stanchions being larger due to the lower spec alloy.

Not sure I understand the ‘not a debonair spring’ comment above?

Also, because it often goes unsaid, in this case the small team at STW have deliviered a far better and more detailed article than our pink canadian friends.
Well done STW.

This

To repeat my comment from pinkbike – this fork has a little eMTB decal at the top of the damper leg. e-specific components is the new enduro specific socks.

Yep, this is for downspecced, burlier ebikes much like how the 35 is for downspecced trail ebikes. Strength a bigger priority than weight, and brands have price points to hit.

Fox do similar but are a bit more subtle about it, if you get a base YT Decoy then it’s a 36 but with a downspecced Grip damper.

Not sure I understand the ‘not a debonair spring’ comment above?

If that’s aimed at me, then yes, the “Debonair” spring in the 35 is completely different to the Yari/Lyric/Pike/Rev. They’re different parts and the equalization mechanism works differently.

It’s still very plush, but it’s not the same in anything but name.

ayjaydoubleyou
Free Member

If you really cared about/were competitive in big mountain rocky enduros, you’d pony up for the Zeb (or this and change the damper…)

You really don’t need to be doing any of that to benefit from good damping. And this is a big hoofin fork, which gives dampers a much harder job (more movement to control).

Like I say, if this much fork is a good idea then it’s not enough damper. If it’s an adequate damper then it’s too much fork. Maybe smooth bike parks are an exception but what bike only does that?

I didn’t know there was such a thing as 220mm rotors

I never knew there was such a thing as 1.8″ steerers…

If that’s aimed at me, then yes, the “Debonair” spring in the 35 is completely different to the Yari/Lyric/Pike/Rev. They’re different parts and the equalization mechanism works differently.

It’s still very plush, but it’s not the same in anything but name.

Really? is it one of the older Debonairs I wonder. The 2018 Debonair spring in my 2018 Lyriks didn’t really look much different to the air spring in my 2016 Yaris. I just swapped it for a 2021 Debonair, which is waaaaaaay better and waaaaay easier to fit/replace. It was £40 I think. Great value upgrade.

I’ve never seen a debonair spring that wasn’t just basically a way of adding extra negative space. The detail varies but I think only because some of them were deisgned to fit into old forks while others in newer chassis were designed for hte bigger neg spring (so that like a debonair they changed the shape of the seal head to add volume on one side) ,the basic thing (basically a piston and a wee slot in the leg to let air pressure equalise at the end of the day) has always been the same?

I’ve not had mine apart to have a look but my understanding was the version used in the premium forks equalizes via a port in the shaft, whereas the cheaper version equalizes at top out.

But as Northwind says, it’s basically just a big volume auto-adjusting negative spring. The details of how you achieve that are secondary.

Although my 130mm 35 does have that air spring character of being very linear initially, but with no chance of ever using the last 10mm of travel. Kinda putting it down to that being how all air springs end up behaving when spaced down and why the premium versions you have to buy a new spring rather than just add/remove spacers.

I’ve not had mine apart to have a look but my understanding was the version used in the premium forks equalizes via a port in the shaft, whereas the cheaper version equalizes at top out.

I think it’s a bit simpler than that, the shafts are just tubes, there’s no ports or anything in them and the head is just a bit of plastic with a seal.

There’s a dimple on the inside of the CSU / Stanchion, as the piston passes it, it allows pressure to equalise.

The two ‘old’ versions of debonair are ‘just’ redesigned heads for increased plushness I guess.

The latest 2021 version has a slightly longer shaft so the piston sits on this dimple when its static, so it equalises better, this eliminates the first 10mm or so of travel not really doing much and manages to allow the fork to sit a little higher in normal use without losing small bump sensitivity.

Yes, that sounds a lot like RS marketing and I think it’s probably a decent go at what they said from memory, but despite being incredibly cynical about new stuff, ESPECIALLY from the RS bullshit marketing department, it’s completely true and it’s a decent, and noticeable upgrade from from 2018 Debonair to 2021 Debonair on my Lyriks. It’s smoother, doesn’t dive at all under braking and seems to set traction on the front end to infinity, or at least higher than this scardy cat trail centre mincer can reach.

Also, if anyone else home services their RS air spring and has an older one – the best bit, they’ve done away with the hateful wave washer so you can refit them without screaming obscenities at the **** circlip for an hour, it just push it and and throw the circlip at it from the other side of the room if you like and it finds it’s home. That alone was worth £40 of my hard-earned.

Hah, when they changed the foot design so that it’s flat instead of having a recess shaped like the circlip (so that there was just barely enough space to remove or fit the bastard thing) I rejoiced a little bit.

Yep, I think technically they’re for eMTBs but they’ll fit anything.

220mm rotors? That’s all that’ll fit on an old fork of mine that predates eMTBs by a long long way.

Original Fox 40 with IS 200mm caliper? Needed a Hope No.5 or PM + adaptor and 220mm rotor.

Also, because it often goes unsaid, in this case the small team at STW have deliviered a far better and more detailed article than our pink canadian friends.
Well done STW.

really? he’s bolted it to a completely unsuitable bike and neglected to even ride it!?

An interesting enough but well padded article, regurgitated the marketing spiel. The actual review consists of ‘I can report that it’s super stiff and very plush after ride #1’… nice 1.

Not that the pinkbike one is any better in fairness! but this lot put a bit of effort in at least https://ebike-mtb.com/en/new-rock-shox-domain-suspension-fork-2021-review/

really? he’s bolted it to a completely unsuitable bike and neglected to even ride it!?

An interesting enough but well padded article, regurgitated the marketing spiel. The actual review consists of ‘I can report that it’s super stiff and very plush after ride #1’… nice 1.

Expecting an actual review at some point in the future, but as a desktop study of the available information, STW have done a far superior article.

Expecting an actual review at some point in the future

well yes but it is meant to be baby Zeb – i dont wanna read a review of it fastened to the end of a 66°/150mm trail ebike.

I am curious bout the changing travel procedure, not that I need a new fork (I have Pikes and Revelation to compare).

I assumed that it was the air spring that would need to be changed but appreciate that MoCo might need a new damper rod too, as the 2018 MoCo version I removed from my Revs sits below the damper body and squishes the oil up to the damper body.

Just wondering.

Would be a useful article itself when it is being done.